Teenage Mental Health: Challenges and Solutions

Statistics by the CDC show that almost one-third of students struggle with poor mental health, while about 4 in 10 feel hopeless or persistently sad. As the rate of teen mental health concerns increases, it’s now essential that parents, guardians, and teachers take adequate measures to identify and address challenges. Let’s look at the common signs of mental health issues among teens, how they develop these issues, and possible solutions to improve well-being.

Signs of Mental Health Issues in Teens

When teens struggle with mental disorders, they may exhibit certain signs. Even when making adult diagnoses, mental health professionals determine whether a client showed certain signs as an adolescent. It allows practitioners to recommend suitable therapeutic interventions such as mental health treatment by United Recovery.

• Struggling to perform well at school because they can’t concentrate
• Waking up in the middle of the night due to sleep disturbances
• Irritable mood as a symptom of depressive or bipolar disorder
• Excessive worry that is out of proportion to the situation
• Social isolation and withdrawal due to bullying and social anxieties
• Change in eating patterns that lead to weight loss or gain
• Self-harming behaviours such as cuts, burns, or restrictive eating
• Lack of interest in things they previously enjoyed, such as hobbies and social activities
• Worries about appearance and weight
• Increase in risk-taking behaviours like substance abuse and sexual activity

Common Mental Health Challenges in Teens

Teens and adolescents face various mental health challenges that impact their performance in school and relationships. It’s also important to note that during adolescence, teens face a higher risk of developing mental health disorders.

This is attributed to the different risk factors they face while navigating the transition from childhood to adulthood. It’s why research indicates that the onset of most mental health disorders is around childhood and adolescence. One study in the Molecular Psychiatry journal explains that the peak age of onset is around 14.5 years old. Some of the most common ones include:

Mood Disorders

This category includes conditions such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and adjustment disorder accompanied by depressed mood.

• In major depression, you experience at least 2 weeks of either low mood or a loss of pleasure in all activities. While adults show depressed moods, teens and adolescents experience irritable moods.

• Bipolar disorder is characterized by a distinct period when you persistently display elevated, irritable, or expansive mood. It’s accompanied by an increase in energy and activity that lasts at least four days and is present for most of the day.

• In an adjustment disorder, you develop behavioral or emotional symptoms as a result of identifiable stressors that have occurred within three months before the onset.

Anxiety Disorders

These include conditions such as generalized anxiety and social anxiety.

• Generalized anxiety disorder involves a pervasive pattern of excessive worry about different activities and events. What differentiates the disorder from usual anxiety is that the frequency, duration, and intensity are out of proportion to the effect of the anticipated event. You may find it difficult to control your worry, which may interfere with everyday tasks.

• With social anxiety disorder, you fear situations that require you to speak or perform a task in front of people. Also known as social phobia, you experience immense distress and try to avoid the situation.

Conduct Disorder

In many cases, conduct disorder is a precursor to anti-social personality disorder. It’s characterized by a persistent and repetitive pattern of behavior that violates other people’s rights and goes against age-appropriate norms. This includes showing aggression towards people and/or animals, theft, and destruction of property.

Other common mental health challenges among teens include eating disorders and substance use disorders. These conditions can develop as a result of various risk factors, such as a negative family environment, family conflict, and lack of supportive relationships.

Solutions for Improving Teens’ Mental Health

Parents, guardians, and teachers can implement different measures to promote teens’ mental health. This also includes encouraging teens to take certain steps as well. Some positive solutions include:

Ensuring a Stable Home Environment

A major contributor to mental health struggles among teens is an unstable home environment. This requires parents to maintain a routine and schedule for different activities, creating a sense of stability.

Parents should also check in with teens to let them know they’re available if they need someone to talk to. At the same time, it’s important to give them space to figure out things on their own.

Talk to People You Trust

Teens are at a delicate stage of life when they’re going through major physical, mental, and emotional changes. It’s likely that you feel confused and need someone to talk to. Don’t wait for people to ask if you’re doing well; take the initiative and talk to someone you trust. This can be a close friend, a parent, your homeroom teacher, or a guidance counselor.

Emphasize Physical Health

The holistic approach to mental health is based on the premise that mental, physical, and spiritual health contribute to well-being, so they can affect each other. It’s why a focus on balanced nutrition, regular exercise, and healthy sleeping patterns are so important. Make sure you’re having balanced meals, getting enough sleep at night, and engaging in some form of physical activity.

Seek Professional Help

If you’re dealing with mental health struggles, then it’s great to confide in someone you trust. However, it’s not an alternative to professional therapeutic interventions. Seeing a licensed practitioner gives you the opportunity to learn new coping skills, such as improving thinking patterns and relaxation techniques.

Build Social Connections

Lastly, you should build and strengthen meaningful social connections. Even if you have a social circle, it always helps to seek new opportunities to meet new people. One way to do this is to take a class to build a new skill or try volunteering at local charities.

Conclusion

Because of the different physical and emotional changes that teens go through, they’re at a higher risk of developing mental health disorders. And when you fail to address them, symptoms can exacerbate when you’re an adult. It’s why parents and loved ones should look out for signs and implement solutions for timely interventions. With the right support, you’ll be able to cope with your mental health struggles.