Stress In Teens

Teens and Stress: It’s Not Just The Hormones
At the edge of darkness, uncertain and lost, there are some who find themselves in what seems like an irreversible situation. Sometimes these individuals can only see one solution left; taking the plunge into the shadows.
Youth suicide has been a serious problem in many countries over the past four decades (Gregoire). Statistics show that every year 200,000 teenagers worldwide commit suicide, and approximately 4 million adolescents attempt it (Gregoire). There are many factors that can affect the psychological state of teens; however one documented major culprit is stress. According to the APA’s 2013 Stress In America Survey, American teenagers are now the most stressed-out age group in the United
When stress builds with no release or attentive help, it can lead to anxiety, depression, and despair (The Standard). There have been increasing rates of mental illness in teens, and many of these cases can be attributed to the stress they face on a daily bases. When high school students are put under too much stress, they may be inclined to make certain lifestyle choices that can affect their future success, first hand accounts can provide an incredible amount of insight into the lives of actual teens and their real stress. Many High schoolers have spoken about how they attempt to cope on a daily basis with the stressors they face at school, weather academically or socially (TMW media). In a video provided by kidshealth, interviews with teens provides real examples of what stress can do to adolescents, and how it impacts their lives. Stress in small amounts can have positive effects, by motivating and making teens work a little harder. A certain amount of stress on young adults is normal, and definitely drives them
Adolescence is a stressful time for many teenagers. In recent studied, stress in teens has been linked to many psychological behaviors and conditions. Withdrawal from family and friends, aggression, risky behavior, and substance abuse are a few of these behaviors observably increasing. The study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine can help in understanding why mental illness in teens is becoming more prevalent and how it occurs. Conducted in a lab, the researchers worked with young mice known to have genes for mental illness and were able to prompt signs and symptoms of mental illness by exposing the mice to stress (Iliades). Akira Sawa, MD, PhD, a psychiatry professor and director of the schizophrenia center at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore and lead researcher on the study described that "Having the genes for mental illness puts the mice at risk, but it is not enough to cause mental illness, when you add stress to the equation, at an age when the mouse brain is most similar to the human adolescent brain, the mental illness is triggered." Many individuals have the potential and genetic makeup for mental illness, however these illnesses are not always active and can remain “dormant” or can be seen in small amounts. Stress can trigger these mental disorders, causing havoc. The teen years