About 1 in 7 children aged 10 to 19 years old experience psychological disorders according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Unfortunately, mental health disorders in teens have not received proper treatment.
This condition is influenced by the lack of knowledge about the symptoms of mental disorders in adolescents. Starting from the difficulty of controlling emotions to experiencing academic decline at school.
Mental Health Disorders in Teens, Types for Parents’ Guide
Delayed treatment can also lead to worsening of symptoms, which can lead to more severe conditions. Identifying the symptoms of adolescent mental illness can be more difficult. As most teens are moody and emotional during physical and mental changes. Below is an introduction to various mental disorders in adolescents.
1. Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are more common in females than males. For example, such as anorexia, where the child is very thin and afraid of gaining weight. There is also bulimia, which is a condition where the child regurgitates the food they have eaten.
As a result of not being able to enter food in the body, the body lacks nutritional intake. So this disorder is at risk of causing health problems. These include malnutrition, impaired growth, brain damage, dehydration and constipation, and impaired organ function.
2. Threshold Personality Disorder
Adolescents with this disorder have a less stable sense of self. Thus, adolescents with threshold personality disorder do not know how to process emotions properly. Patients with this disorder do not have a firm identity and often experience extreme emotional instability.
These mental health disorders in teens often first appear in adolescents and young adults. Teenagers with borderline personality disorder find it difficult to relate to others. This leads to isolation and despair.
3. Psychosis
This mental health condition occurs due to a brain disorder that affects the way information is processed. This condition changes the way the person thinks and behaves. Symptoms include hallucinations or delusions that interfere with a teen’s ability to perform daily activities. It also leads to a decline in school academics as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
4. Emotional Disorder
Adolescents with this disorder have irritability, frequent frustration, and excessive anger. Not only on the psychological side, emotional disorders can trigger physical symptoms, such as headaches, stomachaches and nausea. Because they do not control their emotions well, emotional disturbances can have an impact on school academics. It can also lead to self-isolation and suicidal thoughts.
5. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD is a mental health disorder in teens that causes children to have difficulty in focusing attention and have impulsive and hyperactive behavior. The cause of this disorder is not known for sure, but it can be influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
Identification and Treatment of Adolescent Mental Illness
In the explanation on Harvard Medical School YouTube, often this mental illness is not physically visible. However, over time, the impact that arises from behavior is very obvious. One of the professional treatment methods is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
CBT helps individuals recognize and change unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors. In relatively severe conditions, such as eating disorders, there is a medication process using drugs. This plays an important role in preventing depression to negative obsessions.
In practice, there are as many as 50% of patients who recover completely with proper supervision and treatment. That means, there is always a way out of mental health disorders in teens as long as the treatment technique is appropriate.
