Janaki Patel

IR 1 - 3/11 AP

Compiled Annotations

Allen, Nikki Webber. Don’t Suffer from Your Depression in Silence.

This Ted Talk was about how Nikki Webber Allen came over her shame of being
diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety, and how an important life event altered her
outlook on hiding her depression from others, as she and many others characterize it as a sign of
weakness. She had not realized that other close family members were struggling through the
same things she was, and all were ashamed to admit their “weakness”. Her talk could relate to
many in her audience and watching the talk later on, and her first hand experience made this
credible. She listed facts from credible sources such as the The World Health Organization. She
explained that the most disorders develop, at least in part to a chemical imbalance in the brain,
and/or a underlying genetic predisposition. She related this fact to the claim that mental disorders
cannot be controlled and “shaken off”. It is not a weakness, but instead exposes the true strengths
of people who are affected by it. Her first hand experience makes it easier to use this source for
research.

Anderson, Meg, and Kavitha Cardoza. “Mental Health In Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting
Millions Of Students.”

This article conveys the idea that the current school systems all across the United States
do not have enough resources such as school psychologists, counselors, and special education
teachers to produce the support necessary for students with mental disorders. Although a student
with a mental disorder has many obvious signs, many people such as teachers, who may see the
child more than his own family sees him, and parents miss the signs. These signs include angry
outbursts, declining grades, changes in sleeping or eating, etc. The adults do not focus on looking
for these signs as they are stuck with loads of work. This article incorporates some data that is
not cited, allowing the reader to doubt its validity. However, a real life story of a young girl in
high school was incorporated, adding to the validity and producing a more knowledged
perspective on the topic. This article questioned the overall effectiveness of the support that
current schools provide for people with mental disorders, and its importance.

Brooks, David. “Opinion | When Life Asks for Everything.” The New York Times 19 Sept.
2017. Web. 22 Sept. 2017.

This article provided the two models of human development (The Four Kinds of
Happiness and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), and compared them to important real life factors,
such as marriage and religion. The author then goes on to attempt to prove that Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs too easily devolves into self-absorption. This article would be useful to the
research, but it was full of biased claims and weak connections. However, it did contain some
very good points about marriage and its intervention to the path to self-actualization. The author
also did not use convincing evidence, which made the argument even less believable.
CARROLL, AARON E. “The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2017,

This article provides the audience with the economic side of keeping school times later
and allowing students to obtain more sleep. Buses and different means of transportation also
affect sleep times. The author of this article provided a multitude of data, but did not cite some
of them, so the readers would not be able to acknowledge its validity. However, the author was
able to relate his piece with the audience, and that made his article much more interesting. He
proved that even after incorporating various factors, the benefits still outweighed the costs.
Moreover, a lot of important factors were not taken into consideration, such as overall health
benefits. By including that statement in the relevant passage, the author proved that the benefits
outweigh the costs by a large factor.

Fergusson, David M., and Lianne J. Woodward. “Mental Health, Educational, and Social Role
Outcomes of Adolescents With Depression.” Archives of General Psychiatry, vol. 59, no.
3, Mar. 2002, pp. 225–231, doi:10.1001/archpsyc.59.3.225.

This article provided a good background to mental illnesses, and performed a study as
well. The researchers went through all the steps for the study in detail, so the reader would
understand exactly why each step was being done and how. Many comparisons were made
throughout the article to compare the findings with already known information, such as
Relationships Between Depression in Adolescence and Later Outcomes Adjusted for
Confounding Factors. This article will definitely be used in the research as it provides a good
reference to an experiment pertaining to my topic. The data does seem to be reliable as it does
account for many factors (confounding) and seems to get rid of bias.

Gold, Jenny. “One out of Five Children Have Mental Illness, and Schools Often Don’t Help.”
PBS NewsHour.

This article consisted of a real life story told by the mother of two children with mental
illnesses, and her experience in dealing with the school system. The mother, Selena, realized that
the school system was having a negative effect on the mental health of her children, and began to
take measures to ensure that her children felt included and safe, as well as cared for at school.
This article was a good insight into the lives of someone who experiences the mental illnesses’
affect. This article was credible because it was a first hand experience and point of view of a
mother of children with illnesses. This article will be useful to gain a different perspective on the
subject of mental illnesses, as it is from an inside point of view rather than an outside.

Mental Health Conditions | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness.

This website provided a great basis for a variety of mental disorders, including ADHD,
mental disorders, bipolar disorders, depression, dissociative disorders, and more. For each, it
provides treatments, support, and discussions. The discussion groups can provide one with the
aid they need to manage recovery and find and support mental health conditions. It also gives an
overview of the symptoms and causes, allowing a reader to be more informed. This website is
very credible as it is an the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization. Their goal is to
educate, advocate, listen, and lead. This is a great source of reference for anyone’s research, as it
provides a lot of information.

Reynolds, Gretchen. “Get Up, Stand Up!” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept.
2017

This article provides the readers with the relationship between sitting and ill health. The
author explains how the studies are done, but sometimes does not provide a specific name of the
group that is performing the research itself. A lot of factors were taken in during the study, such
as weight, gender, race, etc. The main experiment in this article was done by Dr.Diaz at
Columbia University. The study produced shocking results. It proved that there was an
association between sitting and declining health. The study that was used to prove the claim of
the author produced the generalization that lack of movement for longer than thirty minutes
correlates to a decline of health, but it does not explain why.

Shapiro, Margaret. “Stressed-out Teens, with School a Main Cause.” Washington Post, 11–500
Feb. 2014,

This article provided information about how the teenage population attending schools
reported having unhealthy levels of stress, even compared to adults. Generally, adults have
reported their stress to be about money, while teenagers report their stress being caused by
school, having to manage too many activities, depression, and being overwhelmed. Teenagers
have also reported many health problems due to their abnormally high stress levels, such as upset
stomach, stomach indigestion, headaches, migraines, and skipping meals. There are many ways
to cope with stress, although most teenagers tend to turn to sedentary activities such as video
games or using the Internet. This article did retrieve its information from a reliable source.
However, some claims were not backed up by evidence, and needed to be expanded on.

Strauss, Valerie. Study: Impact of Unaddressed Mental Health Issues on Students Is Severe - The
Washington Post.

This article focused a lot on the range of factors that affect mental health, such as
traumatic experiences, exposure to drugs, abuse and neglect, etc. It provides many
recommendations by Andrea M. Spencer, a dean and consultant to the Center for Children’s
Advocacy. Her credibility is shown, which causes the reader to understand that she is informed
and knows what she is talking about through a lot of research. The article was very factual as
well as somewhat opinionated, as the author of the article used a study in which Spencer
provided many suggestions. This whole article mostly refers to Spencer’s work, and Strauss
rarely incorporates thoughts and ideas of her own. Strauss seems to have derived the key points
from Spencer’s work. However, the information is nicely organized together, and has a lot of
useful information.

Troxel, Wendy. Why School Should Start Later for Teens.

This Ted Talk provides the reasons why schools should have later start times for teens, as
they are being deprived of the sleep they need as growing teenagers. She states that one in ten
teens get the eight to ten hours of sleep recommended per night. She claims that public policy -
school times - have a direct effect on the amount of sleep teenagers are getting. She relates this to
the delay in the biological clock that teens experience during puberty, driven by the shift in the
release of melatonin. Adolescence is a period of dramatic brain development, and the lack of
sleep contributes to their bodies and behaviors suffering. The consequences of sleep loss also
contribute to the increase in mental health problems, such as substance use, depression, and
suicide. She includes an interesting fact: “Studies have shown that getting five hours or less of
sleep per night is the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.”
Troxel states that despite the scientific support advocating for a later sleep time, society is still
failing to do the right thing for their children. This talk contributes to the research of the increase
of mental health problems, and is a great source to refer to.

Walton, Alice G. “Why More Americans Suffer From Mental Disorders Than Anyone Else.”
The
Atlantic, Oct. 2011

In “Why More Americans Suffer From Mental Disorders Than Anyone Else”, Alice
Walton provides insight on the reasoning behind the increase of mental disorders despite the
increasing treatment options. Walton includes the World Health Organization’s research to
compare the U.S. to other countries. Certain disorders are compared between ages and genders -
for example, women are 50% more likely to suffer from mood disorders than men. The ranks of
many countries are provided, and then compared to realize which factors cause the U.S. to have
the most people suffering from mental disorders. Many research and data findings are included
in this article to further convince the reader of the unrealized problems we are facing.
Unfortunately, as some mental disorders could cause suicidal thoughts and/or actions, some
statistics have been included in the article. The article also states the treatment rates of people
with mental disorders, which is increasing with little impact on the rate of mental health
disorders.

Weir, Kirsten. “The Beginnings of Mental Illness.”

Scientists believe that psychological problems are innate for some people, and that
environmental factors boost risk. For example, the risk is three times greater in people whose
mothers has the flu during pregnancy, maternal iron deficiency during pregnancy increases the
offspring’s risk of the disease by four times, and people whose mothers were undernourished
while pregnant had a significantly increased risk of major affective disorders. Exposure to certain
things during pregnancy can boost the fetus’s future risk of developing problems. Mental
functions decline with things like infections and can have long lasting effects on the brains of the
offspring.

Weir, Kirsten. “The Roots of Mental Illness.”

The diagnosing process of mental illnesses are extremely different than those of other
chronic diseases. While cardiologists have EKGs and CT imaging, new tools in genetics and
neuroimaging are still developing. Many scientists think that the root of discovering the
treatments for mental illnesses are located in biology and mapping of the neurological circuits.
However, Mayberg states that “we don’t have the tools to explain all those things because we
can’t control for all the variables.” This means that we will have to use our research and
knowledge to look into other ways of preventing mental illnesses from happening in the first
place. In some diseases, structural and functional abnormalities are shown in imaging scans,
which makes them easier to detect. The more scientists understand about the brain and and
behaviour the better, but they have a long way to go.