Jessica Najera

Ms. Garringer
Writing 10: Research Paper
06 October 2017.

The Lack of Mental Health Screenings in Schools are Killing Teens.

About 800,000 people die globally due to suicide every year, which is one person every

40 seconds. Most of them are 15- 29 year olds. In America, suicide is the 10th cause of death,

which leads to 44,193 Americans dying by suicide. Some of the most common causes of suicide

are depression, anxiety, drug or alcohol abuse, bullying, and it can be also caused by sexual or

physical abuse. Mental Health Screenings in schools are an easy way for teenagers to know if

they are having any type of mental illness such as depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, etc.

Although, Mental Health Screenings are very important to young people since a simple screening

can alert a parent/teacher if someone is in danger. Sadly, some schools dont even offer them.

However, suicide is not the only cause of death in teenagers. The first cause of death in

teenagers are accidents, and then suicide is the second highest cause of death, and between 15 to

19 adolescents have died because of suicide (Klass). Suicide has been affecting adolescents in a

way that even we can now compare the number of deaths of suicide and accidents in the same

graphics, and not even because of this the federal government do something to start screening

kids in schools to in someway it.

It is not easy to predict when someone has suicidal thoughts but you can definitely see

little hints in a teens actions. The signs of teenage depression include mood changes, like

persistent sadness or irritability, and changes in level of functioning such as school failure. They

also include withdrawal from friends and family, a loss of interest in activities that had been
important and changes in eating and sleeping patterns (Klass). It is very important for schools

start taking this topic serious. Parents need to inform about the signs that teens normally show

when they are having suicidal thoughts, because it is something that can be treated so solve.

Now, some of this symptoms may be just a normal teen sadness but it can still be treated talking

with a counselor, or a psychologist since sadness is just the first step to something bigger such as

depression.

It must be heartbroken for a parent to find out that their child is having suicidal thoughts

but for that reason you need to know how to deal with it. What parents should do in case of

discover if their child is having suicidal thoughts is that they need to listen to the teen at all time,

that should be the 90 percent of the conversation, the other 10 percent of the time, they should

help to solve the problem but not decide the solution (Shain). It is better to the adolescent to talk

about the problem because in that way they feel like they dont have all of the weight on their

shoulders and they feel less pressured. Also dont take the problem and solve it yourself because

in that way the teen probably dont feel like thats the better way to resolve the problem, of they

can also feel useless. So the better way to solve the problem, is again, talk with the teen and both

come to a solution. A parents work is the hardest because they have to realize when a teen is

having something more than just a sadness fase. Suicide is a very serious problem nowadays and

is parents work to know how to first, identify it, then how to deal with it and finally how to

solve it on a way that it doesnt hurt the teen.

Depression its like a disease, like cancer, it comes to your life and the only thing that it

does is hurt you until it kills you. Depression affects about 1 in 12 adolescents each year,
although, it is important recognize when a teen is going through a big case of depression or a

simple sadness because it is no need to medicament for a typical teenage sadness (Richard).

Sometimes sadness can be a typical mood for teens and in that case it is important for parents

to talk about it because just a simple sadness can lead to something bigger like depression.

Depression must be treated differently and its most common to go with a professional. Give

medication to a teen when it is not necessary it can only make the teenager feel crazy and after

blame themselves, besides the fact that its not healthy for someone to take medication years and

years.

Doctors are not Gods, and they can make mistakes too, some of them intentionally and

sometimes not. Drug companies disease-monger depression and aggressively advertise the

extremely misleading message that all depression is due to a chemical imbalance that requires a

pill solution. They love getting children started on medications early in the hope of making them

lifetime customers(Frances). It is very important to identify and always ask your doctor if the

teen needs to take medications because companies send lots of advertising to doctors (especially

untrained doctors) to start using medication and keep and keep using it, it is common that

untrained doctors can easily offer medications even though there are more options than pills to

make the teen feel better.

Medication perhaps be good in some cases, but as a parent you need to question if thats

the best option for your child.Four percent of teens are already on antidepressants, even though

medical efficacy in adolescence is questionable and medications may increase the risk of

agitation, impulsivity, suicide and/or violent behavior (Frances). Doctors who are not even well
trained give antidepressants to teens even though they can cause a lot of secondary effects, and

even well-trained doctors think that an easy way to make teens feel good is to give them

antidepressants without trying another solution. Thats when a parent needs to stop and question

about what medication is your child receiving because sometimes the medication is not even

necessary or it can be bad for your childs health and it can bring a lot of consequences.

The federal government does not keep track of school mental health screening, so its all

but impossible to say how many schools do or dont offer it (Kennedy). Even though there are

hundreds of teenagers committing suicide every hour the federal government dont make

something to stop it, the government rather to spend the money in useless campaigns than use

just a little bit in helping teens.

People dont realize how dangerous can be just a simple sandness in a teenagers life but

as parent it is crucial to be intent of their childs behavior, because just by realizing on time can

save your childs life. Mental health issues are more common during adolescence. If left

untreated, they can affect teens on keeping a relationships or even a stable job (Kennedy). Some

people dont realize how dangerous can depression can affect daily lives especially for teens

because they think that there is no way out of the situation theyre going through, and because of

that it can drive teens to make mistakes that can be tragic for their own life and even someone

elses.

Suicide is like the butterfly effect if it hits someone it will only expand, and expand. A

The U.S surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents suffer from serious
emotional and mental disorders that significantly affect daily lives (Kennedy). It is very

important that the Mental Health Screening program to be approved in all schools because 10

percent of teens are in risk to commit suicide and not just 10 they can be more than 10 percent,

and its a number that will be bigger and bigger. And talking about statistic 10 percent may not

sound as much teenagers, but if you think that just in the USA there are almost 42 million of

teenagers and the 10 percent have mental illnesses, illnesses that some parents dont even know

their children have because there are not mental health screenings. Thousands and thousands of

lives are in risk, teenagers want help but they dont know how to ask for it and thats when we

need screenings.

The lack of the mental health screenings in Schools has been very polemic because

parents think that their childs must have screenings but the government dont offer it in most of

schools in America. However, adolescence is by far the hardest phase in life since teens tend to

think that they dont have way out of whatever situation theyre going through and its drives to

make a decision that can change the life of the child and everyone around. Even though some

schools dont offer mental health screenings we need to make it happen, its in our hands the

lives of thousands of kids not just in America, but in the world.

Works Cited Page

Chung, Richard J., and Allen Frances. "Should all Teens be Screened for Depression?" Wall Street

Journal, 11 Apr, 2016, pp. R.5, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Klass, Perri. "Is a Teen Moody? Or Depressed?" New York Times, 14 Feb, 2017, pp. D.4, SIRS Issues

Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Suicide Statistics AFSP. AFSP, American Foundation of Suicide Prevention ,

afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/.
Szabo, Liz. "Docs Urged to Screen Teens for Depression." USA TODAY, 08 Sep, 2015, pp. A.3, SIRS

Issues Researcher,https://sks.sirs.com.