Picture this: your eyes still heavy from sleep shutter open with difficulty. The first thing you feel when you wake up is a sense of existential dread washing over your body. You lay there in the darkness of your room unwilling to drag yourself out of bed for another painful day of school. The last thing you want to do is get out of bed for another long day of stress, drama, classes, tests, sports, homework, and studying only for the day to end and restart the process again the next day. You want nothing else but to put an end to the eternal cycle.

   At school, when you are called on in class, time seems to slow and the rest of the world blurs except for the silent stares of your classmates, and you feel sweat roll down your arms under your sleeves. You feel your stomach knotting up and palms sweating like crazy. Your hands start to shake against your will. You feel your throat constricting and your breath becomes quick and shallow. On the worst of days you want nothing else but to just die. On the rest of the days you’re left with a variety of symptoms: headaches, nausea, and aches.

   In the fast-paced world of today, there has been a distressing increase in mental health issues. According to Psychology Today, “Data from the Center for Disease Control shows sharp increases in stress-related disorders and diseases over the past few decades. The stress epidemic appears to be increasing with each new generation” (psychologytoday.com). With the amount of stress from school, extracurricular activities, and the pressure of being a teen, it’s no wonder the levels of stress and anxiety have been on the rise.

   “The courses are really challenging. They might have four AP classes and have really high expectations from home or peer comparison. They feel the pressure and the need to get into a good college,” said UC High Psychologist Dr. Dennis Sisco-Taylor. Different levels of difficulty in classes are supposed to help the needs of the students, not make the students feel as if it’s a requirement they need to succeed in life. Add the workload of AP and Honors classes on top of a busy extracurricular schedule, and the result is that students barely have the time to take care of themselves. Many students suffer from a lack of sleep which only makes the symptoms worse.

   According to Paradigm Malibu, a mental health center for teens, it’s hard to spot depression in teens, as it could be mistaken as just “going through a phase” and people with depression tend to try to hide what they’re going through. Students with anxiety and depression often struggle alone, because they feel like they are alone. If the feeling of isolation causes a student to become more depressed, then going to school with a stressful workload, and high pressure classes, can only worsen a student’s mental state.

   Here are some ways schools can help teens with anxiety and depression according to Edudemic. Since many students do not feel comfortable talking openly with their peers about such a personal topic, schools could have easy ways to anonymously ask for help, and have information about mental health available to the students. This could be done with informative posters, reminding students they can talk to the counselors and school psychologist, having professionals come in and talk about mental health issues, or having an easily accessible box where students can leave anonymous messages to get help (edudemic.com).

   Sisco-Taylor stated that he wishes it were easier to get outside help for the students. One problem he said he runs into is that if someone doesn’t have the right insurance, the person can’t be referred to certain agencies. This makes it a lot harder to get help, and complicates the process, which doesn’t make sense considering this is about the patient’s health, not the money. If teens with mental illnesses could get help faster, there would be fewer problems (edudemic.com).

   For students who miss school a lot, sometimes the only choice is to go to a charter school. However, students should have the option to be in the classes or school they want to attend. Charter school is a good option for teens with very severe anxiety or depression, if they are missing enough school to the point where they can’t keep up with or make up lost days. Schools could give ways for work to be sent home or ways in which work could be done at the student’s own pace so he/she can catch up (edudemic.com).

   The effect schools have on anxiety and depression is growing every passing year and it is something that can’t be left alone anymore. The intense pressures from school, parents, and extracurricular activities take a toll on students’ minds and bodies. If schools took the time to give students ways to seek help and then provide help, and find options for missing school or assignments, then hopefully students with anxiety and depression could get some relief.