What a young person takes into his or her mind, his childhood experiences, as well as his present lifestyle, social relationships, and family life can have an affect on his or her mental health.
Children need love and attention, and youths also need to feel needed, have a need for approval, and a need someone mature to talk to, to receive guidance, discipline, and to have clear boundaries. Youths need limits and a certain amount of parental control, which will slowly decrease as he or she matures. If a child has no clear boundaries, this can lead to instability.
Movies, TV,
video games,
music, the
Internet, social networking, all have an influence on the mental health of today's youths. Sexuality also has a bearing on the mental health of a youth, as does drug and
alcohol use, promiscuity and
abortion. Youths who have strong emotional ties in the family will fare better, generally than those who do not. About 10-15% of youths will experience some form of diagnosable mental disorder during their teenage years.
ADHD,
depression,
bipolar disorder, all mental health disorders common to adults is being diagnosed with youths and
children.
Video games, the amount and types of
films, television and
music a youth listens too; the quality of his family life, viewing
pornography, spending excessive amount of time on the Internet in isolation, as well as the sexual life of a youth, can have a bearing on his or her mental health. A sexually active youth can be more prone to mood changes than one who is not. Having an
abortion with or without the parent's knowledge, can also have a bearing on the mental health of a young person.
Also, alcohol and drug use, smoking, prescription drug use, as well as a youth's diet, can effect a his or her mental health as well.
There is a need for children and youths to have three nutritious meals a day. Breakfast is an important part of the physical requirements of a young person's physical development, as well as his or her mental state. Some children and young people might skip both breakfast regularly, and sometimes lunch as well, unbeknownst to the parents, assuming that he, (usually she), is eating at school, when in fact they are not. This can effect the mood of the young person, and her mental state. There are many girls who skip breakfast when it is served at school. There are some whose first meal is at 7:00 PM when their parents return home from work.
Parents have a large role in contributing to the emotional,
spiritual and physical health of a child and young person, as well as a responsibility to provide direction, guidance, and firmness in family life and in appropriate and reasonable limits for youths.
Links:
Video Games, Films, Violence and Mental Health
Prescription drugs find their way into teen culture. USA Today Off-site link
Summer marijuana experimentation rises 38% for teens during this season.
Parents-The AntiDrug Campaign gives guidance on protecting teens on prescription drug abuse and helping teens stay off drugs.
Marijuana and Medical Marijuana -
Marijuana Research -
Addictive? How widespread? Marijuana and Pregnancy
Teen Drinkers at Risk for Poor Adult Health Off-site link
Suicide support and prevention. Help for those struggling with thoughts of suicide and suggestions for counselors.
Music
Abortion Help
Youth Gangs: Notes from grade school assembly
Pornography
Motivating Underachievers: (on-site) Good Article by James Lehman, MSW
Free Teens
Free Teens USA reaches more than 10,000 teens annually in urban and suburban areas of NY and NJ with messages of healthy relationships, self-leadership, and character development. Free Teens aims to help youth achieve their life dreams and goals including that of preparing for a committed love relationship that can last a lifetime!
Teen suicide among girls and the media's impact:
According to an article by Eilen Zimmerman in January/February Psychology Today, the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14 increased 76% in 2004, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In those 15 to 18 years old, the increase was more than 30%.
Steve Hinshaw is a cultural psychologist at Berkeley, (California), who believes that there are a combination of cultural and parental pressures to blame. The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls From Today's Pressures.
Unrealistic expectations are fueled by the media, and female role models (Hannah Montana, Babriella Montez of High School Musical "who is not only sexy, but a Broadway-caliber dancer and singer, soon to be Freshman at Stanford") are both daily companions to many teens, and the achievements of these celebrities often are impossible for the average teen to live up to.
"I want to be somebody," said one 12 year old. "Everyone is special but me," she cried out. Not many girls can realistically achieve the talent and success level of these ideal role models, and this can lead to a let down in their own self-value and perception.
Girls can be socially isolated by TV, movies, and Internet - social networking, texting, music videos and video games. Additionally, when there is some emotional struggle, relationship or failed relationship in a girl's life, it might soon be all over everyone's text messages, MySpace, and FaceBook pages. This has led some girls to despair, in the case of some romantic breakup or embarrassing situation. Parents need to be aware of this and try to provide activities that are socially rewarding, and that also can enhance values and self-esteem. Young people need to avoid social isolation and learn life-skills, to find joy and happiness in helping other people, to help persons who might be less fortunate than themselves. Parents and even teachers can provide lessons in this, in the classroom, teachers can do this by encouraging those who excel academically to help those who are struggling.
Teens and depression
An active mind is a good preventive measure, and can be a part of therapy for depression. Studies have shown that time spent with television can be correlational to symptoms of ADHD, and can have a direct correlation with depression in teens, especially males. Just 2.3 hours of TV per day resulted in a significantly greater rate of depression. For every hour of TV watched by a teen, there was a correspondingly greater risk of depression.
The television puts one's mind in a passive mode, it is fast-paced and creates an artificial, but temporary stimuation. When that stimulation is later absent, it can result in a corresponding low in one's mood, which is thought to be a reflection of brain chemistry, making it difficult to overcome feelings of depression. In that respect, TV can become something like a drug. One youth with bipolar disorder reported that the only time he felt better with certain of his symptoms, was when he watched TV. So, the TV calmed him while he was watching it, but afterwards, his symptoms returned in earnest. Encouragement, then, for teens to greatly cut back on the time spent watching TV is of value. For some, this can mean doing without TV in the home, and certainly in the bedroom. Parents,should never give or allow children or teens to have a TV in the bedroom, it is an open door for problems and issues.
Dr's Primack, Georgiopoulos, MD; Land, Ph.D., and others associated with the study conclusion is stated as, "Television exposure and total media exposure in adolescence are associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in young adulthood, especially in young men."
See:
Association Between Media Use in Adolescence and Depression in Young Adulthood A Longitudinal Study. Brian A. Primack, MD, et al.
Antidepressants
While some teens have found antidepressants to provide a temporary stop-gap for depressive feelings, about 40% of teens who are treated with antidepressants will have little or no response, notes NAMI (Spring 2009). Those who received CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) were much more likely to show positive response. Very those who have severe depression, high levels of suicidal thinking, or who had a history of abuse, resistance to antidepressant treatment was especially high.
By teaching coping strategies to teens, to help them to sort through a wide range of problems and situations, teaching problem solving and helping teens to improve their social functioning, many youths are helped with a wide range of diagnoses. This suggests a need to "strengthen treatment strategies," according to the NAMI article, for teens suffering with any of a number mental health disorders. The basic idea behind this can be summed up, "teach skills not pills". This is true overall, but especially true for teens.
Interpersonal Therapy (which is simple talk therapy) has also been shown to help many teens who might be very depressed or suicidal and can be an effective stop-gap for teens with suicidal thoughts.
In other words, there definitely needs to be more than simply prescribing antidepressants in efforts to help teens. In fact, in young people and children, age 25 and under, there is a higher rate of suicidality (double-from 2%-4%) with antidepressant treatment. Parents, educators and professionals, then need to work hard with teens to teach them coping skills and help them to make positive changes in their lifestyle, so as to facilitate better mental health.
Part of the above from the article "Getting closer to personalized treatment for teens with treatment-resistant depression". NAMI-NYS News. Spring 2009.
Art is a good therapy, preventive measure, and mind-strengthening activity for teens
The Newark Museum features many nice programs for children in art, crafts and graphics. The instructors are kind and patient and often times are school teachers. If you live in or near Newark, NJ, consider signing up your children for the workshops. If you live out of the area, look into programs at a museum in your area. Art is an excellent skill for young people and children to develop. It helps them in many ways. They learn to focus better and for longer periods of time, to develop sustained concentration. Also, they learn skills which helps them to develop self-esteem. Additionally, it helps children and teens to get away from both violent and sexually oriented media, which can potentially have a bearing on both their value-system, and even belief-system, as well as their self-perception and mental health, in the long-term and short-term.
Art is a good prevention and corrective measure for youths who drift into pornography. Pornography can effect the mental health and behavior of youth and even of children, and mental health professionals in and out of the school systems, as well as parents, should be aware that many youths, and even children, get involved in pornography from early teen years and sometimes earlier. This can effect a teens behavior in school and his mental health in many ways. Depression, symptoms related to bipolar disorder, symptoms related to ADHD, OCD, and a host of other mental health issues can be the result of a teens involvement with pornography. Helping kids and teens get hooked on art, is a great preventive effort.
