Youth is a sensitive period in which many psychosocial milestones are reached, including puberty and developing romantic relationships. It is also a time when mental health problems often emerge.
Previously published literature on help-seeking among youth has focused on individual factors. A common theme, however, is structural barriers, such as an unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge about mental health, and a desire for self-reliance.
Identifying and Treating Mental Health Disorders
The symptoms of many mental health conditions begin in childhood. But some do not show up until adolescence. Adolescents with untreated mental health conditions can struggle in school, have trouble forming healthy relationships and may be at increased risk for drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, and suicide.
Encourage children to talk to a trusted adult about any concerns they have. Teach them about warning signs for mental health problems, including a desire to hurt themselves or others and feelings of hopelessness. Encourage them to reach out for help by calling a crisis line or texting “HOME” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.
Reduce barriers to preventive services for youth, especially for racial and ethnic minorities, those in foster care or juvenile justice systems, and those with disabilities. Provide comprehensive, culturally competent mental health and substance use evaluations in places where youth are most likely to be seen—including schools and primary health care clinics. Increase funding to sustain, scale and rigorously evaluate interventions and prevention strategies.
Adolescence
Adolescence spans from ages 10 to 19. This is a time when a young person experiences many physical, emotional and cognitive changes. This can affect their mental health and how they behave with others. Poor mental health in teens can have lasting effects on their adult lives.
Internalising problems such as shyness, experiences of rejection or brooding are common in adolescence. Externalising problems include motor restlessness, a high degree of distractibility and behaviours that disturb or bother other people (including rule-breaking or dissocial behaviour up to and including delinquency).
Teens can be more vulnerable to mental health issues because of intensive brain reorganization. This can lead to a lack of control over emotions and impulses. It is believed that this results in a dominance of the limbic system, which responds to reward and emotional stimuli, over the prefrontal cortex, which exercises control functions. These factors can result in actions such as self-injury, eating disorders and the use of illegal drugs.
Young Adulthood
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is an important period for mental health. Young adults face unique challenges, including higher rates of risk-taking behaviors, especially sexually transmitted infections, motor vehicle accidents, and suicide than other age groups.
In addition, young adults experience more severe forms of mental illness than other age groups and are at a greater risk for psychiatric disabilities. They also have lower rates of healthcare utilization and have worse health outcomes, such as a greater incidence of chronic diseases.
They often feel lost within a health care system that treats them as adults, but not as young people. As a result, they may not engage in treatment or disengage from it. Health providers can support the assertion of independence by addressing their patients’ goals in a way that is developmentally appropriate. Liaison psychiatric services can provide valuable expertise to the medical team in this area. It can also be helpful for junior medical staff to talk with their supervisors about the issues that arise when dealing with young adult patients.
Parenting
The impact of parenting is a crucial factor in mental health during adolescence and young adulthood. In this period of life, parents are likely to influence the onset of mental disorders through their own health behaviors, as well as by providing their children with a safe and stable home environment.
Other important social and commercial determinants of youth mental health have also shown varying trends over time. These include economic trends like the housing market, unemployment rates and income inequality, as well as other factors such as childhood trauma and bullying victimization, social media usage and the prevalence of certain substance use, and more.
It is difficult to identify potential mechanisms behind the rise in prevalence of mental ill health among adolescents and young adults. However, proximal and distal factors may be involved, such as developmental changes, family dynamics, education, health and lifestyle, childhood trauma, social media, and socio-economic challenges linked to neoliberal policies. This section explores these possible explanatory variables, and the relationship between them and time trends in youth mental health disorders, which are categorized as increasing, stable/mixed or decreasing.