Mental Health Disorders in Children and Youth
May 2013
Young adults thrive when offered practical resources to help them reach their goals, develop respectful relationships with adults, and create opportunities for self-determination and meaningful employment.April 2013
A 2009 study found that nearly 50 percent of people ages 18 to 25 with a serious mental health challenge were employed, compared to 66 percent of young adults of the same age without serious mental health challenges.March 2013
In 2009, only 53 percent of young adults ages 18 to 25 with serious mental health challenges enrolled in postsecondary education, compared to 67 percent of young adults of the same age without serious mental health challenges.February 2013
Since 2011, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has extended coverage and increased access to mental health and substance abuse services to more than 3 million previously uninsured young adults ages 19 to 25.January 2013
A 2011 national SAMHSA survey found that 35.2 percent of young adults ages 18 to 25 had used illicit drugs in the past 12 months.Y
May 2012
Abuse and neglect can disrupt attachment and stem the development of important relational capacities. Nearly 35 percent of children and youth who are reported for maltreatment demonstrate significant deficits in social skills.April 2012
In a nationally representative survey of 12- to 17-year-old youths and their trauma experiences, 39 percent reported witnessing violence, 17 percent reported physical assault, and 8 percent reported a lifetime prevalence of sexual assault.March 2012
Young people who are homeless or runaway, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) are more likely to report victimization on the streets, versus heterosexual runaway youth (58.7 percent versus 33.4 percent).February 2012
Among a sample of youth in juvenile detention, 93 percent of males and 84 percent of females reported exposure to a traumatic experience. Eleven percent of males and 15 percent of females met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD and other mental health challenges can impair a youth's capacity to reach age-appropriate developmental goals.January 2012
Children and youth who experience trauma display increases in stress hormones comparable to those displayed in combat veterans. Researchers point to multiple potential outcomes for children exposed to trauma, including attachment, mood regulation, dissociation, self-concept challenges, and behavioral, cognition, and biological changes, all of which can have a negative impact on school attendance, learning, and academic achievement.May 2011
When exposed to a traumatic event, children as young as 18 months can have serious emotional and behavioral problems later in childhood and in adulthood. More than 35 percent of children exposed to a single traumatic event will develop serious mental health problems.Late April 2011
In 2009, researchers found that more than 60 percent of youth age 17 and younger have been exposed to crime, violence, and abuse either directly or indirectly including witnessing a violent act, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, and dating violence. Nearly 10 percent were injured during the exposure to violence, 10 percent were exposed to maltreatment by caretaker, and 6 percent were a victim of sexual assault.April 2011
As the number of traumatic events experienced during childhood increases, the risk for the following health problems in adulthood increases: depression; alcoholism; drug abuse; suicide attempts; heart and liver diseases; pregnancy problems; high stress; uncontrollable anger; and family, financial, and job problems.March 2011
Studies on the brain show that physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood can cause permanent damage to the brain, reduce the size of parts of the brain, impact the way a child’s brain copes with daily stress, and can result in enduring problems such as depression, anxiety, aggression, impulsiveness, delinquency, hyperactivity, and substance abuse.February 2011
Young children exposed to 5 or more significant adversities in the first 3 years of childhood face a 76 percent likelihood of having one or more delays in their cognitive, language, or emotional development.It estimated that nearly 1 in 5 Ontario Canada children under the age of 19 experiences a mental, emotional or behavioural disorder that is severe enough to seriously affect their daily functioning at home, school or within the community. The good news is that early diagnosis and treatment lead to better outcomes for children later in life.
Some of the more common mental health disorders affecting children and youth are listed below.
* Anxiety Disorders
* Attention Deficit / Hypheractivity Disorder
* Autism Spectrum Disorders (Conduct Disoerder/ Oppositional Defiant Disorder)
* Behaviour Disorders
* Mood Dissorder (Depression, Bipolar Disorder)
* Eating Disorder
* Schizophrenia
* Substance Abuse
* Tourette Syndrome
Identifying the Signs
Recognizing symptoms is key! Family awareness and early identification are often the first steps to effective treatment for children and youth with mental health disorders.It's easy to recognize when a child has a fever. But a child's mental health is different. It can be difficult to distinguish between 'normal' problems that all children and adolescents experience from time to time, and behaviour that may be indicative of a mental heath disorder.
The following characteristics and behaviours may be signs of an underlying mental health disorder:
- getting significantly lower marks in school
- avoiding friends and family
- having frequent outbursts of anger and rage
- losing his or her appetite
- having difficulty sleeping
- rebelling against authority
- drinking a lot and/or using drugs
- not doing the things he or she used to enjoy
- worrying constantly
- experiencing frequent mood swings
- not concerned with his or her appearance
- obsessed with his or her weight
- lacking energy or motivation
- hitting or bullying other children
- attempting to injure him or her self
- intense;
- persist over long periods of time;
- inappropriate for the child's age; and
- interfere with the child's life.
- distorted thinking
- excessive anxiety
- odd body movements
- abnormal mood swings
- acting overly suspicious of others
- seeing or hearing things that others don’t see or hear
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