Adolescence Mental Health: Prevention for Thriving Well-Being - Essay Sample

Introduction

The adolescent is a formative and unique time in human development, which is characterized by transition from childhood to adulthood. Several factors can expose children and adolescents to psychiatric problems. These factors may include child abuse, poverty, and family violence. Promoting and protecting children and adolescent's psychological wellness may influence their potential to thrive for their psychological well-being. Prevention of childhood and adolescent mental disorders will affect their future mental and mental health status. During adolescent, a child can develop and maintain emotional and social behaviors that are vital or their mental health. The supportive atmosphere both at the institution and at home are essential in promoting and improving the mental wellness of children and adolescent. Vulnerable children and adolescents experience psychological conditions that remain underdiagnosed and eventual remain untreated due to poor health-seeking behaviors. Many factors determine the mental health outcomes of children and adolescents. Some of these factors include exposure to risk factors that have profound effects on the mental health status of these cohorts. Some adolescents are vulnerable to the psychological condition as a result of stigmatization, their living conditions, lack of emotional support, and discrimination. Children and adolescent mental health are sensitive health dimensions that requires proper insight and appropriate prevention and control interventions.

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There is a need for health practitioners to improve on how to recognize and treat childhood and adolescent psychological disorders. According to Ringeisen, Oliver & Menvielle, (2002), there are minimal efforts put in place to address psychological disorders affecting children and adolescents. A lot of initiatives focus on adulthood mental disorders, which has led to underdiagnosis and undertreatment of mental health disorders distressing children and adolescents. There is a need to focus on psychological disorders in different aspects to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. The most common element of health that influences the mental health outcomes of children and adolescents is aggression. Aggression can occur as a result of other underlying mental health diagnostic factors. Underlying factors make the diagnosis of these disorders difficult (Martel, Markon & Smith, 2017). Children and adolescents access the internet frequently than in previous years. There is a correlation between internet access and psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents. Most children and adolescents who regularly access the internet tend to suffer from bipolar disorder. Psychiatrist misdiagnose this disorder and end up treating mood disorders or attention deficit disorders. Therefore, psychiatrists should improve the recognition and effective treatment of these disorders.

Psychological evidence shows that there is an association between parental psychological disorders and the adolescent and children's mental health. Children whose parents suffered from mental health disorders are at a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The family environment that connects children and their mentally ill can also influence the mental health status of the children. Parents who suffer from mental disorders do not have enough time to monitor and take care of their children. The less time these parents spent on their children leads to externalization problems among adolescents and children (Van Loon, Van de Ven, Van Doesum, Witteman & Hosman, 2014). Family environment and Parent-child interaction have significant consequences on the child's psychological problems. Adolescents and children with parents suffering from mental disorders tend to experience externalization and internalization disorders. Parents suffering from psychological illnesses have weak interaction with their children that eventually exposes the children to the unfavorable family environment and other risk factors that increase their chances of these children developing mental disorders. Also, families with parents suffering from mental disorders experience frequent conflicts that reduce family cohesion. These explanations imply that mentally ill parents affect not only children's and adolescent's mental well-being but also the child-parent interaction. Parental guidance, monitoring, and support should specifically focus on existing approaches designed to prevent mental illness among the adolescent and children.

Children and adolescents develop various attitudes toward mental disorders if their parents and family members ignore the issues affecting them. There are many assumptions that mental health issues affect adults only. Some strategies are put in place to handle stigmatization as a result of mental illness among adults. Nevertheless, there are still no adequate interventions that are put in place to address mental health issues in children and adolescents. The adolescent face so much stigmatization because their mental health issues are usually misdiagnosed. Health practitioners will only solve the issue of Psychological problems in children and adolescent if only they implement strategies which will reduce stigmatization. Categorical thinking about psychological matters will help adolescents and children to change their attitudes and perceptions towards mental health issues (Watson, Miller & Lyons, 2005). A negative belief about mental disorders is seamlessly in adolescents and children. Adolescents and children do not have a precise conceptualization of psychological illnesses and the risk factors associated with this condition. However, negative attitudes change as people get older. Understanding the stigmatization resulting from mental illness and its effects will lead to the implementation of interventions that will solve mental disorders among children and adolescents. Better responses will change teenagers' and adults' attitudes toward psychological illnesses.

Children and teenagers may show psychological concerns within various contexts and settings. Therefore, it is crucial to understand particular situations in which children and adolescents display multiple concerns about their mental health. These contexts will help during the development of numerous interventions that will help children and adolescents overcome mental health challenges (Costello, 2010). Clinical assessment of these patients will also determine the settings that directly correlate with psychological problems among young people. Psychiatric disorder in young people is intricate because it entails psychological, socio-cultural, and biological factors. These factors make children and adolescents more vulnerable than adults (De Los Reyes et al., 2015). Many countries around the world recognize mental disorders in children and adolescents, but unfortunately, they do not have accurate data to show the number of cases and the appropriate interventions for this problem. Experts in the field of mental health are helping UNICEF F to develop a database that has all the detail about adolescents' and children's mental health from every country around the world. This data will help in determining the risk factors and predisposing factors of mental illnesses among children and teenagers. There will be the incorporation of adaptation and validation of this database across different contexts involving quantitative and qualitative health approaches.

Adolescents and children, mental health status is of public health concern, which requires scientific interventions to prevent and control these problems. These interventions should focus on behavioral disorders and mental disorders based on selectivity and universality. Healthcare practitioners should incorporate preventive strategies to decrease the impacts of psychological problems affecting these cohorts. Also, there is a need to adopt healthcare models that are beyond the traditional mental frameworks. There is also a need to choose a universal approach that will address all the issues which affect these cohorts throughout the world (Kieling et al., 2011). These interventions should target the overall development processes rather than focusing on children's mental health. Also, provide integrated healthcare services to the affected cohorts. Evidence and scientific-based approached will play a critical role in controlling and preventing mental health problems among children and adolescents. School-based interventions will also help school-going children to cope up with difficult situations that are likely to interfere with their intellectual capability (Alicata, & Cheng, 2018). Other interventions that can reduce behavior-related disorders include training parents on how to manage their children's behaviors, training and equipping teachers with necessary classroom management skills and psychosocial intervention that improve children's social life. Schools should integrate preventive interventions in their curriculum.

Conclusion

In conclusion, childhood psychological problems are of public health concern, which calls for global collaboration and partnership to reduce the burden of this condition globally. Several factors can expose children and adolescents to psychiatric problems. These factors may include child abuse, poverty, and family violence. Promoting and protecting children and adolescent's psychological wellness may influence their potential to thrive for their psychological well-being. Proper parenting will reduce the chances of children developing mental illnesses. Children whose parents suffered from mental health disorders are at a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The family environment that connects children and their mentally ill can also influence the mental health status of the children. Governments, through ministries of health, should develop a scientific framework that will help in preventing these disorders. They should adopt universal approaches that apply everywhere across the globe.

References

Alicata, D. A., & Cheng, K. (2018). Project Echo: Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 57(10), S74-S75.

Costello, J. E. (2010). Increasing awareness of child and adolescent mental health.

De Los Reyes, A., Augenstein, T. M., Wang, M., Thomas, S. A., Drabick, D. A., Burgers, D. E., & Rabinowitz, J. (2015). The validity of the multi-informant approach to assessing child and adolescent mental health. Psychological bulletin, 141(4), 858.

Kieling, C., Baker-Henningham, H., Belfer, M., Conti, G., Ertem, I., Omigbodun, O., ... & Rahman, A. (2011). Child and adolescent mental health worldwide: evidence for action. The Lancet, 378(9801), 1515-1525.

Martel, M. M., Markon, K., & Smith, G. T. (2017). Research review: Multiinformant integration in child and adolescent psychopathology diagnosis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(2), 116-128.

Ringeisen, H., Oliver, K. A., & Menvielle, E. (2002). Recognition and treatment of mental disorders in children. Pediatric Drugs, 4(11), 697-703.

Van Loon, L. M., Van de Ven, M. O., Van Doesum, K. T., Witteman, C. L., & Hosman, C. M. (2014). The relation between parental mental illness and adolescent mental health: The role of family factors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(7), 1201-1214.

Watson, A. C., Miller, F. E., & Lyons, J. S. (2005). Adolescent attitudes toward serious mental illness. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 193(11), 769-772.