Author Biography

Jorge Garcia-Cropper is freshman from Modesto, California attending Utah State University. He came to Utah State to participate in the Fixed Wing Professional Pilot program. Jorge is currenly a member of the Air Force ROTC on campus and enjoys participating in the 6am physical training sessions. He loves his family and friends and finds his relationships to be “of extreme importance” and is actively looking for ways he can serve his community and be a benefit to society.

This essay was composed in November 2023 and uses MLA documentation.

In the year 2021, over 48,000 individuals died by suicide in the United States alone. That number increased in 2022 to nearly 49,500 individuals which is nearly 1 suicide every 10½ minutes (“Facts About Suicide” par. 3). Statistics show that it’s going to continue to get worse. In addition to these statistics, there are many others that prove there is a mental health epidemic that is sweeping the nation today. This epidemic especially affects young adults, as suicide was the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10-14 and 20-34 years old (“Facts About Suicide” par. 4). As the suicide rate continues to climb, there needs to be an increase in urgency in solving this crisis by improving people’s mental health. The improvement of mental health through close, positive relationships, needs to be more of a public health priority in the United States.

After examining what happens without positive relationships, or positive social connections, there is a dramatic increase in suffering. Robyn E. Brickel talks about this same subject. “Without healthy connection, the result is not simply a quieter, duller life. The outcome is much worse than that” (Brickel par. 6). Brickel goes on to quote author Brené Brown, who writes of what happens when we lack these connections. “When these needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to… We break. We fall apart. We grow numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick. There are certainly other causes of illness, numbness, and hurt, but the absence of love and belonging will always lead to suffering.” (qtd. in Brickel par. 6). Although there are many causes to suffering, as Brown points out, the lack of positive connections will be severe. It will always lead to suffering and individuals will become increasingly broken. Outcomes worsen looking at the suffering that happens with children without these positive connections. Jane Stevens talks about the Adverse Childhood Experiences study, and notes that those individuals who had less-positive relationships with their parents as children, “are more likely to be violent, to have more marriages, more broken bones, more drug prescriptions, more depression, more auto-immune diseases, and more work absences” (Stevens par. 45). Both Brickel and Stevens clearly show that when individuals lack these positive relationships, especially at a younger age, the rest of their lives are at risk of suffering.

Another factor in the weakening mental health of younger generations is the greater likelihood of close, negative relationships. Just like the absence of positive relationships, there are many issues with having these negative relationships. There have been countless studies that show that “low-quality relationship functioning leads to increases in negative emotionality and worse health outcomes” (Farrell par. 14). In other words, when there is a presence of negative relationships in an individual’s life, both the physical and mental health of that individual declines. Another article which compares relationships with a social connection to those with a social disconnection also contains something similar. In an article entitled “Interpersonal mechanisms linking close relationships to health”, Paula Pietromonaco argues, “Social disconnection, in contrast, elicits potent negative emotions (e.g., anger, anxiety, depression) that can erode health” (Pietromonaco 16). Both Farrell and Pietromonaco clearly state that with negative social interactions, or relationships that have these negative interactions, the mental health of individuals involved declines. The effects of this can lead to severe negative emotions, even hatred toward oneself. Christina Celeste speaks of her own experience writing, “I realized I was attracting people into my life who wanted to treat me the same way I was already treating myself… Carrying around hatred for things about yourself manifests in your outer world in the people and situations that arise around you” (Celeste par. 13). Individuals who already are stuck in this loop, find it difficult to get out. They carry the difficult burden of an unhealthy state of mind and often attract those who think of them as lesser than others because that’s what they see in themselves. These individuals who are already suffering end up suffering more than anyone should have to bear. Now this is not all hopeless. In fact, there is a lot of hope for the future of mental health, if we make having close positive relationships more of a priority in the United States.

Just as there is a plethora of data showing how the lack of close, positive relationships, with or without negative relationships negatively affects individuals’ lives, there is even more that supports how the presence of close positive relationships improve individuals’ lives. One source states that, “daily experience studies have shown that high-quality relationship functioning results in higher positive emotionality and better health outcomes” (Pietromonaco, 16). Another article concludes from the results of a study of individuals with a chronic illness, “The pooled effect for family member interventions relative to treatment as usual reflect a 72%– 84% chance of improved mental or physical health compared to treatment as usual.” (Holt-Lunstad 523) Both of these sources show that despite having received the same treatment, those individuals who had positive relationships and social connections were more than 72% more likely to recover. These healthy relationships greatly impact the physical and mental health of individuals. Robyn Brickel writes in her own article, “Healthy Relationships Matter More Than We Think”, “Healthy relationships foster health (wellbeing?), because they help keep fear and anxiety in a more manageable or regulated emotional state… [They] bring compassion to that relationship space, which helps us regulate our emotions, calm our primal alarm systems and promote longer periods of health.” (Brickel pars. 20-21) These healthy relationships supply added help where help is needed. While individuals may be struggling and carrying baggage, they’ve been carrying for most of their lives, positive relationships help make some of the hardest things individuals must carry more manageable.

The positive effects on paper are many, but they pale in comparison to the real-life experiences of individuals. People from all over have experienced and shared their experiences of how their close relationships affected their mental health. On a Reddit thread, one user commented, “In the year we’ve been dating I have: Made friends, begun to enjoy life in general more (random chats with strangers? Bring it on!), and begun truly healing from the most painful years of my life” (Lady_Eemia). This individual didn’t always have these pleasures. In fact, she makes it noticeably clear that it was because of her relationship with her significant other, her mental health has improved dramatically. She continues, “He proved to me that just because I’ve made my share of mistakes, earned my share of experience and hurt, and even though I’m still figuring out who I am and who I want to be, I am capable of being loved and loving someone else in return” (Lady_Eemia). This is the process that changes people’s lives for the better. When individuals have these positive relationships with others, it opens more opportunities for that person to feel loved and to feel worthwhile. Kimberley Robinson shared her own experience in an article addressed to her boyfriend, “You know me better than I know myself sometimes and you constantly pick me up and tell me how proud you are of me for fighting this everyday and reassuring me when I am feeling worthless” (Robinson par. 4). When individuals have people who really care about them, there is this reassuring feeling that they do matter. That they are loved. In a society where individuals are taught to be independent and do everything themselves, it is essential for them to understand that there is a desperate need for these relationships. It is not just a good thing, but a necessity, to maintain and improve mental health.

Although there may be many different causes to the mental health epidemic, there is a solution. A 2021 New Mexico study determined that, “As positive relationships with adults at home or in the community increased, the probability of suicide attempts decreased by 37–54%” (Hall par. 1). When individuals feel that they matter and have close, positive relationships their mental health improves and lives are saved. This is not a light subject, but a subject of the utmost importance that needs to be addressed. This is a topic that demands the attention of the public; a topic that should be a public health priority in the United States.

Works Cited

Brickel, Robyn E. “Healthy Relationships Matter More than We Think.” PsychAlive, 11 Sept. 2017, www.psychalive.org/healthy-relationships-matter

Celeste, Christina. “5 Questions to Ask Yourself If You Easily Get Trapped in Toxic Relationships.” The Mighty, 11 Dec. 2022, themighty.com/topic/mental-health/toxic-relationships-stop-the-cycle/

“Facts About Suicide”, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pars. 3-4, https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html

Farrell, Allison K., et al. “Affective Processes as Mediators of Links between Close Relationships and Physical Health.” Social & Personality Psychology Compass, vol. 12, no. 7, July 2018, p. 1, https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.1111/spc3.12408

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, et al. “Advancing Social Connection as a public health priority in the United States.” American Psychologist, vol. 72, no. 6, Sept. 2017, pp. 517–530, https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000103

Lady_Eemia. “How Has Your SO Affected Your Life/Made You Better?” Reddit, 19 Dec. 2012, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15476v/how_has_your_so_affected_your_lifemade_you_better/c7j8888/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Hall, Meryn, et al. “Positive Relationships with Adults and Resilience to Suicide Attempt among New Mexico Hispanic Adolescents.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 4 Oct. 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508296/#:~:text=As%20positive%20relationships%20with%20adults,associated%20with%20reduced%20suicide%20attempts

Pietromonaco, P. R., & Collins, N. L. “Interpersonal mechanisms linking close relationships to health.” American Psychologist, 72, no. 6, Sept 2017, pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000129

Robinson, Kimberley. “To My Boyfriend Who Is My Rock through My Mental Illness.” The Mighty, 17 Dec. 2022, https://themighty.com/topic/mental-health/boyfriend-thank-you-for-supporting-mental-illness-recovery

Stevens, Jane Ellen. “The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study – the Largest, Most Important Public Health Study You Never Heard of – Began in an Obesity Clinic.” ACEs Too High, par. 45, 12 Apr. 2022, acestoohigh.com/2012/10/03/the-adverse-childhood-experiences-study-the-largest-most-important-public-health-study-you-never-heard-of-began-in-an-obesity-clinic.