When I was younger, I sometimes needed professional help for my problems, although I was lucky enough that they didn't cause lasting problems. Over the years, since then, I've met and known many people who go through something similar yet different all the time. I've assumed many wrong things about the way they handled life and I watched many do the same, sometimes including those people themselves.

It has become important to me to understand as much as I can about mental health, so that I can understand and help both myself and my friends.

There will always be parts of mental illness that we don't understand, but we can minimize the discomfort by learning as much as we can. I'm not going to tell you how to interact with others or yourself in terms of mental illness, but knowing the facts can help ease the discomfort.

As part of my research, I asked Dr. Ziegler, someone who was my therapist and helped me greatly when I was younger, some questions about what she notices about mental health and teenagers.