Editorial: Mental health to be taught to all key stage students.

My definition of Mental illness went a little something like - 'people who are out of their damned mind' and I'd associate mental illness with such conditions as: schizophrenia, bi polar, paranoia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and so on. And I'm quite right, the conditions that I've mentioned are all mental illnesses, but recent articles have changed my definition of 'mental illness;' I now believe mental illness is connected with commonplace illnesses such as depression and panic/anxiety attacks as well as bi polar, paranoia, etc.

My best friend, 15, was a lively character and he seemed to live a life of luxury. He was wealthy beyond I could imagine, (I constantly wondered why he befriended me, a young woman with little money) and from my perspective, I considered him a joyful teenager. Little did I know that he was cutting himself, carving messages into his fragile and broken skin with a knife, bleeding excessively both physically and emotionally. He shared his melancholy nature with me once; he told me how alone he felt and how no cares about him. I told him he was crazy. I told him that he was just stressed over exams. Neither one of us evaluated the reason for his sadness, like I said, he seemed a joyful young man. Next morning, I was delivered the news of his suicide. I feel that I was partly at fault, I did not consider his feelings and I did not take the time to understand why. I still don't know to this day. And if I could go back to the moment he told me, I would have told him immediately that he was depressed. The interpretation seems so simple now. How ignorant I was and what a poor, broken and helpless life lost.

After the suicide of my friend, I took a more serious view on mental health. I kept thinking how he never knew he was depressed, he should have known and more importantly, I should have known! I believe that being taught about mental health in schools could influence a child of any age and they could understand more quickly about why they are feeling in a certain way - this could drive them away from any dangerous thoughts such as cutting themselves and suicide. According to a book titled: Mental health of children and adolescents in Great Britain, "Among 5-10 year olds, 10% of boys and 6% of girls had a mental disorder. In the older age group, the 11-15 year olds, the proportions of children with any mental disorder were 13% for boys and 10% for girls." This suggests that children of all ages are getting affected mentally, especially adolescents. Although mental health may be difficult for key stage 1 and 2 pupils to understand, they could provide basic levels on mental health. It is not too difficult for young children to understand, so long as they learn about the basic symptoms (but subtle ones so that it does not frighten them). The reason why we should encourage schools to make mental health a compulsory subject in school is because it helps the youngsters diagnose the conditions they may have and/or those around them. Not only that, but it will enhance their common knowledge, because you never know when information of mental health could be important. The subject of mental health does not necessarily have to be a consistent subject taught in school, but perhaps a one hour session for a week at the end of each term, much like P.S.H.E. What could be the harm in teaching students of all ages about mental health? What intimidating basics of the subjects could frighten the 5 and 6 year olds? By being careful about the things we say to young children, we can achieve something extraordinary. The knowledge of young people will be enhanced, what distress could possibly come from that? And we are potentially saving lives, what distress could possible come from that? So many young people can easily not face the fatality of my best friend.

By researching the causes of depression, we will know how to avoid it. For example, Dr. Luke Jefferies wrote in an article that "UK's 2.5 million students undergo big transitions and these can affect mental health." The big transitions Dr. Jefferies mentions are things like: moving between key stages, moving schools, exams, going to college, beginning university, getting employed etc. This could influence mental health because these transitions can be very stressful and daunting. And how many students undergo these transitions? All of them! Everyone faces unnerving moments like that. All students move schools (primary to secondary), all students sit exams and move between key stages. This means, anyone can be affected by mental illness, and there is not enough of the subject being discussed in school. We cannot rely on psychology lessons, because in most schools it is an optional subject to take. Ian Burrell mentioned in his article for the Independent that, "excessive 'screen time' - more than four hours a day - was linked to anxiety and depression and was responsible for limiting a child's opportunity for social interaction and physical activity." What teenager does not undergo a bit of excessive screen time? Even I find myself staring at a screen at every hour of the day. This is linked to anxiety and depression - perhaps the reason why these illnesses are so common. We can discover how to tackle these issues, just don't stare at a screen all day and especially, night. Sleep loss contributes to depression also. If we had lessons on this at school, we would know how to steer clear of it.

An interesting case study discovered by Sigmund Freud evaluated the meaning of Oedipus Complex. Online, it stated that Oedipus complex means "in psychoanalytic theory, a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex; a crucial stage in the normal developmental process. Sigmund Freud introduced the concept in his Interpretation of Dreams (1899)." Freud discovered this from not a man, but a small five year old boy. He was interested in his penis and had a phobia of horses. He loved his mother and wanted to marry her and apparently, his phobia of horses symbolised his father as potential competition to claim his mother. Phobia is another illness that I never used to consider as a mental health issue. It seemed too common to be dubbed as an illness. But I now believe it is an illness, as it is evidently portrayed in Freud's study. Even the thought of sexual desires occurs in very young children, but this is mostly not down to their nature, but their mind and mental status.

The only obvious way to avoid the most common mental health issues is by teaching it in school. School is a very influential service to children, as proved by previous events like Hitler's propaganda to teach children about discriminating Jews. I'm not saying to drill information about mental health like propaganda, but just giving the children insight into their lives or other lives can help resolve the issue of hurting themselves. Bringing people who are diagnosed together can make them feel united and not isolated. By teaching this in school, it allows children to question themselves after a lesson on whether they could potentially have the illness discussed in class. It could bring justice to my best friend's life by arguably saving other lives. You could relive me of my burden of guilt by allowing mental health to be taught at school to all key stages. My best friend's life might not have been saved, but this is your chance to save yours and those around you.

For more information on mental health click here