What is the modern teen experience? Such a broad question has many answers, but more and more of them connect to the issues and stigmas surrounding mental health. Mental health has increasingly become a topic of discussion over the past decade, especially for teenagers, and one might assume that it is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue among young people. It would seem that in recent times teenagers are becoming more and more susceptible to a number of problems. Things like anxiety and depression are taking over a larger portion of teenagers now than they ever have, and it's worrying to say the least. Books like Speak help raise awareness and show how mental health can affect young people and how an individual's (particularly a teenager's) mental state could be affected by different circumstances. In this research paper I will explore aspects such as media expectations, trauma and other factors that contribute to increased anxiety and depression in adolescents and cover how Speak represents them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, let's look at some statistics. Has mental health really become more of an issue in recent years or are people just becoming more aware of it? This conversation has been going on for a while now, and enough research has been done by now to have an answer. Since 2013, the rate of diagnosed depression and anxiety has increased 63 percent among youth ages 12 to 17, according to a study conducted by Health Index Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS). 47% for boys and 65% for girls. Evidently mental disorders increasingly affect adolescents, this is true. However, things like this don't happen without a reason. Something in recent years must be at least partially responsible. This brings us to our first factor among young people, which is the expectations placed on young people by the media. As much as some of us wouldn't like to admit it, we are all at least somewhat influenced by the way things are portrayed in newspapers. average, for better or for worse. In this case it is clearly for the worse, as more and more young people are simply unable to keep up with the ever-increasing standards of what they should and shouldn't be. Speak illustrates this concept throughout the story, as Melinda, the protagonist, faces all sorts of negative behavior from her classmates due to her not fitting in. This elusive standard of what it means to fit in has caused much angst among today's youth. , and the book serves to demonstrate this very clearly. This is demonstrated by the following quote from the novel Speak, on page 4: “I entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I have no one to sit with. I'm an outcast. Melinda doesn't fit the standard that teenagers are held to today, and this is very evident in the first few pages, and because of this she is immediately shunned. Much of the modern teenage experience can be summed up by that quote, as the struggle to fit into what is deemed correct or good along with the social punishments for not doing so are both clearly captured in this scene. The illness in adolescents, particularly young women, that Speak covers involves traumatic events, particularly things like sexual assault. A staggering 82% of victims of attempted rape, rape and sexual assault who are under the age of 18 are women. Young women, especially those between the ages of 16 and 19, have..