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Awareness About Teen Mental Health
by Nikki and Anne Heart ♥ October 15, 2026
*Although we wrote this post together, we have chosen to present the following through Mom’s eyes.
Teen mental health is a topic that is deeply personal to me.
My daughter, Nikki, struggled with her mental health throughout her teenage years and, in many ways, throughout much of her life.
Like so many young people who are hurting, she became skilled at hiding her pain from the world. To others, she often appeared fine, even when she was fighting difficult battles internally.
Then one day, the weight of that pain became too much, and she attempted to take her own life.
Thankfully, she survived.
Sadly, many parents are not able to share that same outcome. For them, the loss is permanent, and the questions, heartbreak, and grief remain forever.
What we didn’t realize during Nikki’s early years was that she was living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), much like her father. While they share the same diagnosis, their symptoms manifested in very different ways.
As a child, Nikki displayed ritualistic behaviors that are common signs of OCD. However, the intrusive thoughts and fears driving those behaviors remained hidden. She didn’t understand what was happening in her own mind, and because she couldn’t make sense of those thoughts, she carried that burden quietly and alone.
Nikki learned to cope in silence, keeping her struggles to herself for years.
Noticing mental health problems in a teen
Being a teenager is hard. A teenager can be under stress to be liked, do well in school, get along with family, and make big decisions. These pressures sometimes cannot be avoided and worrying about them is normal. But feeling extremely sad, hopeless or worthless could be warning signs of a mental health problem.
Mental health problems are real, painful, and sometimes severe. A teenager may need help if they show the signs mentioned above, or expressing the following:
- Often showing or expressing anger
- Being overly worried
- Feeling grief for a long time after a loss or death
- Hurting other people or themselves
- Destroying property
- Appearing depressed
- Sexual behaviors
- Have lost interest in things that they used to enjoy
- Have low energy
- Sleep too much or too little, or seem sleepy throughout the day
- Have periods of highly elevated energy and activity and require much less sleep than usual
- Spend more and more time alone, and avoid social activities with friends or family
- Diet or exercise excessively, or fear gaining weight
- Engage in self-harm behaviors (such as cutting or burning their skin)
- Smoke, drink alcohol, or use drugs
- Engage in risky or destructive behavior alone or with friends
- Have thoughts of suicide
- Say that they think someone is trying to control their mind or that they hear things that other people cannot hear
- Having extreme ritual behaviors
What can you do?
- Understand that teen problems are very real no matter how minor the problem may seem to you.
- Know that everyone is affected in different ways. Meaning one teen might not react the same as another child in your family.
- Recognize that social media is a big factor and can severely affect self-esteem and self-worth.
- Be aware that stigma regarding mental health is real not only in schools and your community, but also in the medical community as well.
- Realize that not every treatment program works for everyone.
- Acknowledge that a drug prescription program may not be the right program. Other programs may work better with life-time benefits.
Sources to use:
- Medlinelineplus.gov, Teen Mental Health, accessed October 12, 2026.
- CDC, Adolescent and School Health, accessed October 12, 2026.
- National Institute of Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, accessed October 12, 2026.
- International OCD Foundation, OCD, accessed October 12, 2026.
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Note: All information in “Nikki’s Story and Mom’s Story” are based on detail journals covering seven years of Nikki’s life on prescription drugs.
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