Youth and Mental Health 101 | CAMH

Youth 1: Depression and anxiety, and also just, you know, feeling like I’m not good enough, feeling like people aren’t going to accept me for what I am.

Youth 2: Sadness, stress, depression, anger.

Youth 3: Being anxious, anxiety, fear, anger and frustration.

Youth 4: Anxiety and embarrassment are the top of the list of very intense emotions that I deal with.

Youth 5: Well, I had anger and heartbreak, were the main ones.

Youth 6: Being insecure about myself, by the way I look and my body size.

Youth 2: I usually just like to keep to myself, kinda. I’m not really, like, joking around or anything like that.

Youth 4: I feel sick to my stomach and as if nothing can go right.

Youth 1: I feel alone, and I feel like nobody can understand what I’m going through.

Youth 6: It’s just kind of feels like I’m this twig, a walking twig that just goes anywhere and everywhere.

Youth 5: It’s just like emptiness, like a gap. Kind of just like this is gone, away from my body or something.

Youth 3: You just want to scream, and it’s like your life is all one big puzzle.

Youth 4: I get shaky, and my stomach gets sick, and my mind is jumping to the worst case scenarios—and it’s all over the place, jumping to conclusions.

Youth 6: My mind, kind of like, clamps together in a way. And I can’t pick out each and every thought that I can because it just swirls around. And I can’t grab it and try to work through it.

Youth 2: My heart is racing. I can’t speak really clearly. I’m kinda sweaty and just, kind of, not looking too great.

Youth 1: I just get really paranoid and don’t know what to do.

Youth 3: Sometimes, I get like this knot in my throat because I know that what I’m feeling, I can’t express it or can’t say it.

Youth 5: I want to punch everything around me, like I want to punch a wall, a bed.

Youth 6: When I take pictures of myself, I use a black and white filter to tell me that everything will look the same and nothing will change.

Youth 2: Take some deep breaths, and listen to some music and talking to someone. I find that usually helps.

Youth 3: I listen to music. Often music that either has to do with the things that I’m feeling or music that will make me feel the opposite of what I’m feeling. And I tell myself that whatever I’m feeling or going through, it’s all going to get better and that it will end eventually.

Youth 1: I try to just think positive, have positive thoughts, and you know, say I can get through it. Or I just try to just breathe and just relax.

Youth 5: I usually write a poem or I’ll try to figure out some kind of jazz chords to play on my piano to mellow my mood a little bit.

Youth 4: I try to remind myself that I’m not the only one who feels this way. I try to cool myself down to make everything go away.