ANXIETY AND INTROVERTS, AN ABUSSIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH NO ESCAPE

On this special day, I want to talk about something sensitive to me: mental illnesses, especially
anxiety. I am an introvert who has social anxiety, so this is the worst nightmare ever and it’s
actually happening to me.

Even though it’s the twenty-first century and we are considered to be so innovative and so
intelligent, we are still in the darkness when talking about mental health, or at least that’s what
they want us to believe. School teaches us about bullies, about other people harming us,
physically and mentally, and not about the fact that sometimes we are the villain in our own
story and that we need help.

You see, the brain is an organ. Mental illnesses are illnesses of that organ. Brain scans show
that there is a physical difference between a healthy brain and a sick one. So, telling someone
“it s not real, it s all in your head” is like telling someone with asthma “it s not real, it s all in
your lungs”. The brain is an organ that can malfunction as much as any other organ.

Anxiety and depression are so active among teenagers and young adults due to the stress that
school gives us. Did you know that the average high school student has the same level of anxiety
as people put in mental hospitals in the 1950s ?

We live in a society where people say they’re not judging but the minute you do something
different, you dress differently, you like different music, you have different morals than them
(so, essentially, you are a human being), you are considered strange and sometimes they say
“you’re trying too hard”. This is also a motive why mental illnesses are so common.

Another sad thing is being introvert in today’s society. If you’d be a famous actor, writer,
singer or any other profession that gives you success , you’d be worshipped for being an
introvert, you’ll be considered an intellectual but if you are a normal person, especially a
teenager, you are considered weird, boring, sometimes rude and stupid (because you don’t give
your opinions on things). Introverts prefer solitary to social activities, but do not necessarily fear
social encounters like shy people do. Susan Cain, author of the book Quiet: The Power of
Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, argues that modern culture misjudges the
capabilities of introverted people, leading to a waste of talent, energy and happiness. Cain
describes how society is biased against introverts, and that, with people being taught from
childhood that to be sociable is to be happy, introversion is now considered "somewhere
between a disappointment and pathology". In contrast, Cain says that introversion is not a
"second-class" trait but that both introverts and extroverts enrich society, with examples
including the introverts J. K. Rowling, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein. And therefore, anxiety and
introversion have a somehow strong connection.

Initially, I wanted to talk about this but then I changed my mind because I thought that it
would be boring and I was thinking about presenting a British band. But after a lot of
consideration, I realized that no, raising awareness about mental illnesses is really important, if
not the most important thing that teenagers should know about and this is why I decided to talk
about it today. Thank you very much !

is biased against introverts = este indreptata impotriva introvertitilor

pathology = deviere de la starea normală de funcționare a organismului; tulburare; afecțiune.