Non-Technical Support Forum

How would you feel if your child killed themselves without any notice or even knowing that they need help? Richard A. Friedman, (2012) a professor of clinical psychology and director of the psychopharmacology clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, recommends mental health screenings in schools to uncover depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and trauma in students.
Friedman claims most teenagers hide their emotional issues and give no warning signs to anyone before they kill themselves. Friedman (2012) believes voluntary mental health screenings should be routine and universal at schools and reach to different schools. In the article, Mental health screenings in schools help children, Friedman (2012) explains mental health screenings in high schools are helping decrease suicide rates in teenagers.

Most teenagers are afraid to ask for help when they have an emotional problem. Nearly every teenager does not have the guts to ask for help with the problem that is upsetting them. One of the participants in the mental health screening that Friedman uses for the study says, “Teenagers have a hard time asking for help, she explained, ‘without the screening, I’m not sure how I would have gotten the help I needed.” That means that if this participant had not been screened for anxiety and depression it could have resulted in suicide. These voluntary mental health screenings are preventing people from killing themselves.

Most teenagers are killing themselves because they are not getting the appropriate help they need. Many teenagers are afraid to admit they have a problem making them upset to the point they feel worthless. Friedman found a statistic that states in the United States alone, suicide is the third leading reason for the death of teenagers. “In 2005 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16.9% of U.S. high school students seriously considered suicide, and 8.4% had attempted suicide at least once during the preceding year.” (2012). If the teenagers had gone through this mental health screening they could have prevented teenagers from killing themselves.

Most parents are unaware what their teenager is going through until it is too late. Friedman’s study found that most parents are unaware of their teenager’s emotional problems because the teenagers are purposely keeping them a secret. Friedman quoted a parent from the study and she said “You can be the greatest parent in the world and your kid could still have a serious problem you don't know about” (Friedman, 2012). To make his point, Friedman shared a comment made by one of the participants in a mental health screening program at her high school regarding her parents’ knowledge of her problems: “They were shocked and had no idea what I had been going through, she said.” (2012). It is helpful that this mental health screening program is available to high school students.

In conclusion, mental health screenings in teenagers are making teens get the help that they need because without the voluntary mental health screenings some lives would be lost. As a result, the teenagers would not receive the care they need. Overall most adolescents are afraid to ask for help with their emotional problems. Most teens are killing themselves because they are not getting the appropriate help that they need. Almost all parents are unaware of most suicide attempts. Mental health screenings in high schools are helping decrease suicide rates in teenagers.