Mental Health in America Amongst Children and Adolescents

After the readings and in class discussion last night I found myself curious to learn more about how mental health affects children and adolescents. Mental health is something that I believe many associte with adults, and the elderly, but, rarely with children and adolescents. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health:

Four million children and adolescents in this country suffer from a serious mental disorder that causes significant functional impairments at home, at school and with peers. Of children ages 9 to 17, 21 percent have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder that causes at least minimal impairment.¹

Half of all lifetime cases of mental disorders begin by age 14. Despite effective treatments, there are long delays, sometimes decades, between the first onset of symptoms and when people seek and receive treatment. An untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat illness and to the development of co-occurring mental illnesses.³

It is not only terrifying, but, also shocking to believe that adolescents and children are developing mental disorders by the time they turn 14 years old. It causes me to wonder what has changed, or happened in our country to see this increase in mental disorders amongst not only adults, but children and adolescents as well. Can we blame these mental disorders on increasing amounts of stress? Bullying? Lack of sleep? Globalization? Immigration? Lack of parenting? When one starts to think about the factors contributing to the rise in mental health it becomes frightening. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in youth ages 15 to 24- and over 90% of children and adolescents who commit suicide suffer from a mental disorder.

There is a positive to all of this though. According to the NAMH "early identification and intervention can minimize the long-term disability of mental disorders." I believe that due to the increase in knowledge about the adverse affects of mental health people will be more likely to speak up and ask for help, or to even address and acknowledge that something "isn't right." In the past having a mental disorder labeled one as "crazy", but nowadays, more people are becoming diagnosed (1/4 adults live with a mental illness (nabi.org). Like everything else in public health, it is important for individuals like you and I to raise awareness and educate those around us.

Sources:

http://www.nami.org/
http://nmha.org