Mental Health For Children And Adolescents

Mental health is defined as our emotional psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. Mental health also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Maintaining healthy mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence and throughout adulthood. People suffering from mental health disorders often see a change in their mood, thinking and behavior. One in 5 Americans adults experience a mental health issue. One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression. And 1 in 20 Americans lived with a serious mental health illness (Mental Health Myths and Facts). Factors contribute to mental health problems including; biological facts, such as genes or brain chemistry, life experiences, such as traumatic events or abuse, or family history or mental health problems. Positive allows people to realize their full potential, cope with stress of life, work productively and making meaningful contributions to society (What is

Children’s mental illness affects approximately one fifth of youth worldwide, and although it is the children who experience symptoms directly, implications associated with mental illness can impact entire families (Richardson, Cobham, McDermott & Murray, 2013). As such, healthcare systems are being redesigned to include a focus on family-centeredness. In the case of children’s mental health specifically, family-centered coordinated care represents an understanding of treatment, not only derived from the child’s experience, but also from the parents’ and caregivers’ perspectives (Olin, Hemmelgarn, Madenwald, & Hoagwood, 2015). Unlike other interventions in children’s mental health, this treatment approach acknowledges the vital role that families play in promoting the health and wellbeing of children, and it serves to empower family members by including them in treatment practices and decision-making processes (McGinty, Worthington, & Dennison, 2008; Olin et al., 2015). Through this collaborative approach to children’s mental health, partnerships can be established among health care providers, patients, and families, who each contribute to continued stabilization (Johnson, 2000; McGinty et al., 2008). Moreover, family-centered coordinated care serves to link children and adolescents with appropriate treatment interventions, while correspondingly introducing families to resources that foster parental

A study on the child’s mental health involves the mental functioning and the way a child behaves and responds to some instances of life. The study is done by exploring the physiological process and the neurology of a child. The key areas of study include; concentration, mind functioning, emotions, acuity, character and cognition. There are two processes in a child’s development that needs the attention of the parents; physical and the mental development. This is the time that the parent can be able to determine a child’s with mental or physical challenge. The psychology of the child depends on the development of the mind as well as genetic psychology. Genetic psychology is the study of how factors that affect the genetics can

The mental health of adolescents is fairly considered to be one of the major prerequisites of the country 's sustainable development in economics, culture, and social life. Subsequently, the easy and nondiscriminatory access to the psychological treatment appears to be a matter of top priority for the federal government. Nevertheless, the recent statistical data indicates the substantial problems in terms of providing the adolescents with the necessary medical support. In accordance with the US Department of Health & Human Services, in 2014, less than 50% of the country 's adolescent population were provided with a required treatment (US Department of Health & Human Services). Moreover, the data on the minorities ' access to the mental health treatment demonstrates that, for instance, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be prescribed a treatment from schizophrenia (American Psychological Association). Undoubtedly, such a trend may be primarily explained by the insufficient efforts of both federal and local health care institutions in terms of providing the minorities ' representatives with the necessary psychological treatment. Consequently, in order to understand comprehensively the problem of the adolescent mental health in the US, it is necessary to define the issue-related objective and subjective concerns as well as to analyze the peculiarities of a potential corrective to the

Adolescence is a critical time of development. During this period there are significant changes in brain development, emotions, cognition, behavior, and personal relationships. It is during this time that most major mental health disorders appear, many of which carry over into adulthood. Behavior patterns such as substance abuse also often develop during this time and may continue throughout adulthood. Many adolescents struggling with mental health issues begin to exhibit symptoms such as acting out at home or in school, showing a decreased interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, or bringing home poor grades. Others ultimately are charged with offenses ranging from status

“Nearly 5 million children in the U.S. have some type of mental illness” (Goldberg). It is agreeable that there are many young children that deal with mental illness every day. Schools should be concerned for every student’s well being. Moreover, mental health is a part of a person’s overall “well being.” Therefore, schools need to make the mental health of students a stronger focus and implement plans to keep students mentally well and educated. To help create a positive, mental health aware environment where students feel open to seek help, high school students should be educated on how to be mentally healthy, be given a safe place to seek help, and be encouraged to monitor and maintain their mental health. Mental illness and mental health care need to be a more eminent priority in our society, starting with high schools.

Adolescence is the transition period between childhood and early adulthood, beginning at about age 11 or 12 and lasting until around age 18. Puberty marks the beginning of adolescence. During puberty, hormonal changes happen in the body, prepare the body for reproduction and change the size and proportions of the body. As the body undergoes this dramatic transformation, major changes happen in the brain as well.

The patient is a thirteen year old female diagnosed with depression/ depression NOS. She is in the hospital for attempting to kill herself by stabbing her stomach with a knife. She had been there for almost a week when the assessment was conducted. Hand off states she sees things in the shadows (visual hallucinations), and she was molested by her thirty year old cousin and sodomised by her neighbor when she was four. Her home situation is not a therapeutic one, her and one of her mother’s fights constantly, and see feels her mother is two faced and she cannot talk to this mother about her feelings. The patient is very shy, and just wants to draw ninja turtles, but through therapeutic communication and observation she began to open up. She is dressed appropriate for the weather, and has a good understanding of advance vocabulary, but does go off on her own to look outside a lot. The full assessment can be found in the appendix at the end of the paper. The aim of this study is to describe priority nursing diagnoses, outcomes, and interventions, tests, labs and medications for this patient, the patient’s diagnosis according to the DSM-V and then examine a nursing article that relates to this patient.

Mental illnesses are very common in the United States, with one in five of adolescents having a diagnosed mental illness and in the last year less than half of these adolescents have received proper treatment. The most common mental disorders, anxiety and depression, can disrupt daily life and result in suicide, which is the third most frequent cause of death in teenagers (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Ten percent of adolescents did not have health insurance in 2013 and those who did, had a very limited amount of mental health care services provided to them (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). It has been proved that it is even less likely that adolescents who are poor, homeless, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender will receive the care that is necessary for their health and even life (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Mental disorders are not only an

The typical American teenager goes through many stages of psychosocial change from the ages between 12 and 18. Adolescence is a difficult time for most because it is a huge transition time from being a child to becoming an adult. Many of these changes or challenges are so common that they are experienced by almost everyone. Some are brought on by physical changes in appearance and hormones while others are more psychological. Famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud, believed that a person’s biological activity will motivate their behavior and development. (Life Span page 36) Adolescent teens will most likely have difficulty with social, parental and sexual issues, physical changes to their body, identity confusion, a tendency to participate

Pre-adolescence is a crucial stage in a child’s life because it is during this stage that kids can learn the coping mechanism that can prevent complications later on in life (Britton et al., 2014). Some children and adolescents may not have the opportunity to seek proper mental health care during their childhood. This may be due to parents overworking or simply not being able to afford quality mental health care services (Bucci et al., 2016). However, schools can serve children and adolescents as a

Adolescence is the period of development beginning at puberty and ends in adulthood, conatinig many new physical changes. Puberty involves physiological changes in height, weight, body composition, sex characteristics, and circulatory and respiratory systems, which are influenced by hormonal activity. In the 2007, Psychology eight edition book, Myers states:

Adolescence changes in a child in various ways, physiological, culturally, cognitively. The adolescence years are a period of rapid growth unlike middle childhood. This is the stage where puberty and hormones hit a growing child. Pubic hair and budding of breast is seen in girls while in boys the growth of pubic hair and the penis growing

Stress in teens is becoming a more common issue in today’s generation, much more critical than generations of the past. Several factors contribute to the level of stress in teens such as school, social life and lack of support, just to name a few. These cause today’s teens to be afflicted with depression and anxiety at a younger age. This issue is detrimental to the mental health of today’s generation because if it isn’t dealt with soon, as adults they’ll be more likely to abuse drugs and commit suicide. Stress can also weaken the immune systems causing an increased risk of disease.

Some (but not all) teens may go through adolescence experiencing serious psychological and behavioral problems (i.e. substance abuse, delinquency, and depression). These problems can have direct (i.e. being in contact with personal youth) or indirect (i.e. increased taxes for community services and raised anxiety about safety of neighborhoods) effects on troubled teens and those around them. The media often exaggerates the psychosocial problems of adolescents, which leads to the stereotype of adolescents being troublesome. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between normative, transitory problems that most adolescence face (e.g. self-doubt, broken hearts, etc.) and more serious psychosocial problems that few adolescents experience (e.g. drug abuse, depression, etc.). This can be done by distinguishing between occasional experimentation and ongoing patterns of troublesome behavior.