Coping with COVID
Adolescent therapists and teenagers say the pandemic has significantly impacted teen mental health and added stressors to the lives of young people.
By Anyssa Patel
The pandemic has introduced hundreds of new stressors in our daily lives, especially for teenagers. Whether it be graduations, plans with friends or sports, each day is becoming harder to face with all these uncertainties during the shutdown.
An adolescent mental health professional and two teenagers have affirmed that the pandemic is not making the daily anxieties of being a teenager any easier.
When asked if the pandemic has been stressful, eighth-grader Jerome Bettis Jr. from Atlanta, says, “It’s stressful in the sense that you have to be on-guard and ready for situations that you normally wouldn’t have to be.”
He went on to say that school was the most stressful aspect of the pandemic. “I have always been in school my entire life, and this is something so new and different, I am not necessarily ready for it.” The school he attends, Westminster, shut down back in March and switched to online learning for the rest of the semester.
This makes sense as school is already a very stressful part of young lives. According to a 2019 survey for the American Psychology Association, 83% of students said that school was “a somewhat or significant stress.” Now that school is even more uncertain, it’s understandable that school is a prominent factor that has been impacted by COVID-19.
High school counselor Dr. Dena Scott at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, explained how the virus is affecting mental health.
“I feel like there is just a lot of heightened emotion that folks are carrying; worries, frustrations, unknowns,” Scott says. "Thinking about going back to school, even though there may be some interest in going back, there are still a lot of unknowns about what school will look like because of all of the different nuances of COVID restrictions. This is probably going to add more stress especially considering all of the new changes that come with starting a new school year.”
Not only is school becoming even more stressful, but the aspect of having to adapt to this change has been challenging.
“The pandemic has been very hard on me. I have severe depression and anxiety and I lost some of my coping mechanisms,” says India Motley, a ninth-grader at Pace Academy in Atlanta. “For example, I used to go to my favorite pizza place or hang out with my friends whenever I got really stressed out, but I can’t do that anymore. And I think that as humans it’s hard for us to handle change very well, and because this was such an abrupt and immediate change, it has caused a lot of teenagers, including myself, to slip into this really depressive state.”
Nobody enjoys not knowing what is coming next. As Motley says, “We enjoy having a routine and thrive in organized environments.” With the repercussions that come with the coronavirus, certainty has been thrown out the window, and all we can do now is hope for the best.
However, there are some things that you can do to reduce your stress levels if you feel they are getting too high.
“First and foremost you need to normalize and acknowledge that your feelings are valid,” Scott says. “Secondly, it’s important that you not only maintain self-care, but also community care. That could be something as small as turning off social media or calling a trusted friend, whatever it is that feels safe or relaxing to you.”
Now more than ever, mental health concerns are at an all-time high. It is important that if you, or someone you know is struggling, that they reach out for help.
National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: 1-800-662-4357
About the Writer:
Anyssa Patel of Atlanta, Georgia
Anyssa is a 15-year-old student from Atlanta, Georgia who loves to cheerlead, play lacrosse and hang out with her friends. She has an enthusiasm for making others happy and giving her best at everything she does.