WHY IS CHILD & ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH IMPORTANT?
Children & Adolescents form the building blocks of tomorrow’s families, social structure and population at large. A huge part of all our investment in terms of time, resources and planning is dedicated to ensuring our children’s safe & secure future. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that ‘Mental Health’ forms a vital component, if not the most important component in ensuring a child’s future. Children learn from their immediate family, friends and social networks. They form their behavior patterns and psychological references in their early growing up years through observation of the world around them.
It follows that the following observations are key to developing mentally healthy individuals and society of tomorrow:
- Many adult psychological problems have their onset in childhood and adolescence
- Many childhood & adolescent problems are neglected or found difficult to detect because of the lack of proper attention or simple communication issues within the family
- Children and adolescents are a particularly vulnerable population, given that their mental faculties are still in a developmental stage
- Factors like dysfunctional families, childhood emotional traumas, parental conflicts, death in the family, divorce in the family, financial stressors, etc. can leave permanent impacts on the mind of a child or an adolescent. This can lead to complex mental health illnesses as adults.
- Prevention of mental health problems in children and adolescents can help develop mentally healthy individuals, families, and societies of the future
- Solutions to many social problems like substance abuse, adolescent aggression, etc. can be found in child and adolescent mental health
- Earlier a mental health problem is detected and treatment started, the more effective can be the recovery
WHAT ARE SOME EARLY SIGNS?
Many mental health issues in children and adolescents develop gradually over time. Hence they initially manifest as early or warning signs. If these are detected by parents, teachers or guardians; treatment and recovery can be a far efficient and easier process.
Some of the early signs or warning signs of mental health problems in children and adolescents are:
- Sudden social withdrawal
- Inability to form or establish friendships or relationships leading to social isolation
- Severe disturbances in sleep or inability to sleep
- Severe disturbances in appetite
- Constant bodily complaints with no known physical cause
- Severe problems with schoolwork or falling grades
- Frequent fights at school
- Severe and frequent temper tantrums
- Severe and frequent mood swings
- Inability to deal with death or other emotional traumas in the family
- Emotional effects of parental conflict
- Severe sibling conflict issues
- Sudden and sustained fall in energy level for daily activities
- Sustained loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities
- Substance abuse in adolescents
- Aggressive or destructive tendencies in adolescents
- Self-image issues or self-harm tendencies
Many of these mental health issues can occur simultaneously, as overlapping conditions over one another in the same child or adolescent.
It is important to seek expert guidance from mental health professionals for proper diagnosis and treatment of these conditions.