Preventing Trichotillomania by Jolie

Preventing Trichotillomania by Jolie - February 2022 Scholarship Essay

Trich·o·til·lo·ma·ni·a. It is scientifically defined as a compulsive disorder in which an individual is faced with a strong desire to tear Glandulae Sebacea follicles from the root of their attachment to the human body, or otherwise none as a compelling urge to rip out all of your hair. While this is a genuine psychotic disorder requiring medical attention or cognitive behavioral therapy, its definition even encompasses the trivial desire to find relief in physical pain due to unrelenting stress. This is a common impediment for high school students, and an elective class entitled Preventing Trichotillomania may be the key to reducing the severe mental strain high school students are faced with.

I'd be lying if I said I haven't heard that college is harder, that young people are lazy, and that every new generation complains about mundane and nearly insignificant challenges. And this would be true of high school if seven-plus hours of school is normal, five hours of homework is helping, two hours of extracurriculars is fun, a twenty two minute lunch is energizing, two hours of getting ready is beneficial, a half hour of commuting is easy, and a half enjoyed hour of eating the biggest meal of the day that's cut short by the need to get eight hours of sleep is standard. Yes, high school is effortless, even, if seventeen hours of preoccupation is the least demanding task asked of our youth, but unfortunately, it is not. We forgot about college, our future, applications and pressure, GPAs and class ranks, speeches, essays, scholarships, letters, SATs, and the societal pressure to keep tabs on social media. Instagram needs to be updated weekly, TikTok scrolled daily, and Snapchat checked hourly or else you're uneducated and ignorant. Also, don't forget to put every social movement that exists in your bio because, young people, you are the face of liberalism.

Today’s generation is not only faced with societal standards, endless amounts of homework, and the need to pursue at least sixteen years of schooling, but with the pressure of knowing that the future depends on how well they accomplish these things. The added insistence of surrounding adults swearing that their life was harder only minimizes their challenges and intensifies the problem of poor mental health and a lack of self-confidence present in society today. Therefore, a class designed specifically to neutralize every triggering sense of doubt instilled in today’s youth would curtail a great proportion of the pressure students are weighed down with, especially if a school-initiated elective becomes a safe and secure space students may then look forward to. Often, school is viewed as an insurmountable impediment to a teen’s happiness, but knowing that one ninety-minute block may be spent admitting this stressor and working out ways to overcome it can provide an unparalleled amount of comfort to apprehensive teenagers.

Another timely advantage to Preventing Trichotillomania would be that it provides an outright admission from teachers to students, from adults to their children that their health matters. Often viewed as an obscure idea popularized by temperamental and emotionally insecure children, caring about mental health is a proposition that is still looked upon with a skeptical aura by past generations. Many students feel as though this unexplored concept is disregarded by their older family members and viewed as a generational weakness. This elective option would plainly admit that mental health and teenage stress is not minimal, and that it is clearly recognized as a genuine difficulty to a student’s success. Over time, much of the periodic frustration and incidental anger many teens possess toward their parents can be lessened as adults not understanding their teens becomes an obsolete problem. A class that focuses on emphasizing rather than flouting the complexities of a modern teenager’s life can strengthen the trust and faith children have in the degree that adults care about the generation that formulates the future.

While often utilized as a metaphorical phrase, the figurative temptation to rip one’s own hair out should not be an impulse ever thrown in front of today’s youth. It is often forgotten that high school students are children, adolescents seeking to define the state of their future in four years. They are automatically entrusted with the responsibility to choose a career wisely on top of balancing a social life that manages their sanity. Though walking hours to school daily or lacking the instant gratification a cell phone brings are no longer obstacles children face today, other social pressures and a variety of career opportunities provide students with another set of non-comparable challenges to their future. Trichotillomania may now be a psychotic disorder, but the low regard with which childhood stress is now held may quickly turn this into a compulsive desire that plagues our future.