Mental Health Youth Crisis: #MoreThanIDid — (Part. 1)
Written by Andi Bazaar
People are mentally and emotionally exhausted from doing the right thing because there are people who don’t, people who tout "freedom of choice," when it comes to the vaccine and when the selfish reality is that "choice," is to impose on the freedoms of others.
If you can't have the vaccine for medical reasons, you are literally the reason why everyone else should be getting them. When someone says "I have a right not to get the vaccine," what you're really saying is that you don't give a flying fuck about anyone else just yourself.
I have outlined 6 activities that people of all ages can take part in to help raise morale, self-confidence and reduce stress and anxiety.
Why not start by having a meditation to help clear your mind?
1. Relax and take a break to free yourself from anything that is worrying you or causing you stress.
2. Challenge yourself by cooking something new.
3. Enhance your skills by learning a new language.
4. Swimming is always a good way to relax your mind and body and reduce stress and anxiety.
5. Why not try some yoga? Yoga is perfect for improving mental health as it relieves stress, reduces muscle tension, sharpens attention and calms the nervous system.
How can teens care for their mental health in the pandemic? Me and friend of mine asked them and we also asked some youth mental health professionals
1. "It's ok to not be ok but I'm trying to do things that I'm passionate about to help me stay happy and healthy like playing the piano or doing virtual D&D campaigns or listening to music, it's just finding the things I'm passionate in to help me be me."
2. TikTok and Instagram have been good resources for her: "like accounts that tell you things you can do to not be bored or take care of your mental health, it's really comforting knowing that it's not just you going through this."
3. "As a person I've grown and I've learned to advocate for myself, I am better with communicating with my teachers with my parents and with people about my mental health and my physical health and just being like hey I need help with this.'"
4. "Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk snd if you can't find somebody close to you to talk to get online."
5. "Moving your body, I started taking a dance class during the pandemic I'm learning something new. I'm doing it with my body, I'm getting over my self-consciousness."
A new paper from José Schenkkan team shows that two in three young people presenting to youth mental health services did not experience meaningful improvement in social and occupational functioning, that’s the headline but lets dive into the details.
The emergence of mental ill-health during adolescence and young adulthood can have profound impact on a person’s life that can extend into adulthood. So, a major goal is to limit this impact and facilitate meaningful engagement with work or education and social relationships.
Unfortunately, the diverse needs of young people often complicate treatment and limits the allocation of timely and effective interventions. So, we wanted to better understand what the common trajectories of functioning are for young people engaged in care.
For this study we applied growth mixture modelling to identify latent class trajectories of social and occupational functioning, the sample included 1,510 people aged (12‒25 years) who had presented to care with anxiety, mood or psychotic syndromes.
We identified four trajectories of functioning during the first two years of care:
- deteriorating and volatile (49%)
- persistent impairment (16%)
- stable good functioning (19%)
- improving but late recurrence (16%)
Young people with persistent impairment or on deteriorating and volatile trajectories had substantial needs that extended beyond the syndromes with which they present, encompassing broader impacts on their physical health, self-harm and suicidality also substance abuse.
The group of young people with relatively good baseline levels of function that were maintained had lower rates of comorbidity, childhood onset mental illness, and social disengagement (that is, they were usually employed or in education) than the other groups.
Altogether this paints the picture that current care meets the needs of only the minority of young people with lower needs and that models of care need to recognise that most young people require multidisciplinary approaches because of substantial comorbidity and complexity.
Our findings also point to the importance of measurement-based care, whereby outcomes are monitored to inform more personalised and responsive treatment because most trajectories tend to fluctuate as a function of vulnerability, protective and treatment factors.
The pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, particularly young people struggling with confidence and self-esteem and feeling isolated during lockdowns. Always remember to check on your friends and loved ones and don’t be afraid to speak out if you’re struggling.
to be continued…
Co-wrote by José Schenkkan
Photographed by Benjamin Schenkkan Joseph
