[Applause]
[Music]
good evening thank you dr. Harold for
the introduction and thank you everyone
for coming out tonight to watch the TED
talks I wanted to start by saying that
one in four people develop a mental
illness at one point in their lives
whether it be depression anxiety any
social disorder or eating disorder but
let me put that into perspective for you
between you the person to your left the
person to your right and the person in
front of you one of you may be suffering
from a mental illness at this point in
your life but one’s appearance often
contrasts the reality of his or her life
for example my external involvement
perfectionism and confidence coincides
with the internal deterioration of my
happiness every day but by the physical
look of me and by my extroverted
personality one would never guess mental
illness and suicide
it carries a certain stigma from society
however I think we can do three things
to stop the stigma we can ask talk and
listen acknowledging the situation
allows the soul to begin the healing
process not only for those suffering but
those that want to offer their support
as well the constant disturbance of
false image and external representation
often leads to self judgment and I keep
saying that images deceive reality but
let me explain why this year for a peel
it I have dr. Klein and she’s so
inspiring and great a going word by word
analyzing every play that we read in
that I would call myself a mini
Shakespeare scholar because of her but
Shakespeare depicts one theme throughout
all of his plays the theme of appearance
versus reality he talks about hiding
your personal flaws to try and hoax
other people for example in his play
Macbeth he says fair is foul and foul is
fair this means that all things that are
believed to be beautiful are actually
worn out and distraught and vice-versa
but these themes that Shakespeare talked
about in the Renaissance
period still exist in today’s society
although today they may be a bit more
challenging I was 12 years old the first
time I tried to kill myself
four years later at the age of sixteen I
tried to commit suicide again throughout
my life I always felt out of place I was
never friends with other girls I never
really cared about any societal norms
I just longed to be happy in my own way
but I felt like I was stuck I always
wanted to fit in with my surroundings
and be comfortable with who I was but I
thought I had finally found an escape
from the reality that I was living in
suicide I now know that suicide is never
the answer
junior year the worst year of my life I
stopped coming to school and when I was
here I was crying in the bathroom
because of all the pressures that I had
on myself I constantly felt like a
disappointment to my friends and my
family and my teachers but keep in mind
I was taking five AP classes and
participating in more extracurricular
activities and I could count on with my
hands until one day I was sitting in ap
physics with miss Giles and for anyone
that knows of her or of the class it’s
not easy
anyways it was close to the end of the
period and she walked over to me and
asked me to stay after class that day
and I froze I didn’t know what to say I
thought she was going to yell at me
because of I didn’t turn an assignment
in but I already had so much on my mind
that day the bell rang and she had
walked over to me and she said Megan are
you okay you’ve looked upset lately I
immediately began to cry because for
once in my life someone had asked me if
I was okay her simple gesture ultimately
saying one word saying one word could
save someone’s life I think that we
should change the stigma and do three
things
ask talk and listen to begin asking
asking one question can put someone else
in control of the conversation it can
make them find their own answers asking
questions such as are you okay is there
anything you’d like to talk about there
good conversation starters but saying
something like why can make people feel
defensive and challenged at times but
remember just because you’re a support
system doesn’t mean you’re responsible
for having their answers answers at
times can lessen or diminish someone’s
point of view about a topic it’s like
you’re almost trying to change the way
they feel about it saying something as
it’s not that bad can actually make
someone feel worse about a situation so
remember just because you don’t have
answers does not mean you’re not helping
so in addition to asking talking a
common misconception is that people
don’t want to talk about what they’re
going through and this may be true and
in that circumstance they will say no
but more often than not people want to
talk they just don’t have anyone to talk
to so if you’re trying to decide on
whether or not to talk to someone there
are five major warning sign the show
someone is depressed the first putting
themselves down in a serious or joking
manner if they say nobody loves me
although this might be a joke there’s
usually more of meaning behind it
second any drastic changes in appearance
such as cutting all their hair off or
any big style changes and third any drug
or alcohol abuse this is always a major
red flag to show something’s going on in
someone’s life fourth any eating or
sleeping changes and then fifth making
leading statements such as you’d never
believe what I went through they’re
already starting the conversation with
you we just need we as humans just need
to stop being so oblivious to the world
around us
so now onto the topic of listening has
anyone ever heard of an active listener
you basically act as
sounding-board you don’t influence the
conversation at all you only enhance it
you can enhance a conversation by doing
three things the first reframing a
question by reframing a question you get
more than a yes-or-no answer
instead of saying has this been
happening a long time you could say how
long has this been happening second
summarize by summarizing you just
reiterate what’s going on in the
conversation for example you can say so
you’ve been fighting with your boyfriend
for a while do you still love them and
third reflect reflect through repetition
if someone tells you it’s been rough
lately you could say back so it seems
rough for you what about this it helps
to clarify not only for you what’s going
on but also the other person now
although asking talking and listening
are great support strategies it’s always
important to suggest further help such
as a social worker a guidance counselor
or a parent now that they feel
comfortable opening up but with that
take time to inspire other people let it
guide your life and your work together
we can create a group of empowered
supporters in a safe environment for
self healing together we can see the
invisible together we can stop the
stigma and together we can ask talk and listen thank you
[Music]
good evening thank you dr. Harold for
the introduction and thank you everyone
for coming out tonight to watch the TED
talks I wanted to start by saying that
one in four people develop a mental
illness at one point in their lives
whether it be depression anxiety any
social disorder or eating disorder but
let me put that into perspective for you
between you the person to your left the
person to your right and the person in
front of you one of you may be suffering
from a mental illness at this point in
your life but one’s appearance often
contrasts the reality of his or her life
for example my external involvement
perfectionism and confidence coincides
with the internal deterioration of my
happiness every day but by the physical
look of me and by my extroverted
personality one would never guess mental
illness and suicide
it carries a certain stigma from society
however I think we can do three things
to stop the stigma we can ask talk and
listen acknowledging the situation
allows the soul to begin the healing
process not only for those suffering but
those that want to offer their support
as well the constant disturbance of
false image and external representation
often leads to self judgment and I keep
saying that images deceive reality but
let me explain why this year for a peel
it I have dr. Klein and she’s so
inspiring and great a going word by word
analyzing every play that we read in
that I would call myself a mini
Shakespeare scholar because of her but
Shakespeare depicts one theme throughout
all of his plays the theme of appearance
versus reality he talks about hiding
your personal flaws to try and hoax
other people for example in his play
Macbeth he says fair is foul and foul is
fair this means that all things that are
believed to be beautiful are actually
worn out and distraught and vice-versa
but these themes that Shakespeare talked
about in the Renaissance
period still exist in today’s society
although today they may be a bit more
challenging I was 12 years old the first
time I tried to kill myself
four years later at the age of sixteen I
tried to commit suicide again throughout
my life I always felt out of place I was
never friends with other girls I never
really cared about any societal norms
I just longed to be happy in my own way
but I felt like I was stuck I always
wanted to fit in with my surroundings
and be comfortable with who I was but I
thought I had finally found an escape
from the reality that I was living in
suicide I now know that suicide is never
the answer
junior year the worst year of my life I
stopped coming to school and when I was
here I was crying in the bathroom
because of all the pressures that I had
on myself I constantly felt like a
disappointment to my friends and my
family and my teachers but keep in mind
I was taking five AP classes and
participating in more extracurricular
activities and I could count on with my
hands until one day I was sitting in ap
physics with miss Giles and for anyone
that knows of her or of the class it’s
not easy
anyways it was close to the end of the
period and she walked over to me and
asked me to stay after class that day
and I froze I didn’t know what to say I
thought she was going to yell at me
because of I didn’t turn an assignment
in but I already had so much on my mind
that day the bell rang and she had
walked over to me and she said Megan are
you okay you’ve looked upset lately I
immediately began to cry because for
once in my life someone had asked me if
I was okay her simple gesture ultimately
saying one word saying one word could
save someone’s life I think that we
should change the stigma and do three
things
ask talk and listen to begin asking
asking one question can put someone else
in control of the conversation it can
make them find their own answers asking
questions such as are you okay is there
anything you’d like to talk about there
good conversation starters but saying
something like why can make people feel
defensive and challenged at times but
remember just because you’re a support
system doesn’t mean you’re responsible
for having their answers answers at
times can lessen or diminish someone’s
point of view about a topic it’s like
you’re almost trying to change the way
they feel about it saying something as
it’s not that bad can actually make
someone feel worse about a situation so
remember just because you don’t have
answers does not mean you’re not helping
so in addition to asking talking a
common misconception is that people
don’t want to talk about what they’re
going through and this may be true and
in that circumstance they will say no
but more often than not people want to
talk they just don’t have anyone to talk
to so if you’re trying to decide on
whether or not to talk to someone there
are five major warning sign the show
someone is depressed the first putting
themselves down in a serious or joking
manner if they say nobody loves me
although this might be a joke there’s
usually more of meaning behind it
second any drastic changes in appearance
such as cutting all their hair off or
any big style changes and third any drug
or alcohol abuse this is always a major
red flag to show something’s going on in
someone’s life fourth any eating or
sleeping changes and then fifth making
leading statements such as you’d never
believe what I went through they’re
already starting the conversation with
you we just need we as humans just need
to stop being so oblivious to the world
around us
so now onto the topic of listening has
anyone ever heard of an active listener
you basically act as
sounding-board you don’t influence the
conversation at all you only enhance it
you can enhance a conversation by doing
three things the first reframing a
question by reframing a question you get
more than a yes-or-no answer
instead of saying has this been
happening a long time you could say how
long has this been happening second
summarize by summarizing you just
reiterate what’s going on in the
conversation for example you can say so
you’ve been fighting with your boyfriend
for a while do you still love them and
third reflect reflect through repetition
if someone tells you it’s been rough
lately you could say back so it seems
rough for you what about this it helps
to clarify not only for you what’s going
on but also the other person now
although asking talking and listening
are great support strategies it’s always
important to suggest further help such
as a social worker a guidance counselor
or a parent now that they feel
comfortable opening up but with that
take time to inspire other people let it
guide your life and your work together
we can create a group of empowered
supporters in a safe environment for
self healing together we can see the
invisible together we can stop the
stigma and together we can ask talk and listen thank you
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