There is a correlation between mental health issues and the LGBTQIA community. 

Mental disorders are often portrayed in the entertainment industry in a negative light or follow a stereotypical image, similar to the way the LGBTQIA community is represented. 

Those who are not portrayed in the entertainment industry feel further isolated and lack the understanding of the disorders or communities they identify with. By bringing accurate knowledge and representation of mental health issues and the LGBTQIA community to schools, news and media, organizations have allowed stigmatized topics to become less taboo.

Juuling and e-cigarette use has become an addiction within youth culture over the past year or so. Juul and other vape companies are becoming the new and revamped “Big Tobacco” companies by targeting kids at a young age.

The slim USB looking design makes it easy to hide and fruit/candy flavors appeal to kids who have adopted the idea that it is trendy to own one. It has also become popular on social media sites for youth to post videos of themselves doing tricks with the vapor. Many kids think it’s safe to consume because they believe they are just inhaling water vapor, but in fact, Juuls contain the same amount, if not more nicotine than a traditional cigarette. “According to the Juul website, the devices create an aerosol rather than using a flame to activate the ingredients. The company says the product produces a level of nicotine similar to a traditional cigarette in order to satisfy cigarette smokers who switch to vaping” (Zernike, 2018, New York Times). 

The companies who make these products claim to help cigarette smokers quit their addiction, but at the same time they are starting an addiction for kids who have never smoked before.  Many companies, like Juul are in denial that their products are specifically targeting young kids and that it is not their fault that youth are becoming attracted to the idea of owning a Juul.

Government agencies (FDA) as well as activist groups have  pushing for change of the purchasing age, as well as production and marketing of Juuls to make them less kid friendly and more for the purpose of what the actual aim of the product is, which is helping former smokers quit smoking tobacco products.  Recently (a few days ago), the FDA announced that they will place a ban on the selling of flavored Juul pods with the exception of mint and menthol flavors. They will also set forth age verification tactics so that it will be hard for underage consumers to buy the flavor pods online. The question that remains is will this ban be successful in keeping minors away from purchasing Juul pods or will they still find a way to get these pods from a third party source?

-S.L.

The three annotations all point to the added stress and labor required of students who have learning disabilities. Not only do these students have to spend more time and effort doing tasks like reading and language processing (in fact, it takes them as much as five times as long as students without learning disabilities), they also have to work in a broken and limited system. They feel stigmatized by their peers, misunderstood by their professors and neglected by the school administration. These students’ families end up paying thousands of dollars for testing and necessary supports which in turn puts them at an economic disadvantage. Many families have to take out loans. Without proper testing and documentation, students cannot receive supports in school. Therefore, only well-off families can give their kids the supports they need.

If one in every five students has a learning disability, as states the National Center of Learning Disabilities, then we as a society are discriminating against one in five of the student population. The popular press articles are not ready to discuss the stress disabled students experience; they are more eager to talk about the increased burden disabled students place on the educational system. Therefore, there needs to be more public advocacy and awareness of the mental and emotional disabled students suffer from on a daily basis.

The articles I have researched outline the contributing factors of mental health in black communities.

Through narratives, statistics and policies we see the ways in which historically, communities of color have experienced  unique and substantial challenges in accessing mental health services and adequate responses to addiction and trauma.

Moving forward these platforms offer solutions such as fundamental transformation of the system that acknowledges trauma in context to one’s environment. Educational outreach is also at the forefront of a root solution outlined in the articles researched and acknowledging existing disparities is essential to moving forward with the mental health and addiction in black communities.

• J.H.

From the small amount of research that has been done so far, the results of my exploration into the issue of mental health’s root causes and solutions in today’s society have been astounding. I set out with the intention of finding a select few, articles detailing how certain issues could affect mental health. However, I ran into countless journals, databases, articles, and blog posts detailing how this issue, of structurally caused degradation of mental health, is very much a real thing and is much more than just a proposed thesis.

The structure and values of our very society creates, stimulates, and enables the mental health issues we see so prevalent today. All articles I’ve found pinpoint and illustrate the same picture, of a crumbling collective and how this affects the individual within it. I also found the current status of the issue to be even worse than previously thought, as suicide rates climb and the upcoming youth’s mental health deteriorates. Our current society breeds insanity, anxiety, and depression from the structure of our health administration, to the erosion of communities, to the embedding of social media within our daily life. Our societal institutions lack enthusiasm, empowerment, autonomy, diversity, and autonomy. All things which are touched upon in a multitude of the articles found.

However bleak this situation may seem, much like social critic Lewis Mumford wrote in his analysis of the perfect ‘functioning’ society, “little hope is still some hope” (Mumford, 1945). While the articles all helped me realize the brevity and increasingly worse conditions on the issue of mental health within society, they also provided me with possible routes and roadmaps to enacting social change. Through social group activism with organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Health, to how to build a supportive community that addresses and heals the issue through connection instead of repression. I’ve luckily been granted insight into directions for change and my following post will go further in depth regarding how to transform what society has dubbed an individual issue, into collective action.