What Parents, Teachers, and Students Should Know about Rising Mental Health Issues among Adolescents and Some Top Services That Have Been Proven to Help
What is the Current State of Adolescent Mental Health?
Over the years, friends and clients have shared the challenges they face with their adolescent’s mental health. Since the start of the pandemic, these families have been confronted with even greater difficulties. They are not alone. What was already a serious issue has now become a dire situation in the U.S. with serious consequences not only for these young people and their families but also for our communities and economy.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
Globally, one in seven 10-19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group.
Depression, anxiety disorder, and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents.
Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-19 year-olds.
The consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions extend to adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults.
How Has The Pandemic Affected Adolescents?
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and Children’s Hospital Association “have declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, citing the serious toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing challenges. The pandemic then brought on physical isolation, ongoing uncertainty, fear, and grief. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers found between March and October 2020, emergency department visits for mental health emergencies rose by 24% for children ages 5-11 years and 31% for children ages 12-17 years. In addition, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts increased nearly 51% among girls ages 12-17 years in early 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. “We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, their communities, and all of our futures,” said AACAP President Gabrielle A. Carlson, M.D. “
Are They Growing Pains or a Sign of Something More Serious?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “if the following conditions persist for weeks or months older children and adolescents may benefit from a professional evaluation.
Have lost interest in things that they used to enjoy
Have low energy
Sleep too much or too little, or seem sleepy throughout the day
Are spending more and more time alone, and avoid social activities with friends or family
Diet or exercise excessively, or fear gaining weight
Engage in self-harm behaviors (such as cutting or burning their skin)
Smoke, drink alcohol, or use drugs
Engage in risky or destructive behavior alone or with friends
Have thoughts of suicide
Have periods of highly elevated energy and activity, and require much less sleep than usual
Say that they think someone is trying to control their mind or that they hear things that other people cannot hear.”
Main Types of Disorders
According to the WHO, the main disorders can be categorized as:
Emotional disorders - anxiety is the most common of these conditions, followed by depression.
Behavioral disorders - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by difficulty paying attention, excessive activity and acting without regard to consequences; conduct disorder (involving symptoms of destructive or challenging behavior);
Eating disorders - anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa;
Psychosis - symptoms can include hallucinations or delusions;
Suicide and self-harm - risk factors for suicide are multifaceted, and include harmful use of alcohol, abuse in childhood, stigma against help-seeking, barriers to accessing care and access to means of suicide;
Risk-taking behaviors - substance use or sexual risk-taking; perpetration of violence.
Emotional Disorders
Emotional disorder is commonly experienced in adolescents. According to Behavior Research and Therapy, it appears to be a combination of heightened sensitivity and social sensitivity, particularly for girls. Anxiety disorders are more widespread within the younger group but can be caused primarily by panics or excessive worry. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “Almost 44% of adolescents between ten and fourteen have experienced some form of depression or anxiety disorder. Depression is estimated to be present in about 1.1% of teens between 12 and 14 and 2.8% of teens between 13 and 18. Depression is similar and can be accompanied by unexpected changes in mood. Anxiety disorder is affecting school performance in a profound way. Social withdrawals can lead to isolation or loneliness.”
Behavioral Disorders
A behavioral disorder can have a variety of causes. According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the abnormal behavior that is usually associated with these disorders can be traced back to biological, family, and school-related factors. Some biological causes may include:
Physical illness or disability
Malnutrition
Brain damage
Hereditary factors
Other factors related to an individual’s home life may contribute to behaviors associated with a behavioral disorder:
Divorce or other emotional upset at home
Coercion from parents
Unhealthy or inconsistent discipline style
Poor attitude toward education or schooling
Eating disorders
According to WebMD, there is no one cause of an eating disorder. Experts link eating disorders to a combination of factors, such as family relationships, psychological problems, and genetics. The teen may have low self-esteem and be preoccupied with having a thin body. Anorexia nervosa affects as many as one in every 100 females. Teens with anorexia fear gaining weight and are at least 15% below their ideal body weights. They believe the main gauge of self-worth is their body image. Experts believe many American girls are bulimic and have kept the problem a secret. Bulimia often starts in the late teens and early adulthood. People with bulimia go through cycles of eating enormous amounts of food followed by purging by vomiting, using laxatives, diuretics, or hours of aerobic exercise.
Psychosis
According to the WHO, the symptoms of psychoses generally emerge during late teenage or adulthood. Symptoms include delusions. This situation can impair adolescents' ability to learn how to be involved in the daily lives of others and lead to discrimination. The Primary Care Companion explains that large, population-based studies surveying psychotic symptoms among adolescents have found rates of 9%–14% in interview-based studies and rates greater than 25% in some studies using self-report questionnaires. It goes on to explain that “psychotic symptoms in children and adolescents can occur in the context of a bevy of psychiatric disorders other than schizophrenia (eg depression, anxiety, ADHD, posttraumatic states, and autism spectrum disorder or can be secondary to a wide variety of medical conditions.
Suicide and self-harm
The University of California Davis Health reports the alarming trend of increases in suicide in young adults, even before the pandemic. According to their research, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24 and has been increasing every year since 2007. The rate of suicide for those ages 10 to 24 increased by nearly 60% between 2007 and 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC reported that suicide was the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-34 in 2018.
According to the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, nonsuicidal self-harm or "cutting" is intentional and self-inflicted physical and emotional injuries. It can be done to relieve stress or anxiety. Approximately one in three adults in a college is at risk of non-suicidal self-injury compared to one in a college. Nonsuicidally-induced self-injury is often associated with anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, and even food disorders.
Risk-taking behaviors
According to the article, A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Adolescent Risk-Taking, risk-taking behavior increases between childhood and adolescence as a result of changes around the time of puberty in the brain’s socio-emotional system leading to increased reward-seeking, especially in the presence of peers. As a general rule, adolescents and young adults are more likely than adults over 25 to binge drink, smoke cigarettes, have casual sex partners, engage in violent and other criminal behaviors, and have fatal or serious automobile accidents, the majority of which are caused by risky driving or driving under the influence of alcohol. Many forms of risk behavior initiated in adolescence elevate the risk for the behavior in adulthood (e.g.drug use), and some forms of risk-taking by adolescents put individuals of other ages at risk.
Celebrities Speak Out
Celebrity visibility gives them the platform to raise awareness of issues in ways that can open conversations that are often difficult and painful. As these conversations broaden within the general public, we then have the opportunity to step into that space and demonstrate the same self-love and compassion as these celebrities to take responsibility for our own mental and physical health and well-being. Although these celebrities are now adults, many struggles with these issues as adolescents.
Who are some celebrities to read about? Simone Biles, the 4-time Olympic gold athlete, showed incredible awareness and bravery by taking a stand for her own mental health, despite the pressure from multiple sources. Despite years of training for the latest Olympics, she made the decision to withdraw from both the team final and all-around individual events. Wow! According to Lee Health, in Biles’ case, the pressure she felt under the bright lights and the scrutiny of millions upon millions of strangers watching her led to something called “the twisties.” This means that her mind-body connection, honed into muscle memory from years of intense practice, suddenly betrayed her, and she lost track of herself in the air – quite a problem when spinning and flipping at top speed. A gymnast dealing with “the twisties” opens themselves to serious injuries.
Michael Phelps, with 28 medals, is the most decorated American Olympian. He also suffered for years from depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. It took courage to ask for help, checking himself into an inpatient treatment center in 2014. He admits that these conditions don’t go away; however, he now has the tools and abilities to manage them. As a man, he is also a role model for young men dealing with mental health issues. Phelps continues his advocacy work both through his Michael Phelps Foundation and the popular Talkspace, an online counseling service.
Naomi Osaka is a 4 time Grand Slam champion and was once the #1 ranked player by the Women’s Tennis Association. She spoke out citing anxiety and mental health issues when she opted out of the French Open and Wimbledon. She shared having dealt with long bouts of depression since 2018. She is currently taking an indefinite break from tennis and starting her own sports agency, Evolve.
Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Programs
The first step in addressing mental health is to get a professional diagnosis. If you or a loved one have concerns about your own or someone’s mental well-being, be proactive. You are not alone and solutions are available. Mental health prevention programs can help in managing emotions and avoiding the development of many of the disorders listed above. Discuss these self-care tips from experts such as Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Health Publishing, and The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital with your health professional to develop new healthy routines. Begin slowly. It takes 21-45 days to create a new habit.
Meditation
For those new to meditation, it can be helpful to use a guided meditation that walks you through it. Mindfulness for Teens offers free videos and recorded meditations to help you focus on the present moment in a non-judgmental way. It can help to stop a cycle of being (thoughts, actions) that are unhealthy. Videos are of adolescents sharing their stories and those dedicated to supporting them. The recorded meditations are as short as 3 minutes. Check out the one on eating a raisin mindfully!
As I’ve shared in a previous blog, Why Gong Therapy is the Most Relaxing Summer Activity That You’ve Never Heard Of, gong sound therapy is the lazy or smart person’s meditation. You get the same benefits as meditation while only needing to lie down and allow the vibrations of the gong to wash over you. Attending regular sound therapy classes can help you tap into that calm, present state of mind more easily during your day.
Yoga
Psychology Today’s list of benefits of yoga to young adults includes: Improving fitness and physical health, reducing stress and anxiety, Improving optimism, Improving self-esteem and body image, develop discipline and self-regulation. Yoga has become mainstream so it is easy to explore different types of yoga, both in person and online.
Kundalini Yoga, as I shared in my recent blog Kundalini Yoga for Beginners: A Primer focuses on specific meridians so it can target a specific imbalance. There are classes focusing specifically on reducing anxiety and depression. Since all Kundalini Yoga classes include meditation, you can incorporate 2 self-care activities into one.
Sleep
The National Sleep Foundation and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine agree that teens need between 8 and 10 hours of sleep per night. However, most teens get less than that. What is the impact of the loss of sleep? According to research by Neuroscience Biobehavior Review, loss of sleep has been shown to have an influence on depression and anxiety in adolescents. The research also found that, “preliminary evidence suggests that sleep loss also negatively affects mood and emotional regulation in adolescents, both following chronic, and acute doses of sleep restriction. In addition, the parental limit setting can help: teens whose parents set bedtime of 10:00 pm or earlier, for example, had fewer depressive symptoms and less suicidal ideation as compared to teens whose parents set bedtime of midnight or later.”
Meet and Communicate with Friends
For adolescents who are looking for a healthy online community, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine recommends the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Strength of Us. They include discussion groups, space for sharing stories, and a very interesting app that allows users to anonymously share their stories and receive feedback from other users.
The Nemurs Foundation has short, easy-to-understand tools on how to deal with common experiences that adolescents face during this time of their lives. As a middle-aged person, I even found some of them very helpful. Since anxiety is the #1 challenge facing adolescents, I’ve added a link to their 5 Ways to Cope with Anxiety.
YouthLine, as described on its website, is a teen-to-teen youth crisis and support service that operates a national helpline that provides crisis support and referrals via call, text, and chat. The YouthLine is answered by teen volunteers daily from 4 pm-10 pm PST (and by adults at all other times!). Translation services are available upon request. It is supported by Lines for Life, a non-profit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide.
Summary
Adolescents can be a challenging time physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Having the courage to speak up for yourself or someone you care about will hopefully continue to become easier, with less shame and judgment. We need to continue talking openly about this important topic so that we can support the next generation of leaders, scientists, teachers, tradespeople, and artists.
Improve Mental Health with Kundalini Yoga
Attain inner peace and build mental strength with the help of Kundalini Yoga. With SoundWellness, all classes can be customized to meet the needs of an individual or a community. Call or set up an appointment today!