How does mental illnesses affect students and teachers?

Madison Ulrich, Staff Writer|February 12, 2020

How does mental illnesses affect students and teachers?

What is a mental illness?

A mental illness is an illness that affects your learning, interactions and reactions/emotions to things. They can cause issues in everyday life for people like social interactions, going to specific places or seeing a specific person.

What is it like?

Having a mental illness isn’t something you should take joke about. These can affect you at any time, anywhere specifying that person, and what they have. “A sickness or memory someone has to deal with,” stated Hanna Wandolowski, a Junior at Jenison High school. Mental Illnesses are tough to diagnose as they are not visible. Usually it caused by a memory or event that some experienced. Hanna also said that when someone asks why she is down and she tells them it is because of a disorder people do not think she is serious. People would say things like “You just want attention” or “Not being born with it doesn’t make it a ‘real’ mental illness.” Trauma itself isn’t a discord but it can cause one.

Is trauma a disorder?

Trauma can include road accidents which can cause anxiety on the roads (anxiety disorder), abuse that can cause someone to have a phobia about a specific sex, a person or people in general (cause depression, hostility, and/or a phobia) (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/impact-traumatic-events-mental-health). Trauma is one of the most common ways people get disorders, though people do get them based on the way they were born or they develop it over time. People even get it from their parents having a higher level of anxiety, or more prone to getting depression, etc.

What does a teacher think?

Mrs.Whittecar, a teacher at Jenison high school, said “I assume I’d see things differently,” if she had some kind of disorder. She doesn’t think calling a mental disorder a ‘sickness’ as

“

It sounds negative

— Mrs.Whittecar

calling it that. Adults encounter mental illnesses recently so many adults don’t know how to handle situations involving the way someone with a disorder reacts or has some kind of issue. Another issue is that it is not just Disorders that people judge: Disorders, beliefs, sexuality, race, culture, appearance, etc. Students and adults alike are so set on their opinion, most of the time, they forget that the person they stare at, judging and making fun of is another human being. So what they are a little different? Does it affect you as a person? The biggest thing people should learn is to keep an open mind as they are just as human as you are.

Keeping an open mind

Keeping an open mind doesn’t mean stop believing what you believe and change yourself for someone else. Just keep in mind that it is their life, and they can do what they want with it. Learn to keep your opinion to yourself and know when it is appropriate to display/ talk about it. Having a disorder isn’t something you can control yet people still say ‘ya well I’m not you.” Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. You are lucky for not being that person so feel grateful but don’t let that go to your head. They’re still human and happen to be just a little bit different from you. Just keep in mind they are their own person, and they can’t control everything about themselves. If that was the case, this world would just maybe be a bit better; or possible make the world worse.