In cities around the world, teenagers and young adults alike constantly worry about their work, their future opportunities, and social contact with their peers and coworkers. They emotionally and mentally exhaust themselves over trivial matters due to society’s pressure to do well. With the constant feeling of stress, these individuals develop mental illnesses and disorders that immensely affect their behavior. These illnesses can range from anxiety disorder, stress disorder, depression, to even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, unlike physical illnesses, many health professionals tend to disregard mental illnesses, labeling them as simply a figment of insanity. The lack of emotional and mental counseling for urban youth is detrimental …show more content…
Although some claim that medication is the most effective treatment for mental illness, the best way to treat mental illness is to employ the help of a therapist. Therapy allows a child to entrust someone with valuable information about their emotional and mental state, eliminating a feeling of alienation and loneliness. The most well-known therapy is called Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, in which the patient tells their therapist about the issues and worries they have in their life. Psychotherapy can help one “understand [their] illness, overcome fears and insecurities, identify triggers that may worsen [their] mental state, [and] establish a plan to deal with anxiety attacks…”. However, psychotherapy is only one of the many types of therapy. Therapy only helps if it properly caters to the specific mental illness and its effects may vary from person to person. Most mental illnesses take root in urban areas. These triggers range from schoolwork to witnessing death and drug overdoses. According to the Children’s Defense Fund Mental Health Sheet, urban youth is affected earlier: “Youth with past exposure to interpersonal violence (as a victim or witness) have a significantly higher risk for PTSD, major depressive episodes, and substance abuse/dependence”. Exposure to violence can cause trauma, …show more content…
According to an article titled Teenage Mental-Health Crisis by Geraldine Bedell, it states: “Rates of depression and anxiety among teenagers have increased by 70% in the past 25 years. The number of children and young people turning up in A&E with a psychiatric condition has more than doubled since 2009 and, in the past three years, hospital admissions for teenagers with eating disorders have also almost doubled / In a 2016 survey for Parent Zone, 93% of teachers reported seeing increased rates of mental illness among children and teenagers and 90% thought the issues were getting more severe, with 62% dealing with a pupil's mental-health problem at least once a month and an additional 20% doing so on a weekly or even daily basis”. The age group most affected by mental disorders are adolescents, more often living in urban areas than suburban. The majority of these adolescents are students stressed over exams, their future opportunities, social acceptance, and expectations placed on youth by society. Adults are aware of this, however, many do not employ help from counselors to speak to the troubled youth. Perhaps exams are unavoidable in the school system, but it is possible to console students and let them know that their test scores do not define them, listen to their troubles, and offer advice. A large fraction of the population does not realize that mental illness is not a joke. It is
The mental health of adolescents is fairly considered to be one of the major prerequisites of the country 's sustainable development in economics, culture, and social life. Subsequently, the easy and nondiscriminatory access to the psychological treatment appears to be a matter of top priority for the federal government. Nevertheless, the recent statistical data indicates the substantial problems in terms of providing the adolescents with the necessary medical support. In accordance with the US Department of Health & Human Services, in 2014, less than 50% of the country 's adolescent population were provided with a required treatment (US Department of Health & Human Services). Moreover, the data on the minorities ' access to the mental health treatment demonstrates that, for instance, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be prescribed a treatment from schizophrenia (American Psychological Association). Undoubtedly, such a trend may be primarily explained by the insufficient efforts of both federal and local health care institutions in terms of providing the minorities ' representatives with the necessary psychological treatment. Consequently, in order to understand comprehensively the problem of the adolescent mental health in the US, it is necessary to define the issue-related objective and subjective concerns as well as to analyze the peculiarities of a potential corrective to the
“Nearly 5 million children in the U.S. have some type of mental illness” (Goldberg). It is agreeable that there are many young children that deal with mental illness every day. Schools should be concerned for every student’s well being. Moreover, mental health is a part of a person’s overall “well being.” Therefore, schools need to make the mental health of students a stronger focus and implement plans to keep students mentally well and educated. To help create a positive, mental health aware environment where students feel open to seek help, high school students should be educated on how to be mentally healthy, be given a safe place to seek help, and be encouraged to monitor and maintain their mental health. Mental illness and mental health care need to be a more eminent priority in our society, starting with high schools.
Psychotherapy, or "talk therapy", is a way to treat people with a mental disorder by helping them understand their illness. It teaches people strategies and gives them tools to deal with stress and unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. Psychotherapy helps patients manage their symptoms better and function at their best in everyday life.
There are two forms of community violence identified as witnessing and victimization. Community violence may include acts such as homicides, sexual assaults, robberies, and weapon attacks. Community violence affects all ages and ethnic groups, however, some individuals are more at risk than others. Specifically, youth living in inner-cities are more likely to be exposed to violence at a higher rate than youth living in neighborhoods of higher socioeconomic status (Cooley-Strickland, et al., 2009). Some factors that increase one's chances of experiencing community violence include living in poor, inner-city neighborhoods, being in a gang, using alcohol or drugs, and belonging to a minority (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,
Pre-adolescence is a crucial stage in a child’s life because it is during this stage that kids can learn the coping mechanism that can prevent complications later on in life (Britton et al., 2014). Some children and adolescents may not have the opportunity to seek proper mental health care during their childhood. This may be due to parents overworking or simply not being able to afford quality mental health care services (Bucci et al., 2016). However, schools can serve children and adolescents as a
A community assessment involves a thorough evaluation of a community’s health and available resources. This allows an individual to determine factors that potentially pose a risk to the community’s health (Anderson & McFarlane, 2011). A community assessment was conducted on the town of Buffalo, Minnesota (MN). Buffalo is a rural community that is centrally located between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, MN (Buffalo Chamber, 2015). This allows Buffalo residents the opportunity to commute 35 miles to the surrounding suburban areas for healthcare and greater employment opportunities. After completing our community assessment, we concluded that there is a lack of sufficient health care resources and reliable transportation available to adolescents suffering from mental health disorders. For those reasons, our group has chosen to focus on adolescent mental health in a rural community.
Depression is a disease that afflicts the human psyche in such a way that the afflicted tends to act and react abnormally toward others and themselves. Therefore it comes to no surprise to discover that adolescent depression is strongly linked to teen suicide. Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more deaths in youths aged 15 to 19 than cardiovascular disease or cancer (Blackman, 1995). Despite this increased suicide rate, depression in this age group is greatly underdiagnosed and leads to serious difficulties in school, work and personal adjustment, which may often continue into adulthood. <br><br>Brown (1996) has said the reason why depression is often over looked in children and adolescents is because "children are not always able
Mental health is an issue that is relevant to everyone, no matter age or gender. It is a vital component in overall wellbeing and strongly ties in with physical well-being. However the current curriculum does not deem mental health as a priority despite 10% of people below the age of seventeen having a mental illness, and that’s only the diagnosed cases.
One reason for treating mental illness is the results of psychotherapy. How does psychotherapy work? Psychotherapy is defined as, "A treatment for managing mental health problems and emotional difficulties through talking about thoughts and feelings with a trained mental health practitioner. There are many different psychotherapies based on different theories about how psychological problems develop and are overcome "(Banov 293). A common type of therapy is behavior therapy. Behavior therapy lessens the connection between situations and emotional reactions. This will begin to help control anxieties and depression and behavioral emotions (Muir 53).
The topic I chose for my I-Search paper was mental disorders affecting adolescents. There has always been a great deal of controversy about mental disorders in general, but there’s even more when it comes to teens. I chose this topic because I enjoy learning about mental disorders and want to work with it later in life as a career. I chose to focus on adolescents in particular because while there are more disorder cases in adults, the adolescent years are the hardest for most people and where the disorders themselves start to show and develop.
Recent research shows that mental health problems can manifest in early childhood. As many as one in ten Australian children under five exhibit symptoms of social, emotional, and mental disorders including temper tantrums, difficulty adapting to new surroundings, problems relating to peers, and hyperactivity (Edwards & Martin, 2012). Although psychological diagnoses like clinical anxiety or depression are not typically made on populations under five, researchers do identify early childhood behaviors as risk factors for developing mental health disorders later in life. Thus, being withdrawn or inhibited has been identified as "one of the best identified risk factors for later anxiety disorders," (Rapee, Kennedy, Ingram, Edwards & Sweeney, 2005, p. 488). Early childhood behaviors can reveal to parents and counselors the warning signs of childhood and adolescent psychiatric problems such as Depressive Disorder, Conduct Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Sawyer, Arney, Baghurst, et al., 2008). It is important to identify the early childhood warnings and risk factors because research shows that early intervention programs can prevent psychiatric disorders from emerging.
Exposure to violence (from hearing about to witnessing or even being victimized by) can be very traumatic for children and youth and affect brain development leading to lasting effects that can continue well into adulthood. Students living in urban neighborhoods are often exposed to more violent crime, murder, stabbings, shootings, rape, robbery, and assaults than students living in suburban or rural neighborhoods. Studies show that “over 85% of urban youth report witnessing some form of community violence in their lifetime and almost 70% report direct victimization” (McDonald, Deatrick, Kassam-Adams, & Richmond, 2011, p. 925). Students living in
High school should be the time of your life. Being a kid should be prime time before becoming an adult with different types of stress. However, Tolan (2005) has said “Estimates are that 25% of the 150 million child visits per year for primary health care (non-mental-health and other specialties) have a psychological problem associated with the presenting problem” (pg.604). These numbers are shocking for some. This percentage may be even higher. With mental illness, numbers and data is altered because of the stigma that comes along with talking about mental disorders. Imagine having a stomach ache and not wanting to tell your parents you’re not feeling too well. There are warning signs that could be seen if parents and people around the
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “3.3% of 13 to 18 year olds have experienced a seriously debilitating depressive disorder” (“Depression”). Screening in schools will allow mental illnesses to be caught early on, which can prevent any related issues, more than just suicide. Untreated mental illnesses can lead to school dropouts, increased drug use and abuse, and violence. If all students are required
C- Mental Illness globally is a growing disgrace. 1 in 5 adolescence have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and only 50% of teens would get help. This is awful, heartbreaking and unnecessary. 1 in 12 teens even consider suicide.