Throughout high school, many teens start to develop feelings for one another. Dating is mainstream for high schoolers and this is often where teenagers experience their first relationship and unfortunately, breakup. In today’s society, teenagers often don’t know how to deal with a breakup which leads them to issues of mental health, suicide, and depression.
In order for a teenager to recover from a breakup in a healthier way, adults need to become more aware of teenagers emotions and actions, teenagers need to realize that pain won’t last forever, and society needs to teach students more about mental health.
Most adults recall their first breakup as one of the most traumatic and emotional events of their adolescents. Since adults are able to remember how much of a toll their first breakup took on their mental health, why is it they struggle to communicate with teenagers now in today’s society? According to the media company Inverse, breakups are listed as one of the major reasons why teens commit suicide.
This is frightening for parents to hear because no one wants to see someone they love take their own life. In order to prevent this, one of the most useful ways a parent can help their child get through a breakup is simply to listen. According to most adults, this may not be easy due to the fact that they want to console and give advice, but in today’s society, teenagers need to be able to lean on others and always have a shoulder to cry on. Parents can also start to become aware of the healthy coping methods and also the ones they should be worried about.
Healthy symptoms of a breakup may include crying/sadness, anger/frustration, insomnia, loss of interest in activities, and fear. Although these symptoms may be troublesome, they are normal. If one starts to feel hopeless nearly every day, has a loss of interests they once enjoyed, has a dramatic change in their sleep schedule, or starts to develop suicidal ideation, depression may be on its way.
There are many treatments for depression such as antidepressants and therapy. By improving the communication skills between parents and their children, parents may be able to recognize if their mental health is being negatively affected by the breakup and may be able to prevent depression, suicide, and anxiety.
One thing that teenagers tend to do is overreact. If teenagers were more educated on the fact that there are “plenty of fish in the sea” and that the pain of a heartbreak won’t last forever, they may be able to get over a breakup without developing depression. A study conducted in Canada showed that 23% teenagers 15 to 18 years old have experienced a heartbreak that affected them negatively in the past six months. Among these teenagers, 40% experienced clinical depression and 12% suffered moderate to severe depression. When teenagers go through their first major heartbreak, they tend to think the world is ending. This may lead to suicide and substance abuse.
A major hobby of teenagers is partaking in partying which is often looked at as a reliever for stress. That is not true because alcohol is an antidepressant and when one is already showing signs of depression, the effects worsen. If teenagers were taught to let things go, they might not turn to these coping methods.
Teens lament loss but, in reality, most don’t even understand love yet.
When society sets such high standards for such thing as “relationship goals,” it pushes teenagers to overthink the whole process which causes them to feel more pain than needed in the end. If society didn’t put such pressure on young adults to be in a relationship, most wouldn’t obsess over the fact that they are never going to get over someone, which could help decrease the statistics of depression within teens.
Not all breakups end badly. In fact, some teens are happier without their significant other right off the bat. But for the heartbroken, society needs to educate teenagers on how to deal with mental health issues before they get too severe. Mental health is becoming more frequent in society than ever. In fact, one out of five adolescents has a diagnosable mental health disorder, and less than 50% receive help for their condition.
Many of these young adults may not even know about their condition and this is why one out of every 12 teenagers attempt suicide each year. If more programs were created to help teenagers such as the “Teen Treatment Program”, children would be able to receive the help needed before it is too late. Through these treatment centers, they offer individual/group therapy, life skills training, and recreational therapy.
When kids learn about mental health issues and are aware that they can seek help, they feel as if they are not alone and have hope for the future. Breakups take a huge toll on someone's mental health because they have just lost a loved one, have trouble connecting, feel as if they are doing something wrong with their life, and this can all result in depression and suicide. If teenagers were aware of how they can reach out for help and new the signs of a mental health disorder, the rate of teenagers with mental health issue would decrease and coping with a heartbreak would become much easier.
When a teenager goes through their first heartbreak, they feel as if the world is ending. This could result in severely harmful actions. If the world improved the daily lives of teenagers in the ways listed above, suicide rates would decrease, depression might not be as common in adolescents, and breakups could eventually lead to more positive outcomes.
