Comfirmatio

Throughout research for my paper, I've discovered that my first two points for why Pennsylvania should incorporate a unit on Mental Health education in their heath classes relate heavily on the idea of decreasing stigma of teens with mental illness and the stigma of mental illness in general.

My main points for why mental illness should be taught in public schools are:

• Lessen the Stigma of mental illness in teens
• Create a safer environment for students who are affected mentally ill
• Help students identify symptoms of mental illness for themselves and others and how to help them

In my research, I've found that

• Students who have limited or inaccurate information about mental health have more stigmatizing attitudes about individuals with mental health.
• Common stereotypes include the ideas that individuals with mental illness are incompetent, weak, or dangerous.
• The consequences of stigma can be very serious, including affecting an individual's self-esteem, decreasing opportunities for social interactions, and reducing the likelihood of care seeking for one's mental health.
• Also, teenagers are less likely to seek out help for mental health because of social stigma against mental illness.
• Teenage males are found to have more mental illnesses but reach out for help significantly less than teenage girls.
• Teenage males are also found to be more heavily stigmatized against.

From this research, I've found that teaching about mental health to teenagers can reduce the stigma of mental illness, by providing correct and age appropriate information. This, in turn, will decrease the stigmatizing attitude in the teenagers, which will decrease the amount of bullying or social isolation on the mentally ill teens. Without the social isolation and bullying, teenagers with mental illness (who have not gotten help) are far more likely to ask for and receive help.