Sex and Stress: a cause for #mentalhealthmatters in young people

#IYD is around the corner and the UN has chosen to focus its global campaign on an issue which is often conveniently ignored as its hidden behind doors of ‘fear’, ‘prejudice’ and ‘shame’ and  is made invisible by neglect and disregard. The irony for me is that we waited until the world had its largest generation of young people in history to finally start ‘worrying’ and ‘thinking’ about their mental health issues!

Fact 1: Around 20% of the world's children and adolescents have mental disorders or problems[i]

#MentalHealthMatters highlights something which is not only a major health issue on its own but one which is continually expanding due to its correlation to other areas of health. According to the WHO Fact Sheet ‘Mental disorders are important risk factors for other diseases, as well as unintentional and intentional injury as it increases the risk of getting ill from other diseases such as HIV, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and vice-versa.’[i]

The fact of the matter is that simple liberties taken for granted by adults are harder to understand, to be accessed and enjoyed by young people. They have to work harder, face fierce competition, and be burdened with finding solutions to problems created due to lack of hindsight and greed by the senior citizens. To top it all off they have to ensure the dwindling resources are utilized in a sustainable manner to leave a little something behind for their children. 

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Since procreation was mentioned above, let’s get down to one of the possible causes of stress, anxiety and depression among young people – SEX.

For those conservative ones out there, I’m not insinuating that our 15-24 year olds[i] have brains equivalent to a sewer in the ‘red light district’. The truth is that a myriad of things happen to a person during this time period. Firstly, this is the age when kids hit puberty, hormones start pumping in and the body goes through some re-modeling, leaving the poor adolescent feeling awkward with bits and ends sticking out. Next, some of the most important milestones in their academic lives take place. From facing dreaded high school or A/Ls as we call it over here to, entering a tertiary education institution, both are instances when the young people are stressed with choosing the right options and making the right decisions which will shape their future. With all these things they start getting closer to their peers and finding love.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) defines a rights-based approach to CSE as “to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values they need to determine and enjoy their sexuality – physically and emotionally, individually and in relationships.”[ii] In a time when young people make up a large portion of the global workforce and population, we have to consider the impact their sexual and reproductive health choices will make on the economy, the environment and the general wellbeing and quality of life. We can not be naïve and keep living in a bubble thinking that young people are not sexually active. Times are changing, more and more young people are living away from their homes studying or supporting their families. With freedom comes responsibility and the tools needed for this knowledge! Comprehensive Sexuality Education, let it be in a formal setting or informal setting can provide the young people with knowledge about SRH and improve their rate of accessing health services.

Let’s not forget the gendered nature of mental-health and the hundreds of women and young girls who suffered in stuffy asylums and dark attics (no) thanks to dear Freud, the Pyramid loving Egyptians, the Greeks stooped in their mythology of virgins poisoned to madness by their sad uterus pinning for orgasms and Plato’s Tiameous which attributes ‘all’ women’s diseases to a ‘wandering womb[iii]’. As Kelly Oliver puts it, ‘in the 19^th century ‘Hysteria’ was the name of the disease associated with women...It produced and reproduced stereotypes or ideals of femininity as passive, emotional, irrational and incapable of serious thought or work. In the 20^th century hysteria has been replaced with depression...’ [iv]

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On a totally unrelated note: ‘Mad, Bad and Sad – A History of Women and Mind Doctors’ by Lisa Appignanesi will be an interesting read to anyone who wishes to discover fascinating stories and ideas about the mental health of women in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, up till the present day and the evolution of treatment. Here’s the link to a review: http://jezebel.com/5355606/mad-bad--sad-history-of-female-mental-illness-turns-into-indictment-of-psychotherapy

[1] WHO 10 facts on Mental Health. Fact 1. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/mental_health_facts/en/

[11] WHO 10 facts on Mental Health. Fact 5. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/mental_health_facts/en/index4.html

[111] Issues Brief : Youth Definition.  http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-definition.pdf

[1V] IPPF. 2011. From Evidence to action: Advocating for comprehensive sexuality education pp3

[V] Women And Hysteria In The History Of Mental Health. Cecilia Tasca, Mariangela Rapetti, Mauro Giovanni Carta, and Bianca Fadda http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480686/

[1] Sex, Breath, and Force: Sexual Difference in a Post-feminist Era. Ellen Mortensen. ‘The Depressed Sex: Sublimation and Sexual Difference’ by Kelly Oliver. Jan 1, 2006 

http://books.google.lk/books?id=Sl8_wW0d2uAC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=plato%27s+dialogues+timaeus+hysteria&source=bl&ots=OPG4XVrhQH&sig=DkF5j8r9sCH9t7CmKnpJ6yMgly8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P_7DU8HrB8G2uATf_4Fo&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=hysteria&f=false