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Shanghai teenagers take on mental health issues
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Amidst the infamous Shanghai summer heat, a group of high-spirited high schoolers gathered at the Pudong Community Center Shanghai twice per week, examining mental health topics like anxiety, depression, eating disorders and anger issues.
They listened attentively to each other and CCS Director of Counseling Carrie Jones, Counseling Intern Sarah Harkin and volunteer Dewayne Jones. Some joined out of concern for friends and family members. Others have experienced mental health issues and understand how devastating and haunting they can be. Many were intrigued by the complexity of the human psyche and wished to attain a healthier mental state. Regardless of the exact motivation, more than 30 teens responded in no time in early June when Mrs Jones invited international school students to the Teen Mental Health Advocate Group.
The teens listened to guest speakers, Tonye Stuurman, leader of the Clothesline Project — the display of a collection of T-shirts on which people paint words of support for victims and insight toward mental illnesses — and Lorraine Lee, founder of Inward, a platform for raising mental health awareness. Tonye and Lorraine helped the students brainstorm different ways they can support, help and raise awareness of mental health issues.
Mental health issues are stained by a long history of lousy diagnosis criteria, mistreatment and dehumanization of victims. Most people’s schema of mental health issues involves damp iron-gated asylums, lunatic psychopaths and cruel medieval pseudoscientific treatments.
Without fully understanding present-day mental health issues, it is easy for people to broaden ancient pseudoscience and inaccurate fictional depictions to present-day, real-life cases. Victims of mental disorders might fall prey to the same illogical notions, feeling worthless or diminished. They may also avoid seeking help to avoid other people’s harsh and discriminatory judgments, leading to devastating, irreversible outcomes.
Through meeting and listening to past victims of mental health issues, the students harvested deep empathy toward their daily struggles. They came to note that behind the digits of the 792 million people with mental health problems, there are countless traumatic experiences and unbearable sufferings that the victims do not deserve. The students are now more motivated than ever to bring positive changes to their schools, families and neighborhoods to raise awareness of different mental health issues, erasing the stigma surrounding seeking help and support for mental illnesses.
(Julia Mei is a senior at Concordia International School Shanghai.)
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