Teens in Isolation

At the start of the lockdown I was relieved to have a break from school for a while because I thought the start of quarantine to be a 2 week break and then we would have to eventually go back to normal. When it went a little longer than I thought it would, I was still very optimistic about going back to school and having a normal life. It was until I heard I was entering the 9th grade through zoom, when I started to feel helpless.

I chose this topic with the sole purpose of trying not to feel alone. I thought that I was the only one having trouble with depression motivation throughout the school year. I didn’t want to be a Debby downer but I genuinely thought we weren’t ever gonna get out of this pandemic. When I was researching I shared a lot of my thoughts in the teenagers that the articles talk about. I feel we need to talk about this topic because I feel like it has not been talked about as much as it should be, obviously everyone is having a hard time but teenagers need socialization to grow and thrive. I think it’s most important for adults to know about this topic because they think this is just a time were we teens have all the time in the world and it has been really stressful and adults really don’t seem to understand that.

Many teens are experiencing eating disorders, new suicidal thoughts and new waves of anxiety, with a 40% increase of teens calling The National Eating Disorder Association since may reporting that they have been binge eating during the pandemic and with online school and always being on our devices we can lose track of how much we eat. An issue like this is significant because the spike in self-harm within the teen community since the pandemic started, is serious.

According to FAIR Health there was a 334% spike in self-harm in teens and young adults amid the pandemic, teens and children feeling trapped inside. Usually when kids are feeling depressed adults try to make them engage in outside activities such as hanging with friends or going to the park, which we all can’t do now. Not having the space to fully develop teens are not ok, the proportion of mental health emergency admission was up 31% higher than it was in 2019 according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 14.3% of teens will be affected by depression and bipolar disorder and with the added trauma from the pandemic, teens are now one of the most affected groups.

Researching this topic for the You & The World project made me realize that I am not alone and there are hundreds of people who are struggling with the same things I am. One part about my research I still want to know more about is the child abuse and how children and teens are living with their abusers, and if there is any way to get them help. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped with an abuser for months on end not knowing when it’s going to be over. Another thing I still want to dig deeper into is to eating disorders and if binge eating is the only eating disorder people are struggling with, I know some people have bulimia and Anorexia and I want to know if the pandemic made it worse for them and if there are coping methods they have.

With the pandemic not being over soon I am feeling apprehensive about the future for teens during this pandemic knowing a lot of them aren’t in their right state of mind.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/health/covid-teenagers-mental-health.html

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/impact-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-teens-mental-health

https://edsource.org/2021/eating-disorders-among-teens-surging-during-the-pandemic/650882

https://time.com/5943896/covid-19-teen-mental-health/

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/14/977215385/professionals-see-uptick-in-teen-mental-health-issues-aggravated-by-pandemic

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/teenagers-covid-pandemic-mental-health/2021/02/10/3389983a-39d6-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html