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ASM: Health and Wellness: Grades 9-12 Emotional & Mental Health

Teacher and student resources that promotes both student and staff wellbeing and health at the American School of Madrid

World Health Organization: Mental Health of Adolescents

Key facts

  • Globally, one in seven 10-19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group.
  • Depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents.
  • Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds.
  • The consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions extend to adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults.

Introduction

One in six people are aged 10–19 years. Adolescence is a unique and formative time. Physical, emotional and social changes, including exposure to poverty, abuse, or violence, can make adolescents vulnerable to mental health problems. Protecting adolescents from adversity, promoting socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and ensuring access to mental health care are critical for their health and well-being during adolescence and adulthood.

Globally, it is estimated that 1 in 7 (14%) 10–19 year-olds experience mental health conditions (1), yet these remain largely unrecognized and untreated.

Adolescents with mental health conditions are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, discrimination, stigma (affecting readiness to seek help), educational difficulties, risk-taking behaviours, physical ill-health and human rights violations.

To read the full article on the World Health Organization's website, click HERE.

Statista: Percentage of U.S. youth who experienced mental health challenges regularly as of 2023, by type

NIH MedlinePlus: Teens are talking about mental health

The prevalence of mental health issues is hard to measure, but federal data show how widespread the challenges are. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said we need to address threats to mental health in young people—especially adolescents.

More than one third (37%) of high schoolers in the United States reported experiencing poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2021 CDC study. Almost half (44%) of high schoolers reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless in the last year. Some of these feelings were also linked to experiences of racism, social stigma around gender and sexual identity, and sexual violence. 

Studies like these can help shed light on issues that teens may be hesitant or unable to discuss with parents, doctors, and school staff.

Stigma and a lack of information or access to care also keep many teens from getting help. But sharing personal stories about mental health can offer encouragement and connection. This can help teens feel like they are not alone. That’s why NIH asked high schoolers to describe these challenges in their own words for the 2022 Speaking Up About Mental Health! essay contest.

The contest was sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). They wanted to start conversations around youth mental health and highlight different aspects of this national health crisis.

In their essays, many students talked about feeling lost, embarrassed, or frustrated by their mental health struggles. Others wrote about going from being confident in early childhood to feeling alone or unseen in adolescence.

NIH-funded researcher Tamar Mendelson, M.A., Ph.D., Bloomberg Professor of American Health and Director for the Center for Adolescent Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that’s not surprising. Depression rates tend to increase around puberty, especially among girls but also in boys. Dr. Mendelson said this can be caused by a combination of hormonal changes, new social relationships, and new pressures from academic, athletic, and other activities.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Source: https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/teens-are-talking-about-mental-health

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