# 3 " Disapproval by a person's peers can cause a teen to have a mental breakdown."

In order to understand this statement, we have to first pull it apart and examine it for all that it is. Starting from the beginning: the word "disapproval. I can disapprove of my best friend's new haricut, but does that mean i am going to stop talking to her and hate her forever? No. Although my opinion on her new style may not be as positive as she would have hoped, she's not going to have a breakdown. It's when social or emotional disapproval comes into play that feelings get hurt and self esteem issues arise. Knowing that who you are isn't good enough for someone can really hurt.

An obvious example of disapproval by one's peers is bullying. I could go into a whole rant on how bullying is bad, but this is a high school english class blog, we've all heard that speech a million times. Disapproval comes from more outlets than just bullies, which brings me to the second word from the statement i would like to draw attention to. How one defines the word "peers" in their head can really take away from the volume of the statement. An important peer most people may not think of could very easily be a boyfriend or girlfriend. When in a relationship, two people get to know a lot about eachother. As time goes on they learn more and more about their lives and who they really are. So, when he or she breaks up with you, doesn't that mean he or she disapproves? Somewehere along the lines, he or she didn't like what they saw.

In my own life, i think i am strong enough to the point where i can legitimately say that when i walk down the halls i don't care if people judge me. I know for a fact some people at Fremd just don't like me, but i'm okay with that! It's the people who are important to me's opinions i care about. Although i am a teenager and the disapproval of my peers doesnt cause me to have a mental breakdown i acknowledge the fact that that may not be the case for everyone. I believe it depends on the situation. It depends who the "person" is and who the "peers" are. Everyone's self esteem is at a different level and everyone has different limits they can be pushed to before they snap.

- Diana Huberty