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Friday, December 5, 2014
Volume 52, Issue 4
780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306
External pressures contribute to stress in the student body
Shawna Chen and Klaire Tan Forum and Managing Editors
Thirty two days ago, concerns over student mental health peaked when the Palo Alto community learned that junior Cameron Lee committed suicide. Lee’s death came three weeks after the suicide of Gunn alumnus Quinn Gens. While the most immediate question was, “Why?” a larger concern hung in the air. Was there something with Gunn? Parents flocked to meetings, online forums and even the comment sections of the Palo Alto Weekly trying to find an answer. What the community must remember, however, is that mental health is an extremely complicated issue. According to Dr. Meg Durbin, M.D., there is rarely a clear underlying cause for student stress and depression. “When somebody is depressed or even gets to the point of actually taking their life, the reasons are virtually always multifactorial. There are so many factors that go into it,” she said. “What events actually push someone over the edge? Hard to say. It’s different for each person. We all would love to have a simple explanation and a single explanation when this happens, and that’s just usually not the case.” The Gap Between Appearance and Reality With the community still reeling, Durbin encourages everyone to “be more honest, more inquiring and more supportive.” Understanding the mental state of Gunn students, however, can be more difficult than some may think. Site Council member Jyothi Sahdev, the mother of a Gunn junior, believes that the community is well informed on how Gunn students are doing. “There are lots of surveys which are done to examine how our children are doing,” Sahdev said. “I think the community feels that it is unusual for a student to reach such a low point. I also feel that the majority of students at Gunn do not reach such low points.” Yet, many students have, in fact, hit low points in their lives, according to junior Grace Park. “Not everyone shows that they’re upset or depressed,” she said. “Some pretend to be all right when they aren’t and noticing that difference is hard—at school or at all.” This idea of facades can be true for many students, who conceal their true emotions when surrounded by peers. In truth, some have experienced desolation to the point of considering extreme measures. In a California Healthy Kids Survey conducted in the school year 2011-2012, 10 percent of juniors and 9 percent of freshmen answered “Yes” to planning methods of attempting suicide
in the last 12 months. According to Durbin, it is common for teenagers in particular to hide their true feelings because they seek acceptance from their peers and are particularly well-attuned to social behavior. “People can have a thick veneer that can look happy even when they’re not. You don’t really know somebody just because you’ve glanced at them,” Durbin said. “Kids in particular, I’d say, are so careful about being accepted and part of a crowd, so it’s really hard to let down your guard and admit when there’s something wrong.” Gunn’s Academic Culture Since November, concerns over academic stress have arisen, Community members have
STRESS—p.3 Photo illustration by Anthony Tran and Dave Zhu