Mental Health and The Icharus Girl or...I Will Work Psychology into Any Class Given the Opportunity.

We are hard pressed to say that a child might suffer from a mental illness.  We are much more likely to blame behaviors and moods on a “phase” and think they will grow out of it.  Sadly, that doesn’t always work out.

Everyday each of us faces stress.  How we manage to cope with that stress is a test of our mental health.  As we are all different in our genetic makeup, education, and emotional hardiness, we all react differently to stress.  When we are unable to effectively manage stress, it begins to manifest itself in different defense mechanisms or outlets for the mental “pain” caused by the conflict. (A good example of a defense mechanism is an imaginary friend.)  I call it pain because that’s what the anguish is.  The pain becomes more intense when the sufferer realizes that they are experiencing events differently than everyone else and the defenses get more complicated; lying about events, reclusiveness, etc.

Being or feeling different is difficult for anyone especially a child who already has many obstacles to overcome when trying to fit in with their peers.  Unfortunately, we are still a global society that stigmatizes mental illness and sees it as weakness or flaws in a person instead of as an illness that can be treated.  Children are especially vulnerable and may not receive proper care because they are reliant on parents and adults for their care and parents and adults don’t want to admit mental illness could be a factor contributing to changes in behaviors or moods.  Some interesting statistics on mental health in the U.K. can be found here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/22028518.

Would Jessamy’s story have been different if she had been scrutinized more closely by a mental health professional early on?  Her behaviors initially were benign but eventually became harmful to others and herself.  If she had been more closely attached to her mother, her primary caregiver, would her insecurities have needed to manifest themselves in the form of an imaginary friend?  Fiction leads to more fiction….