- Have you ever wondered what goes on inside our minds or what causes things like depression, anxiety or other mental health issues?

Hi, I'm Griffin, and welcome to Mind Frame.

Here we're going to reframe the conversation about our mental health because right now, our generation is suffering and there are things we can all do about it.

If you follow pop culture, you know that mental health is clearly an important topic whether it's on social media, in the news, or from various celebrities who have shared their own stories.

It's everywhere.

But in our own lives, talking about our own mental health can still be really hard to do.

So let's do this.

Today we're talking about depression.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression is defined as a common but serious mood disorder.

It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.

So basically this means that it can cause someone to feel sad, irritable, or hopeless.

Everyone has days when they're feeling down.

It's normal to feel sad or anxious when dealing with stress and trauma in our lives.

But when does it become more than just a bad day?

Depression can be a very serious mental health condition.

Approximately 2.7 million of US young people between the ages of three and 17 have been diagnosed with depression.

That's like filling up more than 37,000 school buses and that's one of the reasons we can't just sit by and be silent, right?

We have to talk about these things.

As a matter of fact, we recently talked with Dr. Kelly Blankenship, who works for Dayton Children's Hospital and sees kids our age struggling with their mental health up close.

She says, the problem facing us and our classmates has only grown with the pandemic.

And the stigma of talking about it is only making it worse.

- The stigma for mental health, for middle schoolers and high schoolers can really feel much worse.

And during middle school time, that's a really really hard time because there's so much change going on in the brain and in the body that kids feel very insecure.

And so then on top of that if they're dealing with depression or anxiety, it can make that stigma feel even worse.

A long time ago, people would think that if you were sad or you were anxious, it was 'cause you're weak.

And over time, we have learned that that is definitely not true that mental health is like any medical condition.

So we know that about 20% of all middle schoolers actually have a mental health condition.

And so it's one in five.

So if you think about you and four of your friends it's likely that one person has a mental health condition and it's really important that people are reaching out to get help.

Depression has increased during Covid and it's about twice what it was in middle schoolers and high school kids.

We think a big part of why depression increased so much is there was a lot of social isolation during covid.

And on top of that, then a lot of people were on social media.

They may see what looks like other kids having fun.

And so then there's this fear of being left out.

We also know that during COVID, that social bullying increased.

And so a lot of kids were reaching out on social media just to connect.

And instead of connecting were being made fun of by other kids.

- The numbers don't lie.

Depression is very common and it really is just like any other medical condition.

So instead of thinking of it as a cold, that might go away if we ignore it, we should think about it like a broken arm.

We all would go to the doctor for that, right?

So to normalize it, let's get sciencey about depression.

Dr. Blankenship can tell us what's actually happening in the brain when someone is depressed.

- When someone is having depression, what we notice in the brain is there's a certain neurotransmitter and it's called serotonin.

And when people don't have enough serotonin in their brain that's when they start to feel sad.

And so there's certain medicines that can help to bring that serotonin level back to normal.

And we've also know that through therapy, therapy can actually help rewire your brain.

And so that that can help bring those serotonin levels back to normal as well.

It's really important for kids to realize that mental health, it's normal, it's part of life.

So you know, we like to say that it's really the same as somebody having high blood pressure.

There's some people who they have the genetics for high blood pressure, so they could eat right, they could exercise all the time and they'd still have high blood pressure.

Depression and anxiety are the same way.

So you can do everything right, but depending on your genetics, you could still have depression or anxiety.

- There are many things that impact our mental health like stressful life events, school, family life.

And like Dr. Blankenship said, even genetics.

It's a big deal to speak up for your own needs.

But what about speaking up for our friends and classmates?

How can we even tell if someone else is depressed and how can we help each other stay safe and healthy?

To answer these questions, we caught up with Tristan Ball who was the director of prevention and intervention from Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services.

Tristan helps people with depression and many other mental health disorders.

She says it's important for us to know these symptoms so we can look out for our friends and family.

- So there are several signs and symptoms of somebody potentially feeling depressed.

And so those could include things like withdrawing a bit from others, not being able to concentrate, with sleeping more than usual or wanting to sleep more than usual or actually the opposite.

So sleeping less and having trouble falling asleep at night or if you do fall asleep like always waking up in the middle of the night.

And then the same could actually be said around eating habits.

So if you feel like you need to eat more food or that you just don't have an appetite another really big indicator of that would be if somebody has really low self-esteem.

This could all be indicators of feeling depressed.

- For young people like us, peer support is really important.

We have to watch out for each other.

And don't worry, Tristan can give us some ideas and they're all super easy to do but these small things can make a big difference in someone's life.

- The best step to take is getting a hold of a trusted adult whether that be a school teacher that you trust, a guidance counselor, social worker, or even a parent, coach, somebody that you can really turn to and trust that may be able to reach out to either you know your friend or another student that you are noticing and get them the help that they need.

It may not be that they're depressed, maybe they just need some support and we certainly wanna make sure that they are getting the support that they need.

If you think that they are maybe feeling depressed or have mental health concerns, reach out to them and just check in on them.

Show 'em that you're there for them.

I mean, sometimes when people are feeling depressed, they feel like they have nobody, the truth is we never know what people are going through.

And so just showing them that you're there you care asking questions.

And it could be that they're going through something really hard.

And one of the big things that I think a lot of people do is they try to make people feel better when they're feeling down.

We get really uncomfortable with hard feelings and really I'll just say, it's okay to feel hard feelings, right?

Like we don't wanna stay there forever but just being in them for a minute, feeling your feelings and giving other people space.

A big key to when you're listening to others is just really listening without judgment.

And another thing would be if they're feeling up to it, depending on where they are is going out and having fun with them.

Sometimes it can kinda get people out of that place of feeling down or feeling depressed and really putting energy into their lives, which is really great.

- If you notice someone having a hard time, talk to them, ask them how they're doing.

Struggling with our mental health can feel very isolating.

So sometimes it helps to know someone else cares.

And as Tristan said every school has a trusted adult you can go to for help.

Whether it be a teacher you're close with, a counselor, a coach, or a social worker, whoever it is, they are there for you, for all of us really.

And they can point you in the right direction or help intervene, you know, without creating a scene.

And that's the point here.

Let's reframe how we look at mental wellbeing and just open up about our struggles.

Depression is not contagious, so whether it's for yourself or for a friend, reach out and speak up so we all can get the help we need.

Until next time, be well, and let's take care of each other.