“A 2020 national survey of 14- to 22-year-olds found that 90% of teens and young adults experiencing symptoms of depression are researching mental health issues online and most are accessing other people’s health stories through blogs, podcasts, and videos. About 3 in 4 young teens seeking information online about depression said they were looking for personal anecdotes from people who had suffered in the past.”

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discriminationLinks to an external site.

Two Parts

1. Why do you think teens are looking for personal stories of mental health struggles?

2. For this discussion, please go find a celebrity that has shared about their mental health struggles online (It must be their own personal account). Discuss steps they took to ‘get better.’ Do not share information about suicide, self-harm, substance use or details about trauma or eating disorders. You can (and should) talk about symptoms, and can state things like ‘they had thoughts of suicide’ or ‘have/had anorexia.’ Do not talk about specific behaviors.