Students might learn about black holes in science class, but it can be more difficult to understand the ones that consume their minds.

Sophomore Alivia Allen is one of the many students who has experienced this. She has struggled with her personal black hole, anxiety, since the Covid 19 pandemic.

“[I was] very anxious. And unstable… I would shut down and not be able to do anything,” Allen said

Mental health issues have been an American plague for years, but over the past decade, rates of struggling teens have increased by 40 percent. These issues include anxiety, depression, and many more. They are all-consuming, sucking in their victims, and not allowing any light in. A lot like a black hole.

As teens struggle with their mental issues, they have begun the difficult journey of seeking help. According to Ground News, almost one-third of teens received some form of mental health treatment in the last year, whether it be counseling, medicine, or therapy.

Allenhad the bravery to find this kind of help. She started meeting with a therapist and was soon reinvigorated.

“It helped… give you like, tools to… get through stressful situations and to not, like, have a panic attack in class,” Allen said. “To… slow down your thinking so you don’t like spiral into a black hole,”

While Allen is much less anxious after therapy, so many more students are struggling alone.

“A lot of people that I, like, talk to either have, like, some sort of… seasonal depression, or have anxiety or something… it’s kind of sad,” Allen said.

David Morbitzer, one of Wando’s Advanced Placement Psychology teachers, has watched for 15 years as the mental health of his students has evolved. A lot has changed in that time, but there was one huge contributor to all of the issues that are being seen now.

“Covid in itself, like kept people apart… When you take people away from existence for about a year, just kind of staying in their own little circles, and everybody being so reliant on their phones…” Morbitzer said.

The Covid-19 pandemic has surely shaped this generation in more ways than are yet known, especially when it comes to mental health, but it has had a partner in its mission to make students miserable.

“You [have] added rigor to classes. And, you know, on the whole, I think social media probably plays a little bit into it as well,” Morbitzer said, “Having to have that social presence and that online presence, and, you know, which brings you more time on your phone, which takes away from actual human interaction. It’s kind of a circle,”

Garrett Ralston, who graduated from Wando in 2015, is now the school’s mental health counselor. He sees this spike of mental issues through a different lens.

“Is it like, people have more mental health issues now, or are they seeking more help for it now? …back in the day, like, people would think that there’s something really wrong with you if you said you were, like, depressed,” Ralston said.

It is true that the stigma surrounding mental health has decreased dramatically in the past few decades, and therapy has become much more common.

“It’s good, obviously, you know, having someone that you can talk to about your problems who’s unbiased, and… can also, like, challenge those… thought patterns that lead to a lot of… negative emotions, right?” Ralston said.

The first step to mental healing is to stop the spiral of negative thoughts, and an unbiased voice, like that of a therapist, can often be a key tool in doing so.

“[Anxiety and depression have] kind of like varying levels of insight and severity, right?” Ralston said. “So, it’s kind of a lot of therapy is, like, meeting people where they’re at.”

According to My Denver Therapy, 17 percent of teens have sought this middle ground by going to counseling or therapy. That would equate to over 400 Wando students, but roughly 800 more would be fighting their battles without any help.

“You don’t need to feel alone, like, it’s not a bad thing, it’s not,” Ralston said, “You don’t need to be stuck in that situation. There is ways to get help, get better, and, you know, change your life in the way that you want it to be changed,”