Over-stressed? - by Lauren Fraser (From Your Local Guardian)

Over-stressed? - by Lauren Fraser

10:30am Monday 20th August 2007 in News

I'm generally a happy, healthy and outgoing teenager. I don't have an eating disorder, I'm not plagued by anxiety and I don't suffer from abnormally low self esteem or depression (and I'm a girl). I don't read my weekly magazine and stress over how I'm going to get 'that bikini body' or whether my measurements compare exactly to that of Nicole Richie or Jessica Alba. I don't obsessively count calories and I'm not afraid of boredom. I should have at least one of these problems, shouldn't I?

Today's society stereotypes teenage girls as 'insecure' and 'in need of protection' from the 'size zero trend.' Not only to I find this mildly insulting, I find it completely ironic. Stressing an issue like the ever prominent size zero debate causes more problems than the issue itself. If you tell a girl 'size 12 is not fat' over and over again they are ultimately going to question why you have said this. The media, in particular, sends alarmingly contradictory messages to girls of my age. Take a typical heat magazine, for example. On one page we'll get a horror story about anorexia, but just flick a few pages afterwards and you'll have a 5 step guide on 'how to get a bikini body like Jessica Alba.' And it extends way past body image. There are tips and rules on everything- how to shop 'smart', which clothes will flatter your body type, how you cannot get this fringe if your face is this shape, why you simply cannot wear leggings this season and how fruit actually isn't that good for you.

And it's not just magazines. Take a documentary about anything remotely moving, and at the end of it there will be a special line that viewers can call if they were emotionally affected by anything on the programme. Walk into a school in America and you'll almost certainly see a school counselor walking around looking to help students who need it because they cannot cope with fights with mum and dad or exam stress. Browse the internet and there are thousands of websites and chatrooms catering for young people who cannot deal with their problems and thousands of 'GPs' at the ready to help.

Long gone is stress relief such as watching the television, eating your favourite meal (don't you dare- you must be comfort eating) or going for a jog ('exercise bulimia', obviously). Stress is no longer within our control and it's no longer motivating or natural. It is a foreign feeling which must be flushed immediately, and that can only be done if we ring that number or go on that site or visit that counsellor.

But stress is simply that. Stressed. People haven't become more stressed over the years, stress has and it's had an adverse affect. While stress most certainly does exist within everyone, and while we will all in our lives need to conquer stressful situations, this is within our control, and sometimes we just need to learn to deal with things ourselves. And we can. That's the message that needs to be sent out to girls my age, and not by some counsellor either!

Whilst there certainly are people who seek assistance on coping with exam stress this year, dealing with eating disorders and combatting anxiety, they are the minority and whilst their needs indisputably need to be catered for, we as a society need to find a way for this to be done without attempting to diagnose the whole population.