LEARN Archives - Page 2 of 56

My Planner Makes Me Feel Better

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.

My anxiety starts to get bad when I feel like I don’t have control over the things around me. I like to know what’s going on around me and what is going to happen in the future. I think this is why my planner is so important to me. By filling out my planner I create the structure I need to keep anxiety under control. Continue reading My Planner Makes Me Feel Better

Honest Conversations About Self-Inducing Stress and Anxiety

This has been a topic I’ve wanted to write about for a very long time if I can be honest. The main reason that this topic is so important to me is because this is the root of all the stress, anxiety, and mental health issues…myself. Now everyone has their own culprits or reasons as to what triggers their own mental health issues, although in my case, and maybe even yours, is that I cause myself such extreme amounts of unneeded and unnecessary stress that it sparks my mental health issues I face and experience. Continue reading Honest Conversations About Self-Inducing Stress and Anxiety

The Benefits of Teenage Friendships

More often than not, we feel like we’re alone throughout middle and high school. It’s a weird feeling – we’re in the same building with all of our peers for hours five days out of the week, and social media can have us feeling connected and lonely at the same time.

Even with that feeling of being alone, middle and high school is an exciting but also stressful time to make and maintain friendships. You may gravitate towards classmates, use social media to find friends your age around the world based on your interests, or try to keep in contact with those you don’t go to school with or don’t have classes with.

It can feel almost crucial and absolutely necessary to have solid friendships when you’re a teen – adolescents have a higher desire and need to be accepted amongst peers, and the relationships around us can play an important role in who we become and interact with others as adults. Overall, teen friendships can play a vital role when it comes to your mental health, not just as a teen, but as you get older too.

Studies have shown that those who have strong connections both at home – which includes siblings – and at school when they’re teens are 66% less likely to experience mental illness or risky behavior. These risky behaviors include using drugs, misusing prescription drugs, and getting STDs. Additionally, having close friendships can help decrease stress levels and help you feel more secure and confident in adulthood.

The thing is, it can be hard finding and keeping those friendships when you’re a teen. You may get into arguments with others over the smallest things, and the reactions to them can make or break a friendship. Bullying – whether it’s in person or online – from people you consider to be friends can have a toxic effect on your self-esteem and self-worth, which can then affect how you trust others and make friends as an adult.

There are naturally a lot of benefits when it comes to friendships, but the ones we make as teenagers can have a powerful impact. This shouldn’t put pressure on you or force you to find and make important friendships, but at the very least, seeking a support system and finding those that you feel comfortable and safe around can help contribute to your development and sense of self.

How is your child’s support system? What were your friendships like in high school? How do you think they affected you now?

When Does Teasing Go Too Far?

You may have heard of self-deprecating humor, or when you make jokes about the things about yourself that you consider to be negative. There’s also teasing and mocking, where you’re not the one making negative jokes about yourself, but it’s someone else saying these things about you to you. Of course, teasing is meant to be lighthearted and is distinctly different than bullying. At the surface, it’s not meant to be harmful or to make anyone directly feel bad, and is often meant to be done between people who trust each other and are comfortable around. Continue reading When Does Teasing Go Too Far?

What is Resilience?

Trying to combat mental illness and the effects it can have on you can be exhausting, hard, and can even make you feel worse. Nonetheless, resilience, or the process of fighting back and recovering from difficulties, is possible.

Resilience is a way to include positivity in your life and a way to fight back against the negative thoughts that often come with having a mental illness. It’s a way of like telling your mental illness that it doesn’t have more power than you have over yourself and that you can get back up when it knocks you down. There are tons of ways to practice resilience too, from changing behavior patterns or your environment to practicing healthy coping mechanisms.

Resilience acts as a type of protective factor, which are ways to prevent issues like more severe mental health effects from occurring. It’s different than simply trying to overcome your issues though; while it may sound like it’s the same thing as putting on a smile on your face and acting as if nothing is wrong, resilience is more about trying to find a way to battle your feelings and also means embracing that they’re in the first place.

But how does resilience look for adolescents specifically? One study interviewed five teenage girls who were being treated for various mental illnesses such as addiction, PTSD, and depression. Common patterns appeared in what all of them had to say; for example, embracing resilience for them was challenging, but they described the effects that it had on them to be really rewarding.

These difficulties came in the form of trying to find positivity when combating triggers or experiencing nightmares, or feeling like they were alone in their situation and trying to withstand trauma by themselves, especially because of things like stigma or being shut down when they did open up. They were able to find resilience through becoming more confident in dealing with their mental health issues, which led to an increase in self-worth, and it was something that they were able to work on not just with other’s help, but through their own individual determination. They were also able to find the resources they needed and simply just surviving when things felt like they were at their worst.

While it’s a journey, finding ways to be resilient against one’s mental illness is possible.

What do you think resilience is? How do you embrace difficulties or challenges that may occur? How does your child?

Anger’s Role in Depression and Anxiety

Some of the more common symptoms associated with depression include fatigue, a loss of interest in things one usually enjoys, and hopelessness. Anxiety symptoms are usually thought to be restlessness, nervousness, and a rapid heart rate. Another symptom that can come with both, however, is anger. Continue reading Anger’s Role in Depression and Anxiety

Music and the Brain

We listen to music all day, everyday. If we are in the car, at the dentist office, at the store, we constantly are being exposed to music. But, do you really think about the effect that music can take on our brains and our mood even when we don’t think about it? Continue reading Music and the Brain

Staying True to Yourself While Dating

In January, I was in my first relationship where I was dating someone, and it was a great experience and something I have wanted for, well, forever. Continue reading Staying True to Yourself While Dating

Taking Short-Term Disability at Work

Over the first few months of this year, my mental health was taking a heavy toll due to many stressors, including those at work and at home. As a result, I knew that I needed to make some changes, but I was not too confident or sure that I could make all of the necessary lifestyle changes and health things while I was still working. Continue reading Taking Short-Term Disability at Work

Caffeine’s Effect on Adolescents

Sometimes, it feels like caffeine is a necessity. It may be that cup of coffee before your class starts at 8AM or that energy drink to help you get through that last leg of your assignment at 2 in the morning. Given the hectic work and school schedules for teenagers and young adults, every source of energy is welcomed to get as many things done in the day as possible. Continue reading Caffeine’s Effect on Adolescents