Author: Kristen Falconi

 

First off, this is my late-posted blog post because I made a boo-boo and got off track for the colors each week. I thought that since I had about two weeks where I posted a CI blog weekly on accident in the beginning of the semester that I had the correct number of posts that I needed… well I shortly after realized that I was wrong! So, with that being said, here is my final post, better late than never!

As my last post of the semester, I decided to use it to wrap things up. For those who have checked out my blog more than just once- thank you! Mental health is something that is obviously near and dear to my heart, so I felt that making it the theme for my civic issue blog was fitting.

As you have seen from my previous posts, the effects of mental health, both good and bad, are all around us. It is becoming increasingly more common for people to experience symptoms of mental illness, let alone develop the illness in entirety. Because it is increasing at such a rapid rate, there is a ginormous stigma towards mental illness and those who claim they suffer from it. We all know someone who has been or is being affected by mental illness or at the very least, experienced symptoms of mental illness for one reason or another. This is something that affects us all and should not be put on the back burner.

My goal for this blog was to definitely expose you to the concept and hopefully break a bit of that stigma that seems like it comes to natural to us. Although both of those reasons are important and were prevalent every week that I posted, my main focus was to materialize the issues that mental illness causes in our world that just so happen to occur all around us. I wanted you to see examples of people battling the disease and see where mental illness is present. By having a better understanding of how common it is and how prevalent this obstacle affects our lives, we can realize the importance of knowing how to deal with it ourselves or helping those around us overcome the struggle they face.

Struggling from a mental illness is not just a personal disturbance. As one who goes through life on a daily basis with this struggle, it is affecting not only them, but those around them to care the most. Yes, it is hard to deal with these feelings and you may have and feel as though it is impossible to overcome the illness, but those who are around you care just as much about your health as you do, if not more. It is extremely important to realize the Importance of having a strong support system, because without surrounding yourself with people who have a genuine and invested interest in your well-being, you are not helping yourself. I am a firm believer that a person can only be as strong as the people behind them. Having a solid support system is what helps us through any adversity in our lives, especially one like mental illness.

If you got anything out of my blog this semester, I hope that it was no matter your race, religion or socioeconomic status, you have a great chance of experiencing mental illness. Whether it be small, infrequent symptoms or on a grander scale on a day to day basis, the chances are high and are growing. Although we may not be able to prevent mental illness from coming into many peoples’ lives, we can ensure that those who experience this struggle has the support they need in order to cope or overcome it.

Because my blog deals with mental health, I decided to write about a policy dealing with mental health for our persuasive policy paper. Mental health is something that is very important in my life and is something that I am extremely passionate about. With that being said, the deliberation I attended before Spring Break was on mental health in the work place. I went to it because it was obviously about mental health and I was interested to see what the group would discuss about that topic.

This particular deliberation caught my eye because I have personally dealt with mental illness, although it was more prevalent when I was younger. However, it is still something I struggle with from time to time and will most likely be something that I struggle with for the rest of my life. I felt that this was a very unique approach on just mental health in general because it was so relevant. I, as many others who battle or have battled mental illness, will mostly likely face this type of situation when we are in the work force so it is important to have some knowledge about it.

One of the proposals they touched on to make the workplace a better environment for employees with mental illness was to add to the number of sick days workers got per year from their employer, rename them to something vaguer, and allow employees to use them when needed. By doing this, the intent was to make it much less stressful and much easier for employees who suffer from mental illness to take days off if they needed and not have to worry about telling anyone why or losing sick days if they actually ended up needed them. Although there were some flaws in this suggestion, I thought that it was incredible and that it would be super beneficial if done the right way. I, as many others, thought that by doing this would not only take a huge burden away from employees with mental illnesses but also change the stigma for mental health in general. So, with that, I wanted to make a policy based off of that idea for my persuasive policy paper because I had a lot of ideas to mold it into something that I think could really work!

Aside from the paper, I think that this was a great topic to post about this week because it wasn’t until attending that deliberation that I really thought about the importance of it. The discussion opened my eyes to things that I had never thought about before and how they would most likely affect me in the near future, whether I had a mental illness or not. When something as significant as having a mental illness disrupts your whole day of both thinking and doing, it is crucial that it is taken seriously when your employee or coworker is really struggling.

With that being said, I hope this was just as much of an eye-opener for you as it was for me. Those who live each day of their lives battling a mental illness are all around us, and sometimes we either don’t notice or don’t take into consideration the struggles they are going through. I am very passionate about this subject and am greatly looking forward to completing my paper on this policy. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Former NFL athlete, Johnny Manziel, is a prime example of how the ignorance of mental health issues can become problems in our lives down the road. As an extremely talented football player, Manziel faced many issues, both on and off the field, because of his undiagnosed (at the time) bipolar disorder. He battled depression and felt as if the only way to cope was to drink because he felt temporarily felt at ease when he did it. This became a horrible habit and was something that he no longer was able to control, furthering his problems.

Manziel’s career in the NFL only lasted two years with the Cleveland Browns because of his mental health problems that had not been properly addressed. This ignorance costed him his career and his image due to unlawful behavior caused by the excessive drinking as his coping mechanism. He was not respected by his teammates and coaches, had struggles in his relationship because of accused domestic abuse towards his girlfriend, and was almost given up on by his family. People lost faith in the man who had once been admirable both on and off the field, but that soon diminished because of the improper ways he was coping with his mental illness.

This example goes to show that even the most famous or most skilled human beings are susceptible to mental health problems and need just as much help as anyone else going through a similar battle with mental illness. In Johnny’s case, his depression turned into an alcohol problem, which then made his bipolar disorder more prevalent. He reached a point in his life when he needed help the most, and that point was during the peak of his career in the NFL. As Johnny eventually realized, he wasn’t invincible and needed to listen to those around him in order to get the proper help he needed to overcome this giant hurdle in his life. After understanding how important it was to get help for himself, he was soon on the road to recovery with new ways to cope with his mental health issues.

A big problem lies in the fact that we don’t want to listen to others who are telling us to get help, even when we may need it the most. We tend to think that we are invincible and don’t need help from others when we have problems. One of the most important things to remember is that you are not alone. No matter how talented, strong, or famous you are, you are still able to suffer from mental illness, and that’s okay. Having a mental illness does not mean that you are weak or a dependent person, it just means that you are one of many who have an extra battle every single day because you have no control over it.

Johnny Manziel, like many others who battle bipolar disorder, has gotten help. He has realized that this is an issue that he wasn’t able to overcome alone and needed to make some changes in order to do so. Having faith in yourself to have the ability to be strong and ask for help is just the first step in recovering from a mental illness.  When you find the courage to do that, you can overcome any challenge that is put in your way.

It is no surprise that technology has become a prevalent part of our lives. The newest and most advanced technology has become integrated into our daily routines and it is too often that we aren’t able to complete tasks without using it. As we think about trends that all of us have witnessed, if not personally experienced, it was the trend of having smartphones. This is a common trend that, for me, started when I was in middle school.

I was in 6^th grade, 11 years old, and had to start taking the bus to school. Because my parents weren’t able to make sure that I got to school and back every day under their supervision, they felt that it was necessary for me to get my first phone. I remember that I was so excited to get my first phone because all of my friends had one. I wanted the liberty of being able to call people when I wanted, send and receive text messages, and feel like I had the responsibility of taking care of a more “mature” gadget that adults had. Even though my first phone was a Samsung Impression (yes, I still remember the model over 7 years later), I was stoked that I was now in with my group of friends who had phones. I remember that not too long after my excitement started wearing off, Apple came out with a new iPhone and most of my friends were upgrading to those very soon after they came out. I begged my parents to upgrade my phone to an iPhone when the contract was up, and once again, I was on cloud nine. I spent, what it seemed like, every waking minute on that phone because it was so new and so exciting for my 12-year-old self. I could take cool pictures, facetime my friends, and get on the internet.

My silly anecdote serves the purpose of explaining how prevalent the latest technology is, even at such a young age. The more I think about it, the dangers of the overuse of technology and, in this case, smart phones have created so many problems with our youth. These problems vary on a wide scale, but one of the most important to address is the damage it can do to a child’s mental health. Looking back, a 12-year-old girl does not need a phone that has access to the internet, nor does she need social media. My brother just turned 14 and now has an Instagram and Snapchat and I’m still trying to wrap my head around that fact. Having advanced technology at such a young age almost guarantees that there will be an extensive amount of time that is spent using it. What we don’t realize, especially at such a young age, how that will affect our health in the future.

According to NCB News, on average, teens touch their phones 80 times a day. One in five children are estimated to have an emotional, behavioral, or mental health disorder because of how much time they spend behind their screens. Adults who are observing these behaviors worry that not all of the time spent on their phones or other forms of technology is positive. Our generation x is no stranger to cyber bullying and sexual harassment. While there is a lot of good behind smartphones and other similar forms of technology, it can be extremely dangerous and negative for anyone who uses it.

With this mind, it is important that even at our age we are cautious about how much time we spend on our phones and using our technology. We must weigh the options of having fun for a temporary amount of time on our phones, compared to having long-term health issues and disorders because of it.

 

I chose to center my blog around the concept of mental health and its effects on our society because it is something very near and dear to my heart. I feel as though there are too many people who have a stigma against those who have the daily battle of poor mental health and that these problems affect much more in our world than we think. In my blog as a whole, I will be presenting current situations that we are faced with as a society due to poor mental health being so dominant, in hopes to educate those ignorant to the concept or those who don’t realize the impact that it has.

With that being said, I am going to start with an idea that should be relatable to all of us as college students. As we are all students at the greatest university in the world (or maybe I’m just a bit biased), there are so many things that we have access to. What I mean by that, is that the university gives us so much to utilize during our years here as students. Because Penn State is such a ginormous school, there are endless things to do: participate in THON, attend athletic events, join clubs, etc. all on top of studying for the standard 15 credit semester twice in a school year. As fantastic as it is to have all of those opportunities at our fingertips, it can be super overwhelming to many people who don’t even suffer from poor mental health. The stress of getting involved at your university is something that many people go through and is one of the most common ways to start mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.

An article published by the New York Times is truly what sparked my thought for this blog post because it rings so true. It led me to think about the initial reason why it is that college students are so stressed out and why the stress ultimately leads to future mental health complications. College students tend to take on too much and still strive for perfection. Being at such a prestigious university like Penn State and having countless opportunities to get involved all while maintaining that desired GPA create a great amount of pressure on us and make us load too much on our plates. According to the article, the desire for perfection from college students has increased by 33% since 1989; parents are worried about their kids because of the load that they put on themselves and still hold a standard for success and social media has created the constant comparing to others and how they live their lives. The problem is simple- students put way too much pressure on themselves to exceed their own expectations.

Although it may seem like a temporary issue of being caught up in the stress and pressure, these constant feelings of having to do more and comparing ourselves to other successful people create lasting mental instabilities. Even though we are inclined to do as much as we can and to feel as though we can do it all with grace, sometimes that isn’t the ending, and that is okay. The outside pressures from school and society to succeed both socially and academically takes a toll on our mental health as students, meaning that we need to realize what we are capable of, be realistic with our goals, and strive for success without overworking ourselves. As important as it is to succeed in the real world, it is just as, if not more, important to succeed mentally.

 

Source:

New York Times: “More College Students Seem to be Majoring in Perfectionism”, by Jane Adams. January 18, 2018.

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