School work load a major stressor to local teens' mental health

Mar. 22—The following is the second in a three-part series about mental health among teenagers. Students interviewed in this story are being identified only by an initial to protect their privacy. Coming Saturday, students show resiliency in a complicated world.

Mention school and mental health together and local students are quick to fill you in on their stress.

"Well, it's the cause," said J, a Logansport senior.

"Right now, I know I'm not extremely mentally healthy—I'm a high school student in honors classes," said M, a Pioneer sophomore.

It's important to note that none of the students spoke bad about their school. They just felt overwhelmed.

Carrie Brock, a qualified behavioral health specialist, provider and licensed social worker at 4C Health, said school workload was one of the biggest stressors teens face today.

The Pharos-Tribune conducted a survey of 52 area high school students and found that 69.2 percent of those students listed grades as their number one stressor at school. Paying for college was second at 23.1 percent, followed by school violence at 5.8 percent and bullying at 1.9 percent.

But it wasn't just maintaining grades that stressed out the students. They were happy to be involved in extracurricular activities but also felt overwhelmed by them. Throw work and home duties on top of school activities and local students were asking for more time and rest.

A lot of demands

In 2023, the Houston School of Public Health, a part of the University of Texas, released research that they conducted from 2016-2021.

The research found a surprising decrease in youth suicide during the COVID pandemic.

Further study of the data collected during that time frame showed that youth suicide rates dropped during the summer months when school was out but increased between the months of October through April, the height of the school year.

The summer months give students a brief respite from worries about grades or bullying, though many students remain just as busy and involved in activities during the summer.

When it came to bullying, half of the local students who took the Pharos-Tribune survey said they had been bullied at school but none of the students were particularly worried about bullying.

Only 36.5 percent of the students said they had experienced bullying on social media. Social media has been thought to be a major reason for poor mental health.

Brock said the triggers she sees in young adult mental health include the stress of their school workload, family relationships and home dynamics, social media and students clashing with family over their gender and sexuality.

"I would say, as a parent, there are a lot of demands for kids," said Lauren Cooper, the 4C director of outpatient services and school based and community-based services. "Between needs at school, distractions with social media, I think that creates a lot more challenge. COVID and isolation and then heading back to school has created challenges. From what their school day looks like to what their at-home life looks like."

'Can the world just stop for a minute?'

M, a Logansport senior, is tired.

She has been recognized by the school for her academic achievements. She's involved in five extracurricular activities and also works a part-time job.

She's proud of her accomplishments but is so tired, she said.

"I just want a break," M said. "(All the activities) just cause a lot of anxiety. Especially the last two years, during your junior and senior year when you're like 'Oh, my future' or 'I wish I studied better.'"

C, also a Logansport senior, said the more exhausted she felt the more prone she became to panic attacks. She said most weekdays she's at the high school from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Anxiety for her often leads to the feeling she can't breathe and sometimes result in fainting.

She felt her fainting issues were a result of the stress, bypassing meals because she felt too busy to eat and exhaustion.

"I think that school and outside factors just exhaust me to the point where my body just needs to do that," she said.

M said that when she does get a moment of rest, often times she will get a phone call asking her to come to work.

She wants to continue to work to help her mother and doesn't want to be a burden. But the decision between going to work and getting much needed rest is difficult.

"I need to pay my phone bill, my dental bills—which I got my braces off now," she said.

C said many students were at their wits end.

"We're supposed to get this high school experience," she said. "We're supposed to get good grades. We are supposed to do everything that we do. We are supposed to have a social life. We are supposed to be able to meet new people. We are supposed to have a home life with our parents. We are supposed to work because how are we going to pay for gas, or pay for food, or how else are we going to pay for our prom dress. We have a million things that we have to do because that's what we are told to do. Sometimes the things that I love to do feel like work. But sometimes I'm like 'holy cow! Can the world just stop for a minute?'

Striving to be the best

Academic validation is a major source of Pioneer sophomore M's stress and anxiety.

"It's become a thing where I have to do well," she said. "I have to be the best. I have to get the highest grade. I have to do the best on this project. I have to understand this or I feel like I'm failing. And then I feel like that's going to throw my path off."

Along with honors classes, she participates in seven school activities.

"If there is something I can't do, I feel like that makes me a failure," she said. "Where I fall short really makes a big impact on my anxiety. I hyper-fixate on making myself better. It messes with me really bad."

M said her mother is always there to remind her how well she is doing and to help put her problems into perspective.

C, a Pioneer junior, said that school doesn't play into her depression but she does find herself feeling pressure in her activities.

"That's something that puts a lot of pressure on me and generally—last year was the first year that made me depressed and I was always either not going to practice or skipping practices or being late," she said. "Or it would give me anxiety where I would get sick and I wouldn't be able to go."

Logansport senior E said she gets so busy that she doesn't have time to eat enough during the day.

"I'll eat a bag of Cheese-Its or you'll see me eat peanut butter and jelly in the morning, but that's all I will eat," she said. "So, then I go to work and I'm about to pass out. I get really bad dizzy spells and I'm pretty sure I have iron deficiency."

E said a lot of her homework felt like busy work, but she also admitted to senioritis and suspected that might be playing a role in her difficulty sticking to her homework routines of late.

E participates in seven school activities and has been involved in activities outside of the school. She also works a part-time job.

She added that with her job, it may be 10 or 11 p.m. before she gets home.

Labors of love

Logansport senior J said her busy schedule works in two ways. For one, she's grateful for being busy, saying it often distracts her from her depression.

However, the negative side is that the her depression eventually catches up with her.

"I also feel like it helps me because I am so incredibly busy that I can just sweep it under the rug," she said. "'Oh, I don't have any feelings because I have to go to (do this). I have to go to work. I don't have to think about it. I'm doing things and doing things.'"

J said she generally loves being a part of her all activities.

F, a Lewis Cass senior, said that her extracurriculars, along with her friends, help her keep going.

And though her activities can enhance her stress and anxiety, C sees them ultimately as a labor of love.

"I do most of them because I love them," she said. "They keep me busy and I'm always doing things and that keeps me happy. I think its helped me so much with time management and work ethic so it has helped me academically as well."

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