Bismarck.Josiahfk said:
»I like your optimism, Mister Rose.
I'm not sure I would call it optimism, it's just ***I used to think about that mental health counselors who deal with depression and anxiety cases *should* be saying or doing to reinforce positivity into someone's life who really needs it, by teaching them how to be self-sufficient with their own mental health, by focusing on bettering their own mental health with the hobbies and activities they feel are important to their lives, and teaches them positive ways to deal with something highly negative.
Removing yourself from a bad situation is often the go-to action, and generally a good one, but not always feasible, or can make a situation worse with the persistent dickbags out there who can, and will make life more miserable by getting violent when they don't see the reaction they want to see. And the parents of these *** know their kids are ***, but pretend they are little angels who can do no wrong, and is obviously the other kid's fault for being a weenie in the first place.
I did a lot of things in high school to keep myself sane and positive, even went so far outside my comfort zone, I became a completely different person for a while. I'd never done organized sports, but I made the decision to play high school football, played chess in the morning with people who were my intellectual superiors, and even had days when I surprised them (still only beat them once or twice), went into cooking classes, played Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, after school job I loved, etc. Eventually I had to be told by plenty of people I developed a personality that people gravitated towards, and even gained some level of popularity.
Yeah, I still suffered from severe clinical depression during that time for other reasons, also related to high school, but these were the things I focused on, and I don't think I let anyone know then I ever had depressive thoughts, but more than half the time, I never gave myself time to dwell on them, since I also had plenty of good happening at the same time.
All the councilors did was recommend finding a professional therapist to kids who were sad, when all they needed was some positive words of wisdom, and something vague they could interpret as a means to remain positive in hard times.