Emotional Health

I Have Not Been Myself. What Should I Do?

Published: November 22, 2021

Dear TeenHealthFX,

so i have not been like myself recently and i am honestly starting to scare myself. ever since school started i have not been eating except dinner and everyone keeps making comments about my body which only make me want to keep it up. I have also been having frequent thoughts of how everyone would be better off without me and nobody would care if i died. i have letters written to people, but i don't think i actually plan on doing anything. I just don't know what to do and i am too afraid to talk to anybody because i dont want to worry people. what should i do?

Signed: I Have Not Been Myself. What Should I Do?

Dear I Have Not Been Myself. What Should I Do?,

TeenHealthFX is sorry to hear about what you are going through. We are glad you reached out and want to get help. Unfortunately, we cannot diagnose or treat over the internet, however, there are many resources and options available.

We want to assure you that asking for help will not cause people to worry but actually the opposite. Whether you realize it or not, the people around you care about you and want to make sure you are ok. TeenHealthFX strongly encourages you to reach out to a parent, trusted adult, or school counselor and let them know what is going on. They will be able to assist you in getting the help you need and in contact with a mental health professional, if needed.

If you feel you need immediate assistance, call 911 or if you live in Northern New Jersey you can call the Atlantic Behavioral Health ACCESS Center at 1-888-247-1400. Nationally, you can text the Crisis Text Line by Texting HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor. We also have a Mental Health resource page with additional hotlines and websites that may be helpful.

Signed: TeenHealthFX

Ratings

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US among people aged 10-14 ¹

Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US among people aged 15-24 ²

51% of youth (6-17) get treatment each year for a mental health condition ³

15.6 teenage girls for every 1,000 will give birth to a baby before they are 20 years old. ⁴

Only 6% of high school students get tested for STDs ⁵

1/3 of high school students who were currently sexually active used effective hormonal birth control the last time they had sex with an opposite-sex partner ⁶

Nearly 30% of female students currently drank alcohol and nearly 20% currently used marijuana.⁷

2.14 million middle and high school students currently vape ⁸

Over 80% of women and men both report having experienced their first rape under the age of 25. ⁹

Almost 40% of high school students have reported using marijuana at least once. ¹⁰

83.88% of 12- to 17-year-olds have reported using marijuana within the last month. ¹¹

One in four women first experienced intimate partner violence before the age of 18. ¹²

5.9 million teens have reported to drink at least once in the past month. ¹³

In 2022, there were 1,573 motor-vehicle deaths from underage drinks ¹⁴

About 1 in 10 children live in a home with a parent who has a drinking problem ¹⁵

Only 65 percent of teens consistently wear seat belts when driving or as a passenger. ¹⁶

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than any other age group. ¹⁷

49% of the youth report having less than 3 friends in 2022 ¹⁸

^{2.7 million youth report experiencing severe major depression}¹⁹

Over 3.3 million teens will be graduating from high school in the year 2023-2024 ²⁰

The average social media screen time for teens is 7 hours and 22 minutes per day ²¹