Jesus Pazo Reflection #2

 Anxiety tends to be a more common condition among the teenagers. Today, important media suggest that anxiety is a serious condition that affects a great part of the population. Causes of anxiety might come from genetic affairs, social circumstances, brain chemistry and life experiences. Studies suggest that this condition appears on people with life traumas that follow them till this present day. Of course, the fight against these type of mental conditions is not the same for every culture. There are cultures that don't take anxiety as a main issue among young groups and there are those committed to help any individual suffering from this state of life. Is not a secret that many people presenting conditions like anxiety choose not to share their thought and feelings with someone else. Talking these problems with family or a close friends could be a very beneficial decision. Because anxiety is a real thing, there are a couple of organizations like ADAA, NAMI, MHA, and NIMH that offer support for those individuals with anxiety. These organizations use work groups, educational services, and researches to learn something new everyday about anxiety. A couple of ancient philosophers were already noticing the presence of anxiety among the population. In ancient times, people took the existence of anxiety as a kind of weakness. Later on, the wiser ones started to realize that anxiety might actually be an important mental health condition. In future centuries, important images of the medical area started to put anxiety as a psychological disorder and conducted several studies about these main condition. Some historical individuals like Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are thought to have suffered from anxiety. Lincoln lost his mother at a very young age and Darwin described some serious symptoms regarding anxiety. We decide many times to be ignorant towards these kind of disorders, but the truth is that they could lead to some severe consequences that threat those individuals presenting it. After all, it would be smart to say that anxiety causes people to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

Autism might be considered as a mental disorder by many experts as well. Autism is, at least for me, a more formal "disease" present in today's civilization. Autism appeared as a main issue in the last century, but many historians and hints suggest that Autism could have appeared in this world since earlier times. When historians and health experts come with this kind of statements they do it after examining and reading many diaries, medical records, and biographies. Although these could lead to strong ideas about Autism, they are just speculative situations because of course they cannot be verified today. When talking about these types of conditions and how people react to them in different places of the world, we can say that, for example, in the United States people show a higher level of maturity and acceptance towards people with this conditions. In others parts of the world it is common and sad to see kids and adults being discriminated for having a mental disorder of this level. It is clear to say that, because the United States is a country that informs and educates individuals nicely from a very early age, they grow up with a huge sense of awareness about these topics. Education encourage them  to create organizations that help the most vulnerable groups, such as those with Autism. Of course, after the technological advances in today's society many health professionals have studied different methods to address Autism by using interventions and therapies. Former Autism figures determined some hints that helped to identify a possible Autism in an individual. Lack of social skills, focus on certain activities, and poor communications methods were some symptoms that early experts discovered on people with Autism. Susan Boyle, a famous singer known for her audition at Britain's Got Talent, has been diagnosed with Asperger (a condition of the same area as Autism). Yet, she stepped on the stage and showed the entire world that she has a great talent to sing. So, this example really makes people wonder about whether these Autism Spectrum take away precious opportunities, or it simply opens the mind of those affected in order to erase stereotypes.

Specific Learning Disabilities refer to conditions or disorders that affect an individual's ability to write, speak, listen, understand, etc... These kind of disabilities affects the neurological part of humans. This disabilities exist within a person during their entire life. As well as the past diseases mentioned, people with any of these disabilities are very inclined to be smarter in some specific areas. For this reason it is important to make any type of intervention or therapy as soon as possible and discover what kind of skills these individuals might want to entirely focus on. Dyslexia and Dysgraphia are two of the most common from these disabilities. Dyslexia is a disability where people tend to confuse language and written text, as well as spelling words. Dysgraphia limits the ability to express ideas and thought through a paper. People with this condition tend to struggle on hand-writing activities. Note how all of these disorders/disabilities mentioned mainly affect the mental functioning. Any person could try to establish a normal conversation with them and believe they are crazy. An adult could try to assign a kid with any of these conditions a simple task and after some minutes find them struggling. They are smart, believe me, but maybe not in the same way as the majority of the people. A variety of Doctors have said that these conditions are not disadvantages, but opportunities for those who present it. Doctors emphasize on the importance of discovering the strengths and weaknesses of this individuals and make them work on areas where they feel comfortable. Intelligence is a very subjective concept. It could mean to be skilled and gifted in a single specific area. It could mean to be very good at doing and knowing about several things. The famous filmmaker Steven Spielberg has dyslexia and for him this presented a very hard experience throughout school. For years, Steven has created some of the most acclaimed movies in the entire history. It is important to focus your attention on things where you are really good at. After all, skills can make you live a wealthy life in the future. A mental disorder is not the end of the world, but an extra obstacle to overcome.