Respect teens’ mental health

Many times teenage mental health problems are swept under the rug, because they get labeled as hormones or just being over-dramatic. When you’re told you’re just “being a teenager” and it’ll pass, it can make you feel very alone (which doesn’t help the problem).

As a teenager who struggles with depression, it can be very difficult to come forward and admit you need help. Luckily, I have a supportive family that took it seriously and got me the help I need, but lots of kids don’t get that same support.

I believe we need to teach people, especially adults, that teenagers aren’t always just “being over-dramatic” and a lot of the time it’s a more serious problem than us just being sad. If we want suicide rates in teens to go down, we need to stop making teenagers feel so unimportant and irrelevant.

Megan Christensen

Spokane