East Asian Linguistics

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, 2023), one in five teens experience a mental disorder each year, and most never receive treatment. This statistic alone should be a wake-up call. One in five. One in five means it’s not distant, it’s not rare, and it’s not someone else’s problem. Today, I wish to bring your attention to youth mental health, and the barriers that prevent young people from reaching well-being.

What exactly is mental health?

Mental health is how we think, feel, and interact with others.  These years of adolescence are critical. Our emotional habits and coping skills are shaped during this time, and they influence our future well-being.  For youth, mental health affects school performance, relationships, identity, and self-worth. Yet many young people never receive the support that they need to overcome these challenges.

Then comes the question, “Why are so many young people afraid to speak up?” Stigma makes many teens fear being judged, labeled as weak, or misunderstood. Many choose to stay silent, holding in their struggles.

As an adolescent myself, I know first hand how difficult it can be to open up, especially when it feels like no one else is doing so. Sometimes it feels easier to say “I’m fine” rather than to explain the complicated emotions that even I can’t comprehend.

Some families and cultures discourage discussions surrounding mental health, seeing it as irrelevant, exaggerated, or even shameful.

I would like to know: How often, when you open up about depressive thoughts and heavy emotions, do the people around you try to soften, or bury the pain by telling you that you “already have so much, that you should be grateful,” and that “so many other people have it worse”? They tell you that if you just wait it out, things will fix themselves, and the pain will be gone. But has that comparison ever made you feel any less anxious or less lonely? Think about how many times people have tried to dismiss your thoughts, and your emotions. When struggles are ignored, they rarely disappear, they often they amplify. When pain grows unchecked, it can lead to anxiety, depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and in the most tragic cases, suicide.

While these barriers are real, they also present powerful opportunities for growth and change. Overcoming these challenges begins with something simple: education, support, and inclusion. Awareness alone is not enough. We must also advocate for clear policy and structural reform, including prioritizing mental health education in schools, establishing mandatory counselor-to-student ratios, providing mental health days like sick days, supporting insurance reform, and expanding peer mental health training programs. Encouraging open conversations is key, and learning to communicate our emotions helps us build resilience and get the help we need.

What is underestimated is the quiet weight many young people carry each day. Academic expectations feel relentless, digital life never stops, and social media invites constant comparison — curated images of achievement, beauty, and happiness that rarely reflect reality. Layered onto this is a “perfection culture”, where image is everything, and our self-worth is defined by number of likes and followers on instagram. From the outside, a teen’s life might look full of opportunity and promise. But that doesn’t mean it feels that way on the inside. When stress builds up day after day, even a life that looks “perfect” can feel exhausting and overwhelming.

It is so important for us to recognize these problems early on; too often, support is only offered once someone has already reached their breaking point. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people in the United States. Just last year, in the high school I attend, I personally witnessed a community of broken hearts. A community that had come together, mourning two students who were unable to break free from invisible pain. The moment of silence we took that morning haunted our school hallways with shock and agony from teachers, classmates, and friends who had once shared laughters and conversations with these students. These are stories I have heard far too often in our communities, stories that should never have to be repeated again.

Ultimately, overcoming barriers to mental health starts with all of us. It starts with choosing empathy over judgment, and listening instead of dismissing. Whether it is a friend, a classmate, or even ourselves, small actions will make a meaningful difference.

We talk about strength as if it means staying silent. But real strength is speaking up. Real strength is listening. Real strength is choosing to care.

I want to share one of my favorite quotes from Lee Ann Womack’s book, I Hope You Dance: “Hope is believing that tomorrow could be better than today, that you’ll get a second chance, that you’ll make a difference, that YOU MATTER.”

If even one person walks away from today feeling less alone, then this conversation matters.

Together, let’s check in on our friends, encourage open conversations, put down our devices, step outside together, listen with compassion, and look for ways to serve and uplift one another. LET’S BE THE REASON SOMEONE CHOOSES TO STAY!!

Because youth mental health is not someone else’s problem.

It is ours.