Taylor+W’s+2017+OpEd+Article

=Mental Illnesses= By: Taylor Wreesman

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Imagine being told that something that you experience every day doesn't exist. Imagine being told that something that happens to you every day makes you crazy or weird. Imagine having a mental illness that affects your life each and every day in everything that you do and have people tell you that it does not exist, that you belong in the crazy house or that you're stupid. Perhaps they even tell you to die since you’re so crazy. I don’t have to imagine that. As of right now, March 4, 2017 at 8:46 pm, 2,543 have died by suicide today. Having a mental illness or disorder is not being overly sad, or too nervous, or being crazy. More and more people are developing mental illnesses, 1 in 5 kids aged 13-18 develop a mental illness or disorder. Why? There are numerous reasons why someone could develop a mental illness. School and the stress of keeping their grades up and getting into all the best colleges can cause anxiety. People and how we treat each other. Quite horribly sometimes which can drive someone to become depressed or develop an eating disorder Even genetics can cause mental illnesses along with substance abuse which can cause schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder along with many others. Why don’t adults believe that their child has a mental illness? I can’t understand it, maybe no one will, but I know that they don’t want to have to explain to their friends why their kid won’t go to a social event. They don’t want a child who is too afraid to ask for something as simple as napkins at a restaurant. Sometimes it’s to the extent where they don’t want to pay for the therapy for them, so they let them suffer and tell them to get over it. Most of the time it is because they don’t know that their child is suffering because the parent saw someone else with a mental illness and called them crazy or hormonal or that they just need to get over it and stop seeking attention, causing their child to hide their illness. As of June 2016, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in teens, which officials have now understood that mental illness is a leading cause in this statistic. And yet some people are still calling others who have mental illnesses crazy or attention seeking or overly dramatic; to get over it. Anxiety isn’t being scared to talk to someone, it can be scared to be around anyone. Anxiety is like when you almost tip your chair or when you miss a step going down the stairs except **//IT NEVER STOPS//**. Imagine having your chest tight and your heart racing in simple situations. //I can remember that feeling.// Then it leads to panic attacks which can come in all kinds of ways; crying and hyperventilating, silence and a zoned out look, bouts of anger or stuttering over words. Everyone is different and everyone has their own trigger that can set them off. And on the topic of triggers, **//THIS IS NOT A JOKE THAT CAN BECOME A MEME. A TRIGGER CAN BECOME DEBILITATING TO SOMEONE, IT CAN BE A REMINDER OF A HORRIBLE EVENT OR EXPERIENCE.//** I apologize for my spout of anger, however; this is a real issue when it comes to mental illnesses. They are not a joke or a word to use in everyday language. Wanting to jump off a bridge and just saying it makes it seem like it’s no big deal. This isn’t “whatevs man” this is a serious thing. As of now, March 4, 2017 at 9:44 pm, 2,662 people have died by suicide today. Mental illness are just as bad as physical illnesses; why should someone have to suffer through school when they are at the point in their life where they want to end it. Why do parents recognize that their student should not go to school when they are sick and throwing up, and yet they are expected to go to school when that previous night they were crying and having a panic attack about having to go. Depression is not feeling overly sad or upset. Depression is common among people who have lost something near and dear to them or have gone through a traumatic event, but having it last for 4 plus years? Having it not be caused by a traumatic event but by the words that others say, society standards, stress, or even your own thoughts and self-hatred. Imagine seeing no hope in the future. Imagine people pushing you around and calling you a loser and being outcasted.
 * //I’ve lived it.//**

//I can remember that feeling.// //I can remember feeling alone because of my mental illnesses; feeling different because of how I acted in situations.// //I can remember being yelled at by my parents who didn’t understand my anxiety and my depression.// //I can remember being terrified if anyone found out that I went to therapy.// //I can remember the panic attacks at 2 in the morning about going to school the next day and facing the people who pushed me around.// //I can remember my thoughts of self-hatred and my inner demons that threatened to end it all.// I can’t say that I will never go back, this is a constant battle, but having a mental illness does not make you weak or crazy. Having a mental illness is not an imagined excuse. Having a mental illness and not feeling able to go out into the world does not make you lazy or selfish. Mental illnesses need to be recognized and known that they are just as bad as physical illnesses. That every day someone who has a mental illness can go through the same amount of pain as someone with a broken ankle, just in a different way. That not being able to go to school due to severe anxiety or depression or any mental illness should be the same as not going due to the stomach flu or a fever. Mental illness exist and they plague our children and our adults; they cause tremors in our lives that can be as deep debilitating as being paralyzed from the waist down. Mental illnesses can almost kill as many people as car accidents do. As of now, March 5, 2017 at 1:37pm, 1,669 people have died by suicide today. 1 in 5 people will be diagnosed with a mental illness today, and yet some still believe it to be just the imagination.
 * I can remember because I have experienced it.**

You live with one or more for a while, have it affect your life, your relationships, your self-esteem, your body, your future. Then prove how it is just my “imagination”.