In your opinion, are younger Americans overexposed to the subject of their mental health?

👍 Yes (60%) – "While it is good to have awareness for mental health, so those who need it can seek help easily, a lot of young people self-diagnose. As an example, people who have a presentation the following day may talk about how their anxiety is flaring up, when in reality, they are just anxious and do not have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Mental disorders are turning into a trendy thing to have. People are picking at their "problems" and "issues" and trying to slap a name on them. Mental disorders, like everything, are on a spectrum. While it is nice to know that you are not alone in the world, some people just need to go to therapy."

• "Because what you focus on is what you become. So when you obsess over EVERY thought, feeling, & emotion they stay in the forefront and can be problematic. Even positive things can be “stressful” so it’s not good to constantly overthink everything."

"As a high school teacher, I am aware of the teaching of awareness, coping strategies, and resources with regard to mental health. Schools are not the only place children are exposed to ideas surrounding mental health. In addition, social media has many content producers who may or may not have formal mental health education or training who share experiences and advice. Is it any wonder a normal down day or two could be confused with depression, or feeling anxious about a test could be construed as having anxiety?"

• "There are unfortunately young people with legit mental health problems today. These people need to have support and help. However, I believe an overabundance of programs focusing on this could easily cause young impressionable people to self-diagnose as having a mental health problem where none exists. I feel there is an opportunity to flip this upside down and focus instead on providing and encouraging young people to take advantage of positive outlets to deal with stress. Part of this is a breakdown in the family and family values, in my opinion. That’s a tougher one to address, but may be the root cause. If limited options exist, we should make it a point to create them. Our society/culture has led to plenty of damaged minds. Let’s not make it worse."

"I'm not saying that mental health isn't important or that mental illness isn't real. As a middle school teacher of almost 30 years I'll say that these adolescents are very suggestible and herd-oriented so they follow along with any trend, good or bad, for the most part. I suppose getting treatment or getting healthier is always beneficial, but sometimes they just choose a label like "depressed" or "anxiety disorder" and never move forward so it's a negative thing."

• "Yes, absolutely. It leaves me with a lump in my throat and a pit in my stomach every time we have a “feelings” class. I’m perfectly healthy; I’m a normal teenager with all the usual problems you’d expect us to have: awkward, sometimes insecure, and very stressed by school work. But everything feels worse after someone tries to talk to me about mental health/ it makes me believe that I’m worse off than I thought, that I’m not getting better… and I know that’s not true, but my mind is still tried into believing it."

👎 No (23%) – "With so many adults around children dealing with mental health issues, how could they not be overexposed? Pointing to the resources that support coping feels like throwing the baby out with the bath water. If they are overexposed it’s because we are experiencing mental health issues in a widespread manner— avoiding the topic in a productive manner seems negligent and harmful."

• "I think that we are embracing mental health challenges and needs in a public and healthy way instead of covering it up or creating a stigma with it. This has long needed to happen and I hope it leads to more a well balanced society attentive to their needs and able to address their needs through healthy habits."

🤷 Unsure/other (17%) – "I am a strong advocate for educating youth about emotional regulation and mindfulness. I have seen students grow and excel when they have tools to help them manage emotions. It easily ties into executive functioning skills and all round good health habits. However, the availability of googling mental health symptoms may provide unclear information to youth. The awareness needs to come in a structured, thoughtful way, where conversations with parents and community are also present. This may require addressing how much screen time youth have and guidelines for managing information both at home and in schools. The qualitative data that I have collected with my program suggests that having strategies for emotional regulation, mindfulness, and executive functions benefit students."

• "While it is important to educate ALL people of the importance of mental health, it can be counterproductive to over educate children who do not have the skills or maturity to think through issues that can possibly be address while working with their peers or parents. Thats how we addressed the problems 50 years ago."