Too Much Stress is not the Best

Do you feel stressed because of the huge amounts of homework you get nightly from teachers? You’re not the only one. Students at Portsmouth High School continuously complain about the amounts of stress they have to deal with because of all of the work they are given. 

Too+Much+Stress+is+not+the+Best

Hope Currier and Jaimie Linchey

Young teens often say that they have “anxiety” because of the amount of work they have to do or they are “depressed” because of all of the time they have to spend at school, but are those words overused in today’s world?

Marcie Blanchette, the Student Assistant Counselor at PHS, has worked with students for 14 years. From when she started working at the high school to now, she has seen “an increase in students with mental health issues, especially in the past three or four years”.

 When she first started, she was there to help with students in the drug and alcohol population or with their parents who are struggling. Now, she works primarily with students who are struggling with mental health issues.
“The cause of depression and anxiety in students comes from multiple different factors,” Blanchette claims, “students are overexposed with technology, and that plays a role in the increase of students with depression and anxiety.”

A big factor brought up by many students is the fact that they are given too much work to do and that it contributes to mental health issues. Blanchette explains that “it’s not the amount of work that is given to the students, it is the pressure put on them by their parents and all the expectations that they are pushed to exceed.”

Senior guidance counselor, Laurie Relinski, also believed that “families enable kids in a lot of ways that cause kids depression and/or anxiety. Families never let the kids fail, they never let them work through a hard problem, they’re always saving and rescuing the kids so they don’t have any skills whatsoever to overcome an obstacle that comes their way when in the real world”

Students can get help from any guidance counselor or even a teacher at Portsmouth High School. You can also call or text the Samaritans hotline (877)-870-4673 (HOPE)– they are open 24 hours. Anyone will be willing to help you, and you always need to remember you are not alone!