Antonio Folcarelli
March, 24, 2014
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
Dear U.S. Department of Education,
As a student, I learn new ways of expressing myself and I also learn methods crucial to improving the world. For that, I thank you. However, being that my peers are currently working through the most sensitive and formative years of their lives, I can’t help but feel disappointed over the lack of education involving mental health. If you reel back in your chair at the thought of the word ‘mental illness,’ you can already see part of the problem. Mental illness has been stigmatized throughout the entire history of civilization as we know it. Merely stating that you have a diagnosed disorder of any kind can, and will, cause people to do anything from avoiding you all the way to outright labelling you as a lunatic who shouldn’t be allowed to function like a normal member of society.
The issue doesn’t stop there, unfortunately. While adults usually independently and can seek help for their disorders by their own means, a significant chunk of people afflicted with mental illness happen to be adolescents. In fact, as a study from the National Institute of Mental Health stated in 2013, 11.2% of all US students ages 13 to 18 suffer from a depressive disorder and 3.3% experience a seriously debilitating depressive disorder. That is over 110 students per 1,000 that struggle with mental illness. That number is upsettingly large, too big to ignore.
An often overlooked component to this problem is that unhealthy minds aren’t just a product of the illness itself, the environment plays a vital role in its development, just like the student body as a whole. As Chelsea Perugini from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services put it, “The link between bullying and mental illness is very real.” This was a response to research published by Duke University professors to JAMA Psychiatry on April 1st, 2013 that detailed elevated rates of childhood and young adult psychiatric disorders in both victims and in bullies, along with elevated family hardships.
Now, I am well aware of the lack of funding public schools receive in the United States of America as well as the high possibility that you may not be able to employ enough staff in order to add mental health education to our curriculum, but I have already looked into the predicted cost and time needed. As part of NAMI’s (National Alliance on Mental Illness) “Campaign to end discrimination” started in 1999, a teaching packet was developed and made for sale to any school willing to purchase and teach it. The packet includes upper elementary, middle and high school and is only $22 for each, or $55 for all three, excluding shipping. That’s not all, if you investigate the information about NAMI’s educational plans you will find that they offer to give free presentations for each grade level. Each presentation is only fifty minutes long, meaning you could fit it into any school day and still have time for the rest of the day’s lessons.
In conclusion, mental illness among the students of America, or any country for that matter, is a serious issue that deserves as much discussion and attention as any other disease or social issue. I am confident that with enough awareness raised and guidance offered, you will see a hefty decrease in bullying. Over the time as students live healthier lifestyles while getting to know their own limitations and sharing their problems with each other instead of creating more of them, students will also improve their academic performance. All we need is that extra knowledge and the kind of teachers who will tell us that these things happen and do not need to be feared. Thank you for allowing me to present my case, I genuinely hope you consider implementing mental health awareness in our schools.
Sincerely,
Antonio Folcarelli
Works Cited
“BREAKING THE SILENCE: TEACHING SCHOOL KIDS ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS” National Alliance on Mental Illness 2014. National Alliance on Mental Illness. 24 March 2014 http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Cleansweep&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=102546
Copeland, William E., PhD; Wolke, Dieter, PhD; Angold, Adrian, MRCPsych; Constello, Jane E., PhD. “Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence” JAMA Psychiatry. 1 April, 2013. American Medical Association 23 March 2014
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1654916#METHODS
“Major Depressive Disorder in Children” National Institute of Mental Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2011. 24 March 2014 http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1MDD_CHILD.shtml
“NAMI Ending the Silence” National Alliance on Mental Illness 2014. National Alliance on Mental Illness. 24 March 2014 http://www.nami.org//template.cfm?section=NAMI_ENDING_THE_SILENCE
Perugini, Chelsea. “Research Brief: Childhood Bullying Linked to Adult Psychiatric Disorders.” Stop Bullying. June 2013. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services . 24 March 2014 http://www.stopbullying.gov/blog/2013/05/31/research-brief-childhood-bullying-linked-adult-psychiatric-disorders
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