How does mental health affect young people?

Written By Sonika Nanchahal

Introduction:

Around 13% of people between ages 10 and 19 all over the world suffer from all types of mental illnesses.

Mental illness or mental disorder is an illness relating to the minds of teens to adults. Your mental health controls your behaviour, thoughts and even your mood. Teenagers between 10-19 suffer from all types of mental illnesses”, the most common ones being depression,anxiety and eating disorders.

The cause of mental illnesses are either because of being a victim of childhood trauma or being neglected as a child. Therefore, bearing all these causes in mind, how exactly do we maintain a healthy mental health?Well,you may want to try limiting stress or getting the same hours of sleep every day as fixing your sleeping pattern will increase your energy level throughout the day. What would also help? Treat yourself to a day off and of course make sure you surround yourself with a positive and happy environment. Social media is also a culprit known to affect teenagers' mental health through trolls of other people which can really affect the mental state of teenagers that are too young to be dealing with such negativity.

The lack of support for kids dealing with mental issues makes the kids feel like no one wants to help them , making matters worse. Physical bullying and online trolling have sadly lead to many suicides of young girls and boys, barely the age of 15/16 or even younger in some cases.

Basically, children deal with mental issues could have changed in behavioural patterns this just means how they cope with the illness. A lot of teenagers choose to commit crime as a way to deal with depression or anxiety, sending them down an unbelievable, sad pathway.

These mental illnesses normally start at a young age and soon develop to become worse and harder to deal with. Research states that about 3.1% start mental issues by the age of 10-14 and 2.4% at the age of 15-19 years old. These issues can then aggravate if not received proper medical attention. Another serious illness to be discussed is Emotional disorders. Emotional disorders can be found in many illnesses, but it is most common in the illness of depression.

Conclusion:

Because of all these mental health illnesses teenagers should take care of their minds with the help of their parents/Guardians. Guardians should make the child comfortable, happy and healthy, it should not be done using force . If given the right support, I am sure that teenagers suffering from mental illnesses currently will be in a right state of mental health after some time passes.

Sources:

1. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, June 8). Mental illness. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes/syc-20374968#:~:text=Mental%20illness%2C%20also%20called%20mental,eating%20disorders%20and%20addictive%20behaviors. https://www.bridgestorecovery.com/nervous-breakdown/ https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Adolescent mental health. World Health Organization. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health