Sharing – Students Say Mental Health Isn’t Taboo – But Talking to Parents Is

Surveys do seem to paint a clear picture, and this is the one bit you should remember, especially if you’re a parent:

In a national study on mental health stigma and help-seeking among teens in the journal Focus, researchers from the Jed Foundation found that the main reasons teens hesitated to talk to parents were fear of being misunderstood, feeling uncomfortable talking about the problem and that parents would try to solve the problem instead of listening.

Students Say Mental Health Isn’t Taboo – But Talking to Parents Is

I’m not a parent, but I can imagine how much I would want to help my kids if I had any. The urge to fix the problem would be strong, as would the urge to assume my kids are okay because we’re raising them right.

The truth is that both of those urges are doing more harm than good, and may be the reason kids are comfortable talking to their peers and online about mental health, but not their own parents.