Behind Happy Faces: Taking Charge of Your Mental Health
a guide for young adults

An emotional, compelling look inside the mental health issues of today’s youth.

MENTAL HEALTH is important for everyone…but the truth is, sometimes it’s hard to talk about or admit if you’re having problems. You’re afraid of being judged, or worried no one will understand.  And if you’re like a lot of people, you put on a happy face and try to act like everything is OK…even when it isn’t.

IT’S OK…not to be OK.  School, family, relationships…even LACK OF SLEEP can take a toll on mental health!  And many people out there are struggling with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, addictions, bulimia, or other serious disorders. You may not always know how to deal, who to tell, or what you should do.  YOU’RE NOT ALONE! Behind Happy Faces takes on the most common emotional concerns expressed by over half a million other young adults.  

You will learn:

• How to determine if YOU may have a mental disorder
• Where you can go to SEEK HELP
• How to COMMUNICATE emotions in honest and healthy ways
• What you can do if a FRIEND or FAMILY MEMBER is suffering
• Ways to GET INVOLVED and discourage negative stereotypes

Author Ross Szabo and others will inspire you with their stories of dealing with mental disorders and facing challenges like breakups, divorced parents, losing a loved one, or just figuring out how to express their feelings. They learned how to take charge of their mental health, and so can you. There is hope…so get ready to get real, stop hiding, and start living the life you want. You deserve it!

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Diagnosed bipolar at 16, author/speaker Ross Szabo learned firsthand about the painful experiences of mental disorders. After many attempts to get help, Ross finally found treatment and became determined to help the millions of young people who suffer from some type of mental health issue. Mental health problems have reached epidemic proportions. Suicide is a leading cause of death among college and high school students, and many do not discuss or seek help for their problems, which may include depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders and more. Unfortunately, stigma is the largest barrier to getting help.

Behind Happy Faces examines this stigma and provides young people the tools to address their problems and move forward. Based on his dynamic high school and college presentations (brief excerpt can be viewed here), Ross Szabo and Melanie Hall use anecdotes, real-life examples, statistics, and rapidly moving narrative to reach young people facing these complex issues. 

Certain to become one of the most accessible and comprehensive accounts of the psychological and emotional factors affecting our youth, Behind Happy Faces also aids parents, teachers and administrators in gaining a better understanding of these issues as well.