Our public schools are struggling to handle millions of students with mental health problems.
Here’s why.
As many as 1 in 5 shows signs of a mental health disorder.
My son had his first psychotic break at 15 - in 9th grade.
Various people in school had noticed symptoms before, and mentioned them, but they were little things, and how do you separate awkwardness/shyness from mental illness? Besides, school was hard for him, and he hated it.
He had an IEP for a learning disorder, so he got some extra attention because of that, but they had noted that he was withdrawn, rarely made eye contact, etc. well before he got sick. Then, when he did get sick, all they wanted to talk about was drug use - no one said the word psychosis. He even had a school psychologist talk to him at about 13/14 and tell him it was probably social anxiety.
It would have been great if someone sat me down & said this is what we see now, this is where it could go later - either get better or get way worse. It would have scared me, but it’s not like I would have gotten mad.