Society today is the most advanced that it has ever been. Crime rates are down, and statistically we are living in the safest time period in human history. If all of that is true, why is everybody so anxious? Why are the rates of teen depression and teen suicide drastically rising? To get to the core of that issue, you have to look deeper into what teens, and especially minority groups of teens, are going through. Many teenagers are going through a journey of finding themselves when they are experiencing one of the most socially stressful times of their lives. How can a teen truly come to terms with and accept themselves while juggling what seems like a hundred other things to worry about? In my book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, there is a split narrative between two characters. The first narrative is told by Will Grayson, an average teenager. His best friend is Tiny Cooper, an extremely flamboyant and openly homosexual teenager. The other narrative is told by a different Will Grayson. This Will Grayson is a depressed, self-loathing, closeted homosexual teenager who has attempted suicide before. About halfway through the book, the two narratives intertwine and long story short, everyone is happy at the end of the story. Unfortunately, in real life things don’t always work out for the best. You can’t just meet somebody and your problems magically go away. Not every troubled teen just finds something to “fix” them. My book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, discusses the issues that LGBT youth and troubled teens face, and the general fear and anxiety that teens go through.
On June 26, 2015, when same-sex marriage became legal, many people thought LGBT issues were over. Many felt that this was the only discrimination that homosexual people faced in America. These people would be wrong. In 29 states, sexual orientation is not a protected class. In these states, your employer can legally fire you for being homosexual. You can be denied by a landlord or kicked out of an apartment just for being homosexual. LGBT people are also more prone to violence. “Every LGBT person knows that our safety is not guaranteed. Although we don’t live in fear and continue to be out and proud, it is still something that kicks around at the back of our head when we touch our partner’s hand in public, when we lean in for a kiss, when we are out at a club being ourselves,” said Russell Roybal, the Deputy Executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. (Citation) Even if people aren’t shouting homophobic slurs at a same-sex couple walking down the street, the couple still knows that people are silently judging. The couple still knows that they could be denied service at the restaurant they plan to go to because the owner is using their “religious freedom” to deny service. LGBT people also can’t be completely comfortable at places like LGBT bars and nightclubs which are catered to them, as shown by the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting. Obviously, you could see why a LGBT teen could have trouble dealing with and embracing their sexuality in a high-school environment. Along with all the other stresses in their lives, a LGBT teen has to deal with the possible bullying, discrimination, and immaturity that would come with coming out as homosexual.
In my book, there are two homosexual main characters, Tiny Cooper and Will Grayson. One of the characters, Tiny Cooper, is outgoing, flamboyant, and has completely accepted his sexuality. The other, Will Grayson, is a depressed teen who doesn’t come out until about halfway through the book. Both face discrimination however. Tiny Cooper is on his high school football team and is a star player, but a couple school board members try to have Cooper dress in a different locker room than the rest of the team. One of Will Grayson’s “friends” makes up a fake identity on a chat room, and pretends to be another gay teen. She did this before he came out as she suspected that he was gay. Will also faces discrimination after he comes out, as one of his acquaintances reacts in disgust when he tells him. Grayson also feels that if he comes out he will only be looked at as the gay kid. “But I also know I’d immediately become her gay pet, and that’s the last kind of leash I want.” He feels that his one friend, he didn’t know she made up the chat room identity yet, would only look at him as a “gay best friend.” He wouldn’t be Will Grayson anymore, he would just be known as the gay kid.
In 2015, 12.5% of kids aged 12-17 were reported to have had a major depressive episode. 25.1% of 13-18 year olds were reported to have a lifetime-prevalence of an anxiety disorder. (Citation) These aren’t all kids from bad areas, or kids struggling with their social life either. These are just your average, everyday teenagers. Why are high schoolers so anxious? The answers stems from the anxious social culture that exists in America today. Even though today’s world is safe, the instant accessibility of information can distort that view. It feels like everyday that something terrible happens. On top of the fear-filled climate that teenagers have grown up in, teens also have to worry about social and educational pressures. For many kids, it feels like there’s no escape. They go to school where they have to worry about their grades and the pressure to do well, and then they come home and see all of their friends “perfect” lives on social media. Teens also have to worry about things like applying for colleges, and their uncertain futures. “It’s hard to describe the stress. I’m calm on the outside, but inside it’s like a demon in your stomach trying to consume you,” said Tommy La Guardia, a high school student who works 15 hours a week at an internship, and is a finalist for many scholarships. (Citation) No wonder teenagers are this stressed when they have to deal with all of these pressures.
“I am constantly torn between killing myself, and killing everyone around me.” (Citation 22) These are the first words we hear from Will Grayson, the depressed main character from my book. In the book, Grayson is kind of like the poster child of teen depression. He has tried to commit suicide, he is on medication, he has a strained relationship with his single mother, and he is homosexual. He constantly talks about how it would be better off for everybody if he just died. The only thing that keeps him somewhat going is his online relationship with another homosexual teen named Isaac. Of course as previously mentioned, Isaac is actually his friend Maura creating a fake identity. Overall, this seems like a realistic representation of a depressed teenager. A teen this deeply depressed needs therapy and care, not just a quick fix. Instead, the fix to all of Will’s problems is Tiny Cooper.
“I think the idea of a “mental health day” is something completely invented by people who have no clue what it’s like to have bad mental health. The idea that your mind can be aired out in twenty-four hours is kind of like saying heart disease can be cured if you eat the right breakfast cereal. Mental health days only exist for people who have the luxury of saying “I don’t want to deal with things today” and then can take the whole day off, while the rest of us are stuck fighting the fights we always fight, with no one really caring one way or another, unless we choose to bring a gun to school or ruin the morning announcements with a suicide,”- Will Grayson. This is interesting because it highlights how depression is not just being sad. It’s not being upset that you got a bad grade, or being annoyed at one of your friends. It is something that you constantly have to deal with. It doesn’t just go away if you relax and take a break. Kind of ironic coming from this book, as all it takes to “cure” Will Grayson is meeting somebody. He doesn’t end up in a relationship with Tiny Cooper at the end of the story, but his life is suddenly much more optimistic and it is implied that he is going to start a relationship with another guy. Unintentionally, this book shows one of society’s main problems with depression; the idea that all it takes is a quick fix. Luckily for Grayson, he was accepted by the people he interacted with, but unfortunately that is not often the case. What about the kids with close-minded parents? What about the kids who aren’t accepted by their peers? What about the kids who don’t just happen to meet somebody? Some of these kids are just prescribed the “quick fix” of medication, which have not been proven to be effective. “Depression isn’t just that you’re going to be sad for a few days, … It’s something that requires a serious discussion, more than 15 minutes in the doctor’s office and getting a prescription. … Depression is a serious problem, and we can’t just give you a prescription that’s good for six months and think that’s going to solve the problem,” said Dr. R Scott Benson, an adolescent psychiatrist and member of the American Psychiatric Association. (Citation) Unfortunately many depressed teens do just get prescribed medication. This book, and many people in society romanticize the idea that depression can be easily fixed, and actually cause more harm than good searching for this “fix.”