Earlier Education?

[Hottie]

I have thought about this question before and i personally think it would make a difference...

Do you think if you were educated about MH conditions at an earlier stage in life it would have made a difference to the way we are now?

I know that we become who we are from experiences all throughout our life. If we recieved education at an earlier age, do you think we could have managed those experiences better or differently and ultimetly avoid being abnormally anxious?

Do you think MH should be thought in schools? Do you think it would make a difference?

 

[bsebring]

Defiantly, I think it should be mandatory for kids to have self esteem and communication classes when they're younger. IMO, early education should find the balance between teaching kids on an emotional level in addition to a cognitive level. For example, team building exercises can help kids get out of their comfort zone and bond more which can, in turn, form friendships. It doesn't have to be big things (we obviously don't need to scare them w/ abnormal psych classes in elementary school), but little things can make a big difference.

 

[WeirdyMcGee]

Oh, yeah- of course!

There's this stigma about having a mental health problem; among ALOT of people. Being taught in school is one way that children/teenagers could have more understanding for other people and hopefully there would be less teasing and harassment for people who are 'different' because of their mental health.

Also-- if I'd have known about panic attacks as a child, I would have been diagnosed with panic disorder and gotten help much sooner than I did.

 

[Newtype]

I agree with what bsebring said. Personally, I always tell myself that if I have kids one day, I'll make sure to help them be comfortable in social situations. I don't want them to go through what I've been going through. But there are limits of course. I once knew a guy who told me that his parents were going to kick him out if he didn't find a gf during the summer... That's insane.

 

[madmike]

I don't know, i usually adhere to the belief that more knowledge and information is better, it helps you get your facts right and make informed decisions and such. But on this issue, part of me just feels it would have confused me more, maybe even made me more paranoid about MH conditions like anxiety and thus had more of a negative than positive impact on my life.

But removing the stigma from MH conditions would surely be a good thing!

 

[Pookah]

I think parents should be educated on mental illness in case their child ends up with one.

 

[Kiwong]

I don't think that would've helped. I should have been provided safer school and work environments where people don't bully and gossip. Twenty years ago this disorder probably wasn't even known.

 

[awkwardamanda]

Never mind teaching psychology to kids. Let's start with the adults. The general public needs to be made aware of mental health issues. Many people have heard of some of these issues, but they often don't understand or even care. If you've got a more obscure disorder, forget it. They won't have a clue. Others can often tell when a person is severely mentally ill, but it's the more subtle problems that tend to go unnoticed. Maybe that wouldn't be so if more people were aware of how common mental health problems really are. Then maybe those who suffer wouldn't be so afraid to get help. And maybe if more people were more aware of mental health problems, they might actually take note when kids start developing them. Maybe then parents and teachers wouldn't automatically assume it's ADHD as soon as a child appears to have behavioural problems.

When I was a kid I was bullied a lot. I was shy anyway and never had many friends. The school did piss all about it. They claim "zero tolerance" but that's a load of crap. All they do is put you in different classes the next year and pretend that'll solve the problem, only to let some other bullying bastard take over. My mom told me, "Don't let it get to you." Yeah, sorry, doesn't work like that. I cried a lot and complained that I hated myself and wished I hadn't been born. My mom just said, "You're supposed to love yourself." Bull****. Snap your fingers and I'll magically believe you!! She took offense when I said I didn't choose to be born. Thanks so much for being concerned. Because of that I learned just to keep everything to myself. Even my teachers pointed out to her that I never smiled. Gee, and nobody clued into the fact that something might seriously be wrong with me?! Nobody realized it isn't normal for a kid to be like that? No. Nobody thought it would take any more effort than just telling me to be happy cause they said so. Nobody thought it might actually be possible for kids to get depressed. Nobody thought it was worth stepping in to put an end to the mindless teasing before it caused a shatload of problems down the road. Then again, if I had been taken to a doctor or even to a counselor back then I probably would have fought them every step of the way. But I sure as hell wasn't able to figure it out for myself then. Had someone else clued in a little, maybe I wouldn't be so screwed up now.

 

[JamesSmith]

For myself, I'd lean towards more interaction wouldn't have helped me. I've always been uncomfortable in most social situations. If anything, more interaction in the past would have made me find out faster how much I didn't like being around most people.

For me, nature has played the biggest role in my shyness. I've always been tense and shy. I think that when people have severe SAD like I do, more social interaction can actually hurt them and make them feel more depressed and more like an outcast. There have been times where I've been around people and wanted to kill myself because I hated being around people so much. The only time I have hated myself was when I was around people.

 

[Hottie]

Okay well IMO, i thinking along the lines of prevention -v- cure. If a child was educated on how to have good mental health. By this i mean, if a child was thought things like positive affirmations, relaxation etc. would it make a difference?

I know that my within my personal situation there may have been a different out come. My anxiety developed in school (secondary, not primary). If i had of realised at the time i was becoming slightly anxious, i believe i could have nipped the problem in the bud.

Also it was not until i went to college i learned what was worong with me. I studdied social studdies/care and within the course it had a class called Mental Health (how lovely for me!). It was a complete nightmare...but if i didnt have that class i wouldnt have found out i suffered from anxiety. I never knew what was wrong with me, and because of the education i soon found out what i had. It gave me the confidence to go then and get help and it also educated me on what routes i could take.
Plus my mother is an alcholic and if i had some guidence on how to deal with her better i would have not become so stressed, depressed, anxious and angry. Instead i became all of those things.

Basically i believe that education on life situations (feelings and emotions) and mental health (types, symptoms, treatment) would have showed me that my family problems is common and i can deal with it differently and that i could have seen the anxiety disorder developing and done some thing earlier.

But awarkerdamanda, i completely agree with your point too. Adults should be educated on it to - for themselves and there children.

I think that suicide is four times greater than road traffic accidents here in Ireland. Which i personally think truely sad. I know that suicide happens for many different reasons to that individual. IMO i think that (possibily) a lot of thoses cases may be realted to MH conditions. If not, it may be related to people from broken homes and not able to deal with the constant stress and pressure.

If the education was given on how to deal with life better (all types of things, loneliness, sadnesss, stress, anxiety, depression, anger, thinking etc) was given then that number of suicides may decrease and people will learn to reconigise when the is something not right within the mind and body and know how and when to take action for the better of themselves.

The money put into preventing car crashes is HUGE. But yet with suicide the number of deaths is largely greater to car accidents but it is underfunded...
Maybe education and information is the key?

 

[Feathers]

Yeah, I totally agree that more would need to be done in the area of prevention (I wasn't joking! )

I was seriously thinking about this 10+ years ago already.. Some stuff has been done worldwide already, school-wide anti-bullying, mediation programs etc... Thing is (an ex-roommate once said) that on big schools in big cities there are A LOT more problems, those schools may have bigger budgets and do more, have more programs... when even smaller things/programs could do a lot on smaller schools/in smaller towns...

Also, for teachers, it is kinda impossible to actively develop programs & teach at the same time - the programs would need to be prepared ahead... ideally incorporated into other lessons (eg language, nature, home economics etc maybe)

health and mental health are complex things, also food/nutrition and environmental health/problems can play an important role.. and yup alcoholism and such.. again, some towns/cities may have Al Anon and AA programs, some don't... our country is quite 'famous' for alcoholism and suicides too, sigh..

it has to be well thought-out and made together with teachers & experts, so that it wouldn't inadvertently cause damage.. ideally it would be a whole-school approach, even the staff (eg a cleaning lady or a janitor/maintenance guy or a cook) can sometimes help a kid..

I mean, why don't kids at school learn about Really Important Things, like Life/Love/Career/Money management etc? In times of Google and Wikipedia, more emphasis could be put into information/overwhelm management etc too... A lot of things that would be important in school.. Also important, who teaches such things and how.. Teacher burnout/overwhelm is a big problem too, in some schools/subjects it can be worse than others..
So teachers aren't really happy about any 'extra work', at least around here lol.. unless they have taught for a while and experienced in basic class management etc. Then they may be interested in more too..

Teacher education at universities would need to be different already, and teachers offered the help and basic skills (eg CBT and some common 'traps' for teachers explored, and what can be done, etc.)
Often, conflicts can arise at school, and teachers may not have the knowledge how to deal with that.. Good mediation programs hence offer support for teachers too..

It's not 'enough' to just 'get informed' about eg anxiety etc - really prevention is imo learning how to prevent it so the kids wouldn't need to get to a therapist, or less would need to go..
Therapists are just 'firemen' putting out fires... The ideal is that people learn to live in healthy ways and such crisis problems wouldn't happen.. Or yeah, that they would know who to go to and what can be done..

 

[Surrogate]

Yes definitely, prior knowledge would've changed my life entirely.
But like they say, hindsight is 20/20 so you may not even know that you're under the influence until you've developed a minor case of it.

 

[Hottie]

Some stuff has been done worldwide already, school-wide anti-bullying, mediation programs etc... Thing is (an ex-roommate once said) that on big schools in big cities there are A LOT more problems, those schools may have bigger budgets and do more, have more programs... when even smaller things/programs could do a lot on smaller schools/in smaller towns...

I fully undrestand this point. And i agree that it woukd take a lot to fulfill all the roles possible to try and prevent other things too; things that would benifit from some sort of prevention. Like as you have said bullying etc.

Also, for teachers, it is kinda impossible to actively develop programs & teach at the same time - the programs would need to be prepared ahead... ideally incorporated into other lessons (eg language, nature, home economics etc maybe)

I agree with you with the incorporated into classes and subjects. But also i think if there was a class/subject with general life things, such as mental health/general health/addictions/addictions etc. I think that there is to much emphasis been put on subjects. I understand that sublects like, maths, geography, history, language etc. play a vital role to one's education but i believe that real life circumstances are just as important for one's understanding one life and happiness, also life and sadness (grief etc.)

made together with teachers & experts

...teachers and experts and people like you and i who know first hand what it is like to have to face mental health difficulties and other people who suffer other things, like addictions.

ideally it would be a whole-school approach, even the staff (eg a cleaning lady or a janitor/maintenance guy or a cook) can sometimes help a kid..

I think some sort of buddy programmes should be present. I know that in schools there is guidence counsellors, and the secondary school i went to had an SRC (Student Represitive Counsel). This was designed for students to be involved in some decision making. Im thinking along the lines as teachers being assigned a child and creating a relationship with that child, where the child can turst and go to if needed.

Teacher burnout/overwhelm is a big problem too, in some schools/subjects it can be worse than others..
So teachers aren't really happy about any 'extra work', at least around here lol.. unless they have taught for a while and experienced in basic class management etc. Then they may be interested in more too..

I know teachers have a lot of responcibilty on their plates, so maybe introducing a pacific group (buddies) of people who are educated in certain things, to be assigned a student. Also teachers change schools regulary so...maybe introducing other people would be betterly suited. If teachers were to be interested, they could maybe go through training, to learn and see what things are being discussed. This too will educate teaches themselves on general life.

Teachers in college should too be educated on notiiceing when something is wrond with somebody and again if a buddy programmes was set up the teacher could inform the buddy of their concerns and then the buddy can meet with the student to discuss things.

But the learning for kids would have to be made fun and not made into a heavy duty. Because if children dont enjoy the class the purpose will (i personally think) be defeated. Or maybe not on other hands.

I dont know if you ever watch MTV but there is a good show called "If you really knew me". Here a school year comes together and discusses there family and personal problems. By the end of the programmes the students have a better understanding of themselves and others. The ultimate goal for it is to let people see that having problems is not something you are alone with. Everybody has problems... But my thinking wants to come in before the problems....this is so that people can deal/manage them. Also prepare the individual for the future and what it brings. Like you said - money/love etc

When i think of classes such as sex education...they sould make it more real. They should discuss STI's and how to prevent it etc. That is just one example of how one education could be made more known.

It may be that this sound brillant and all...but would it really work? Would it just become something in schools could take on or would it really make a difference?

 

[Hottie]

Yes definitely, prior knowledge would've changed my life entirely.
But like they say, hindsight is 20/20 so you may not even know that you're under the influence until you've developed a minor case of it.

I agree with you too. But if an individual developed a minor case of it they should be able to reckonise it for what its for and know route to take to eliminate/reduce it.

I never knew what was wrong with me until i was educated in it. I think if i had the education i did today i would have seeked treatment ealier and had a better chance of beating anxiety.