Week 13

Next week is our presentation for Convention Day and our group will be discussing mental health. Our group plans to meet tomorrow to work on a poster and will also provide our listeners with a handout of slides we created that they may keep with them for future reference. We have yet to divide up the information and assign specific topics to each group member that they will research and present on. However, I plan on discussing symptoms and statistics for depression/anxiety in young kids so that the parents may acknowledge any warning signs their children may exhibit in the future. Concerning statistics, I believe it is important for parents, if their child belong to any of the demographics with high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation (such as with LGBT youth) that they would ensure their child feels loved and supported in order to prevent such mental illnesses from occurring. If the parents understand the symptoms of such mental illness and statistics concerning these mental illnesses, they may support their child to undergo treatment, such as seeing a therapist and/or beginning an antidepressant treatment.

Warning signs for depression in young adults may include continuous:

• Problems at school 
• Difficulty concentrating
• Social withdrawal
• Running away 
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Self injury
• Low self-esteem
• Smartphone addiction
• Reckless behavior
• Appearance of lifelessness (zoned-out), sadness, hopelessness
• Lack of enthusiasm and motivation
• Constant tiredness
• Oversleeping or insomnia
• Changes in eating (lack of eating or overeating)
• Anger/irritability
• Unexplained aches and pains
• Mentioning suicidal thoughts

Statistics of suicide in youth:

• 4/5 who commit suicide show clear warning signs beforehand
• Second leading cause of death (age 10-24)
• Each day, 3,470 suicidal attempts occur (those in high school) 
• LGB youth seriously contemplate suicide 3x more than heterosexual individuals
• 1/6 students contemplate suicide (those in high school)