mental health
THE MENTAL HEALTH OF OUR YOUTH
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, mental health is how we think, feel, and act as we face life’s situations – how we look at ourselves, our lives, and the people in our lives. It is how we evaluate options and make choices. Like adults, young people can have mental health disorders that interfere with the way they think, feel, and act.
In some cases, mental health disorders are caused by biology and environment. But environmental factors, such as these, also put young people at risk for developing mental health disorders:
- Exposure to violence, such as witnessing or being the victim of physical or sexual abuse, shootings, muggings, or other disasters;
- Stress related to chronic poverty, discrimination, or other serious hardships; and
- The loss of important people through death, divorce, or broken relationships.
Mental distress can be subtle, says Bernadette Melnyk, RN, PhD, CPNP/NPP, FAAN, FNAP, manifesting itself with symptoms such as recurrent headaches or abdominal pain. Yet, months or more from a disaster, providers often don’t look more deeply into such somatic symptoms. “We have a lot of kids who are suffering from depression, from anxiety, and they live like this for years before they are ever diagnosed,” says Melnyk, dean of the Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation.
Children with mental health problems are more likely to have a combination of issues including: poor physical health, learning difficulties, family discord, instability or disruption, experience of more stressful life events and/or greater experience of punishment by parents.
According to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, exceptionally stressful experiences early in life may have long-term consequences for a child’s learning and behavior, as well as physical and mental health. Untreated significant adversity early in life can can alter – in a lasting way – a child’s developing brain and their capacity to learn and adapt to stressful situations.
Psychological trauma can also lead children to long-term behavioral or relationship problems. Kids may falter in school, develop low self-esteem, or erupt with aggression or violence.
“Any number of problems can surface,” says Claude Chemtob, PhD, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “And the big challenge is that people will not recognize them after a year or two as being tied to the disaster.”
During a study of pre-verbal children, Dr. Theodore Gaensbauer found that early childhood trauma significantly impacts emotional and social development. His research highlights the negative impact of traumatically-induced anger on their continuing development and how important it is to provide appropriate expression so that the traumatic experience can be fully resolved.
There is evidence to suggest that child and adolescent mental health disorders can become more complex and resistant to treatment with time. If mental health issues go undetected and untreated, these disorders can lead to a life of school failure, family conflicts, substance abuse, violence or suicide. Mental health disorders also often limit current and future ability to be productive. In addition, these problems can be costly to families, the community and the health care system. Negative outcomes such as these make early and effective intervention extremely important.
ENCOURAGING RESILIENCY
Resilience has been defined as the “ability to persevere and adapt when things go awry.” It helps people deal with stress and adversity, overcome childhood disadvantage and reach out to new opportunities. Resilience is a key factor in protecting and promoting good mental health. It is the quality of being able to deal with the ups and downs of life, and is predicated on self-esteem.
Research has shown that how we think about adversity and opportunity affects our success in school and work, our health and longevity, and our risk for depression. Introducing children to resiliency skills that promote accurate and flexible thinking can help prepare them to deal with inevitable adversity and inoculate them against depression and other mental health issues.
Even in disrupted families, and following adverse or abusive experiences, children can develop resilience as long as they have some positive interactions and experiences. Such experiences can have the reverse effect on self-esteem and thus on mental health. And the earlier in a child’s life preventive work begins, the more likely it is to be effective.
