More teens than ever are having mental health problems. About 8% of American young people report mental distress and those numbers have been rising. In an L.A. Times article of May 25, 2013, Times writer Melissa Healy reports on this disturbing growing trend amongst our youth. Between 2005 to 2010 about 2 million young people ages 12-17 said that for more than half of each month they routinely felt sad, angry, disconnected, stressed out, unloved or even had thoughts of hurting themselves or others.
The statistics show that the teens most likely feeling this way are girls and more than likely, they are Anglo. These distressed kids are more likely to come from a family living above the poverty level, but not by much. In 2010 suicide was the second leading cause of deaths among Americans ages 12-17.
In any given year, 13% to 20% of American children experience a mental disorder, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common disturbances are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, conduct disorder, an anxiety disorder and depression.
This article caught my attention because I’ve raised a child who has been diagnosed with all of the aforementioned mental issues. It’s a challenging road for any parent to deal with mental health issues and it takes professional help, patience, determination, great inner strength and faith to help control or overcome these problems.
Researchers found that these mental health problems in young people can be caused by such varied things as a change of social environment of schools and families, industrial pollutants, in the technologies they use every day and in the foods they eat. I guess the biggest frustration for me in this article was that they provided all of these statistics about mental health issues among young people but did not offer any help or encouragement for parents who need to find a way to help their kids.
I was lucky in the sense that I had access to professional help and resources to help my child. But not everyone is so fortunate. Above all, one needs to stay focused on the child’s problems, teach them how to try and control their lives and environments to their advantage and be realistic about what kind of progress is possible. Kids with these issues get easily frustrated, need a great deal of support (mostly moral support) and need structure, security and someone who is there for them at all times. It’s not an easy road for parent or child. But things can get better and that child’s life can get better and “back to normal” if all parties concerned work at it and work together.
