High School Bullying: An Epidemic

Removing The Stigma of Mental Illness

Stigma: Mental Health

Why is mental health thought as a bad thing that people were cursed with? Or why is that when you think of mental health people, you think negatively, and that they are violent people? Or why do we think that mental health means that the person is not a human being? How do change the stigmas that downplay mental health? And how can we help society to think posiitively about mental health? How can we draw more funding for mental health? These are things I think about when I come across working in the Missouri Psychatric Center, or just coming across a patient in general that has a mental illness in the health care system. The factors of a patient that is mentally ill that is affected by stigma, can hinder them from seeking treatment because they either something is wrong with them, they downplay that they are ill, or they feel that medical treatment will treat them harsh once seeking care.

Enough!

I happened to be watching Enough, the movie that stars Jennifer Lopez as a victim of domestic violence in her marriage to a rich man. She had subdued herself to this for a long period until her child was of age to acknowledge what was going on. From watching this movie, I thought about my past relationship with my ex, and thought about the physical and emotional abuse that I was subdued to for a year and a half. I thought about the 30+lb. weight loss, the stress, partial hair loss, and depression that I went through in that time period, and the only person i could confide in was one of my best friends, who continued to offer help, but I felt too weak mentally to change. I was struck by love, and felt that he treated me this way because he cared too much for me, when in actuality, he was only insecure and controlling. I never reported the abuse until it got to the point that I was put in a position whether I sacrifice my health or my relationship. I think back to how shame I felt about being involved in an abusive relationship, because I never thought it could happen to me. However, I realized it can happen to anyone, and that Im fortunate to save myself from that situation.
As a result of this situation, I just ask and advocate prevention for this issue not only for women, but as well as for men. A few statistics suggest that:

• 1 in every 4 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime
• 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year
• 85% of domestic violence victims are women
• Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence, most cases are never reported to the police.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactsheet(National).pdf

Bullying! Is it the School's Responsibility???

Is it the school's responsibility to crack down on bullying when it reaches a certain point where that child can unbear?
On January 14, 2010, a fifteen year old girl by the name of Phoebe Prince, student of South Hadley High School, committed suicide, by hanging herself in the staircase of her parents apartment, which was discovered by her younger sister. Nine teenagers were charged with connection of this suicide due to a 3-month period of bullying that included sexual harassment, taunting, physical and emotional abuse, and online bullying. Two males, by the ages of 17 and 18 were also charged with statutory rape.
On the day of her death, she was bullied in the school library, which was witnessed by a faculty member and other students but wasnt reported until after Phoebe's death. The Northwester District Attorney, Elizabeth Scheibel, said it was "common knowledge" that Phoebe was being bullied on a regular basis for the 3-month period.
Does it take a child's death to realize that bullying is a crime and should be taken seriously? Parents and other adults are an important factor in preventing this from happening in the future. Just by noticing signs of their child/student being bullied or being the bullier. Children that are being bullied can be stunted physically, emotionally and academically. According to safeyouth.org, "almost 30 % of youth in the US (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying or either a bully, a target of bullying, or both. In a recent national survey pf students in grades 6-10, 13% reported bullying others, 11% reported being the target of bullies, and another 6% said that they bullied others and were bullied themselves".
Is it the schools fault for not taking action sooner? Is it the parents fault for not taking notice in their childs behavior patterns when being bullied or being the bullier?

AIDS/STDs in the African American Community

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone about the AIDS Walk that is occuring in Kansas City, my hoemtown, and the correlation it has with the minority community, especially the African American community. The prevalence rates of HIV affecting the African American population is tremendous, and the rates for African American women are exceptionally high.
AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25-34, and are 21 times more likely to die from the immuno-deficiency disease than non-Hispanic white women. It is stated that 2 out of 3 African American women contract the virus each year, mostly from having heterosexual sexual intercourse. What can possibly be the reasoning for this deathly epidemic?
In the past decade, the African American community has been hit with so many factors that contribute to this epidemic spreading and taking its course, such as the unprotected sex that reoccurs amongst the young population, having sexual intercourse with "down low brothas" (men that claim they are heterosexual, but they have sex with other men outside of their relationship), and substance abuse. Many of the minorities, such as African Americans and Hispanics live in impoverished or low-income communities, where education is not a priority and people are faced with the risks of exposing their bodies to a variety of infectious diseases. Many minority women that are in relationships with a significant other of the same culture are faced with that partner being incarcerated, which they are then exposed to many infectious diseases and become intertwined in the pool of homosexual intercourse that happens in the prison system. Unfortunately, these men that are released from incarceration are not tested after being released and are left to expose their partners to the virus.
How can we prevent this from happening? How can we prevent the rates from increasing in this community? How can we better educate the population on healthier acts?

SEXTING: When it goes too far!!!!

What is sexting? Defined by wikipedia, "sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between mobile phones". Sexting can be an act in exchange of emotions or feelings for a companion or due to peer pressure amongst teenagers or young adults, who seem to be the prevalent group engaged in these acts of "cyber irresponsibility".

"In a 2008 survey of 1280 teenagers and young adults of both sexes on Cosmogirl.com sponsored by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20% of teens (13-19) and 33% of young adults (20-26) had sent nude or semi-nude photographs of themselves electronically. Additionally, 39% of teens and 59% of young adults had sent sexually explicit text messages". Acts of sexting exchanged by one party can result in detrimental consequences if disseminated throughout the public such as:

• shame


• humiliation


• social isolation


• depression


• cyber-bullying


• cyber-stalking


• felony criminal charges


• sex offender registration


• imprisonment


• suicide

In Cincinnati, Ohio, an 18-year old high school teenager by the name of Jessica Logan did an interview in May 2008 on the harmful consequences of sexting, and in two months after going to a friend's funeral, had hung herself in her bedroom. She died from the emotional stress and torture received by her fellow classmates after nude pictures she had sent to her former boyfriend through her cell phone ,was forwarded to her classmates. Her mother only knew bits and pieces of what her daughter was going through, after being sent a letter by the school for her daughter's outstanding absences from school. However, it was too late when she discovered her daughter had committed suicide. Afterwards, Cynthia Logan, mother of Jessica, had quit her job and checked herself into the hospital for suffering from depression. Her parents, now, advocate in responsible behaviors for teenagers and young adults in the remembrance of the loss of their daughter. In Ohio, the county prosecutor and lawmakers proposed a law that would reduced sexting from being a felony to a first degree misdemeanor. It also eliminates the possibility of a young offender from being labeled as a sex offender. This proposal was supported by Jessica Logan's parents.

Sexting can be a social danger and can deteriorate a person's reputation and character if spread publicly. Therefore, The Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication or I.R.O.C., which is a New Jersey based non-profit organization that is dedicated to educating the public about protecting themselves from the dangers of media irresponsibility. The institute founded a program called "Sexting is Stupid" which is an innovative way to focus on the electronic communication that is waving in the 21st Century. This awareness provides an effort to influence positive behaviors and judgements when interacting in the digital world. The program offers "information sharing from industry experts, questions and answer sessions, and illustrative multimedia content exposing real world examples of the dangers of poor online judgement and the unintended, potentially life altering consequences that can ensue".

Statistics from sexting (The National Campaign):

The percentage of teenagers who have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves:

• 20% of teenagers overall


• 22% of teen girls


• 18% of teen boys


• 11% of young teen girls ages 13-16

The percentage of teenagers sending or posting sexually suggestive messages:

• 39% of all teenagers


• 37% of teen girls


• 40% of teen boys

51% of teen girls say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images; only 18% of teen boys cited pressure from female counterparts as a reason.

So the question is: Should there be a law passed against sexting in all 50 states? What can schools do to help in making sure students do not go through bullying or torture such as Jessica Logan did when an incident such as sexting occurs? Should parents be advised to get their child's phone blocked to receiving obscene images or text messages?