Why Teen Mental Health Is Important – by Kourtney Do
If you have ever felt stress, anxiety, or had a hard time managing your emotions, you have experienced some of the areas that teens with mental health issues experience. Because of this, it is important to understand how teens can struggle with their mental health.
Research has shown that poor mental health is very common with teenagers and children today.
According to the World Health Organization’s report on the mental health of adolescents, “Globally, one in seven 10-19-year-old’s experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the global burden of disease in this age group.” The reason why it is important to understand just how many young people suffer from mental health issues is because many don’t realize the number is this high.
Recognizing mental health issues is essential to understanding and supporting people who suffer from them. These issues can take many forms according to “Child and Adolescent Mental Health” from National Institute of Mental Health. These issues include having trouble with relationships, high levels of stress, issues with one’s physical appearance, having a hard time learning, and disruptive or uncontrolled behaviour. It is important for people to understand these issues that teens face because it allows early prevention and to help them get the assistance they need.
Teenagers mostly struggle with disorders, a condition they can’t control. According to the World Health Organization, disorders that are the most common to appear among teenagers include “Depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders.” The same source details the areas in which teens are affected. These include: emotional disorders such as anxiety; behavioral disorders including ADHD; eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa; psychosis including hallucinations and delusions. This is important for people to understand about teenagers who struggle with disorders because this helps teenagers know that they have support and comfort from other people, they shouldn’t be criticized or unheard for something that is out of their ability.
No teen should have to face mental health issues alone as those closest to them or supporting them must find ways to help. Those supporting them must communicate with teens about how the teens feel and then provide support on any struggles they have. According to” Adolescent and School health,” parents and families can help struggling teens by communicating openly how they feel, supervising to help create healthy decisions, spending time and enjoying activities they like. This is important to understand because supporting someone can improve their mental health.
This issue must be taken seriously by society because mental health can change a teen’s life and it can change their perspective on how they view life and how they think of others and themselves. It should not be accepted for young people to be struggling with mental health, which is why society must prioritize it. I think mental health shouldn’t impact teenagers at all and want teens to be able to just be happy without any issues interfering with life.