Moving toward Mental Health in our Youth
It’s been quite a while since I sat and wrote here. Sometimes life throws a curve ball and you have to take time to sort it out. This past year has been a concentration on mental health – mine, my children, my partner. We are all working to manage our mental health crises and day-to-day functioning better. Coping strategies, toxic relationships, radical acceptance, family meetings, in-patient hospitalizations, black and white thinking, partial hospitalizations, day programs, substance use/abuse, these have all become common vernacular to me now. And I realize I am not alone – there is a growing multitude of parents who are learning these terms and living daily with children and youth that have mental health issues affecting functioning in daily life.
What better topic to write on as I venture back into the land of my professional life. Let’s look at some statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sadness/Hopelessness: 40% of high school students felt so sad or hopeless for 2 weeks+ that they stopped their usual activities.
Persistent Sadness by Group: 53% of female students and 65% of LGBTQ+ students reported persistent sadness or hopelessness.
Mental Health Struggles: 29% of high school students reported their mental health was "not good" most or all of the time.
Suicidality: 20% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, and 9% attempted it.
Diagnosed Conditions: 20.3% of adolescents (ages 12-17) had a diagnosed mental/behavioral health condition (anxiety, depression, or behavior problems).
Anxiety & Depression: 16.1% of adolescents were diagnosed with anxiety, and 8.4% with depression.
Diagnosis Rates: 20.3% of adolescents ages 12–17 have a current, diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition.
Common Conditions: Among youth ages 3–17, the most common diagnoses are ADHD (6.8%), anxiety (11%), and depression (4%).
Care Gaps: Over half (54%) of youth ages 12–17 who need mental health care report difficulty accessing it.
School-Based Support: Only 52% of public schools feel they are effective in providing mental health services to all students in need.
In 2021, 14.9% of children aged 5–17 received mental health treatment.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth 12-24 years old.
(statistics from Center for Disease Control, 2023)
Reading these statistics doesn’t shock me, but I am greatly saddened. Add to this the crisis of opioid and drug use among teens and it’s no wonder that our schools are time bombs.
According to the CDC “Mental health in childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones, and learning healthy social skills and how to cope when there are problems” With that as the definition of what health is I’m left with so many questions. What are we doing wrong? What are we doing right? When there is a breakdown in any of this, what can we do to bridge the divide between mental illness and mental health? There are many smarter and more knowledgeable people than me studying this and I won’t pretend to be an expert.
I did something professionally that changed my entire perspective on behaviors. Beyond learning the statistics and vernacular, improving and utilizing coping strategies, better defining boundaries, refining my communication skills; I attended Dr. Svetlana Masgutova’s class on Stress Hormones and Trauma. This deeper understanding of our bodies stress response system completely changed my view on the meltdowns and breakdowns our kiddos are having. By intervening at the stress hormone level we can reduce breakdowns and repair the ability to regulate. I’m hopeful that using reflex patterns and techniques aimed at releasing protective stress responses as well as increasing chemicals from the parasympathetic system like dopamine, serotonin and GABA can make substantial differences in the mental health of our youth. And not just our youth, we as parents need to support our own mental health and wellbeing as well. When an individual in a family system struggles with mental illness, stress increases for all family members.
Dr. Masgutova has developed a PTSD protocol that uses mental imaging of positive anchors while moving through specific reflex movement patterns to release negative protection in the brain. I myself experienced relief from this protocol during an especially emotional and difficult weekend. I’ve used this in a few instances and have written a case study which you can read here.
If you or someone you know seems to being having difficulty navigating daily life, seek help. Talk to your family doctor about the symptoms you notice and they will help you navigate the next steps. Here are some organizations that can help you better understand what is happening and connect you with information and resources.