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Zoie Armijo

Ms. Jorgensen

English 10 Honors, P.5

01 May 2019

Mental Illnesses are Misunderstood

Pandora’s box is an artifact in Greek Mythology that helps explain the myth of Pandora

in Hesiod’s Works and Days. In this story, Zeus, supreme god of the Olympians, gives Pandora a

wedding gift of this beautiful box to test her. He tells her she must not open it for she will not be

able to handle what it contains. However, curiosity eats her alive and as Pandora opens the box,

she soon discovers the evil and misery it beholds. It spreads all over the Earth, while hope

remains inside. Imagine a box with no hope, no desire, no aspiration. This is the emotional state

that teenagers and adults experience when suffering from Clinical Depression, Anxiety Disorder

or other similar illnesses. As a society, we are constantly believing a misconception regarding

these disorders and the power it has on a person. The majority of communities today do not have

a way of helping or providing treatment to suffering patients. The approach in treating an

adolescent suffering from psychiatric disorders can not be cured by medication, or

hospitalization because of the detrimental effects it has on them in the future as well as the

present.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation is the process of restoration of one’s well-being who is

diagnosed with a psychiatric disability. ​ Megan Hull, an Advanced Recovery System’s

copywriter, states, “According to the​ ​National Institute of Mental Health​,​ 50 percent of lifetime

cases of mental illness begin by age 14” (Hull 1). What do we do when abecedarian high school
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students develop depression, anxiety, or another disorder? The answer to this exact question

depends on the case. The majority of adolescents are sent to a mental institution, or a

rehabilitation center no matter what their case is, and the results are not always promising.

Sending a teenager, a kid, the same age as me away to have them find themselves is an extremely

frightening thought. Noam Shpancer, author of ​The Good Psychologist ​and a professor of

psychology at Otterbein University, has shared his personal experience of working at a

psychiatric hospital and has had a relative admitted into one also. When talking about his

relative, Claire, he states, “​Claire was not suicidal or homicidal during her episode (or ever in the

past, for that matter). She was hospitalized primarily for the purpose of receiving thorough

observation and evaluation, a proper diagnosis, and proper prescription medications. None of

that took place. Claire spent most of her time alone in her room or in therapeutically and

diagnostically useless group activities. She didn’t see the psychiatrist until roughly 35 hours after

admission. That encounter, which lasted less than 10 minutes, served as sole basis for her

diagnosis” (Shpancer 1). The poor judgement of these doctors made Claire suffer through

something she did not need, and if she did, the way she was treated is sickening. Some of these

hospitals tend to have an eerie look, and this particular one Claire attended, had the look and vibe

of an insane asylum from old movies (Shpancer 1). Claire is one of thousands of kids that have

been sent away that have returned the same state they were in before.

The cruel reality of these disorders is never fully exposed to our society. This is probably

why we have such a misunderstanding of the illnesses. Duloxetine, Prozac, and Lexapro are all

antidepressants taken by adolescents over the age 12 that help Anxiety Disorder and Major

Depressive Disorder. Antidepressants impact the behavior of brain’s neurotransmitters. These

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neurotransmitters are released to send messages between nerve cells. Specifically, the

neurotransmitters that impact depression are serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. In an

article by MayoClinic, they state, “The FDA reported that an extensive analysis of clinical trials

showed that antidepressants may cause or worsen suicidal thinking or behavior in a small

number of children and teens. The analysis showed that children and teens taking antidepressants

had a small increase in suicidal thoughts, compared with those taking a sugar pill (placebo)”

(MayoClinic 1). Giving a vigorous capsule to a teenager could be detrimental to them in the near

future. Our brains do not stop developing until the age of 25 and the damage that doctors can be

doing to such young patients is terrifying. Specifically, changes in the functional structure of the

brain have been observed after a single dose of SSRI medication (antidepressant) (MayoClinic

1). Therefore, this is significant because the teenage brain is still developing. If doctors or

parents do not pay close attention to their kid that’s on antidepressants, they could become worse

than they ever were. Increasing the chance of your child committing suicide is not a risk that any

parent should take. A friend of mine, let’s say her name is Emily, was diagnosed with Clinical

Depression earlier sophomore year. She immediately began taking Prozac and people all around

her could tell, her condition was worsening. She’d come to school threatening to hurt herself,

crying, and saying more and more about how much she hates herself. One day, Emily

disappeared, didn’t come to school, didn’t tell anyone where she was and didn’t have any contact

to the outside world. When she came back, two months later, she was worse than before and

ended up never coming back to school. This goes to show that people like Emily are closer and

more common than you think, so giving such a powerful treatment to a young adult is nefarious.
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Mental Disorders are spreading like an epidemic disease. More and more people are

diagnosed with Depression, Anxiety, but thousands are misdiagnosed and mistreated. Jordan

Levine at Levine Law, an Injury Attorney, has researched patients that not only have Depression

or Anxiety, but one’s that have Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia. He explains in an article, “A

full 69% of people with bipolar disorder are initially misdiagnosed, and one-third of those

patients remain misdiagnosed for ten or more years. On average, patients remain misdiagnosed

for 5.7 to 7.5 years” (Levine 1). A misdiagnosis like this can harm children, adolescents, and

adults for the rest of their lives. Some teenagers have been misdiagnosed and put on medication

(antidepressants) to help with their condition. This has led to several teenagers attempting suicide

and some being successful. ​Families who have loved ones that are struggling with these types of

illnesses, rely on medical professionals to assist them with diagnosis and treatment options. Each

adolescent suffering may require a different treatment, but a “canned approach” may not treat the

condition.

All in all, the time period we live in is completely uneducated on the “dark side” of

mental illnesses. Misunderstandings about this topic are common and the choices on how to deal

with someone who is mentally ill are incredibly poor. Doctors believe that giving a teenager a

pill once a day will help them with their everyday activities. Parents think that in order to “save”

their suffering kid, they must send them away to rehab. Lastly, doctors misdiagnose adolescents

who could just be moody or going through puberty. All of these factors are affecting our

generation and community and we aren’t even aware of it.

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Works Cited

​ ntidepressants for Children and Teens​.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical
“A

​ ww.mayoclinic.
Education and Research, 19 Feb. 2019, w

org/diseases-conditions/teen-de ression/in-depth/antidepressants/art-20047502

Beach, Stephen R. H. "​Depression​." Psychology and Mental Health, edited by Nancy A.

Piotrowski, Salem, 2009. Salem Online, ​https://online.salempress.com

Monroe, Jamison. “Teens and Antidepressants: The Case for Holistic Treatment.” ​Newport

Academy​, Newport Academy, 2 Feb. 2018,

www.newportacademy.com/resources/treatment/teens-antidepressants-side-effects-risks-h

olistic-treatment/​.

Shpancer, Noam.​“A Visit to the Psychiatric Hospital Made Me Sick.” Psychology Today, Sussex

Publishers,​www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/201503/visit-the-psychiatr

ic-hospital-made-me-sick​.

Villalobos, Denice. “Levine Law, Denver Accident Law Firm.” ​Levine Law, Denver Personal

Injury Law Firm,​ 26 Aug. 2014

www.mydenveraccidentlawfirm.com/news-resources/misdiagnosis-and-mistreatment-

of-mental -illness/​.