Question If you're around sixteen (question from a teacher)

[Professor Walsh]

I teach science in the first year of high school here, and one of the subjects we're going through is health. (Wide much? Yeah.) As a part of that, I have the opportunity to engage my pupils in a dialogue on mental health. And that's where my question comes in: If you had a teacher who were not at all afraid to talk about mental health with young people (I'm not, honestly), what questions/topics would you like to see adressed? I'd deeply appreciate some input - while I like to think that I remember what it was like to be me when I was sixteen, I am just a sample of one. And ancient, of course. :broom:

 

[Cast No Shadow]

I think depression is a big one for teenagers, when I was around 16 I remember being down quite a lot, I'm fairly sure I wasn't depressed but I know people who were. I think it's good to let people know that they're not wrong for feeling like that, especially at that age with hormones going haywire.

I think another important one is the ramifications of drugs, like weed etc, as often teens don't realise that in later life it can cause paranoia and the suchlike.

 

[SlayerFest]

Yeah, I don't think that depression was brought up at all by my health teacher. Ironically, I was in a deep state of it when I took the class. She talked about bi polar disorder, schizophrenia (which everyone seemed to love for some reason) but I really don't recall her bringing up depression. Everyone seems to love mental illnesses. OCD was quite popular.

The psych class at my school was always packed.

 

[babyjagger1993]

I went to a high school where Mental Illness was barely ever discussed.
I had a lot of problems and I felt horrible when the teachers wouldnt be honest with me.
I wished they would have explained being ADHD a little bit more...rather than just passing me off to the next teacher.
I knew how to deal with it because well I was an Overachiever.
I just had a hard time making friends and getting along with people.
I got good grades...but I had a short attention span and a weird ability to not take crap.
I didnt find out until I was 15, what was really wrong with me and It could have been avoided early on with the proper treatments.
I'm more than likely just a textbook case of crap...sorry.


If you gonna discuss mental illness....then go with these topics:

Bipolar
Manic Depression
Autism
Schizophrenia
Adhd (You arent teaching remedial classes right? cause a lot of kids in SE have that.)
OCD
Paranoia
BPD or Borderline Personality Disorder
Munchausen Syndrome
Down Syndrome

 

[Ripper666]

What about:
-anorexia
-obesity
-drugs and alcohol
-bulling

 

[Harley]

You could always have students ask questions in a box so theyre private. My health teacher did that and I feel like I learned a lot, especially about STDs and pregnancy.

 

[Professor Walsh]

Thanks for thinking with me, everyone 🙂 That box idea is good.