Mental Health Issues Rising Fast Among Teens

Rising rates of mental health disorders among teenagers is rising at a rate that some are calling an epidemic.

The hard numbers are startling. A study released in 2013 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that one in five children “ 20 percent “ aged 3 through 17 suffered from some form of mental health disorder, from mild to serious.

Among the various disorders, autism has gained notoriety for its sudden statistic surge. There is a range of autism severity, but in one form or another CDC data says that one out of 50 children had some degree of autism, a condition that was diagnosed once per every 100,000 children just 30 years ago.

In the past decade, autism rates have skyrocketed, climbing 24 percent in a decade. According to the CDC, there were 6.7 children out of every 1,000 diagnosed with autism in 2000. By 2010, that had jumped to 14.7 out of every 1,000.

While autism rates are particularly startling, there are very significant increases in other disorders, including reports of stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal acting out.

The Nuffield Foundation tracked a few of these numbers. The percentage of teenagers of age 15 and 16 reporting they were either anxious or depressed has doubled in the past 30 years, the foundation says. By the numbers, one in 30 reported feeling anxious or depressed three decades ago. Now, one in 10 boys and two in 10 girls report such feelings.

Certainly, the questions of why this is occurring are endless. Here are a few possibilities:

Environmental stress

Some postulate that rising mental health issues is related to increased exposure to chemicals from industry, agriculture and household goods.

Home stress

Depression rates rise when the economy suffers and with rising divorce rates, which affects twice as many children as it did 30 years ago, according to the Nuffield Foundation study.

Diagnostic standards

Diagnostic standards change for various reasons, one of which is simply doctors becoming more aware of a particular condition are more apt to diagnose it. In this category, there are also cultural differences. For example, children of Asian descent are less apt than others to be diagnosed with autism. Researchers believe this is due to the stigma of a mental health disorder, which Asian-American families go at lengths to avoid.

Options

Families with troubled teenagers can rest assured that treatment options for many conditions is growing more sophisticated every year.  These include traditional talk therapy, pharmaceutical and what might be termed “alternative” options.

Talk therapy

Talk therapy is still widely practiced and very effective, especially among young patients, because the older we get, the more set in our ways we become.

Talk therapy is a valued tool for treating depression, anxiety, phobias, addictions and compulsive disorders. There are several styles of talk therapy, however, and it is important to orient yourself to the style your therapist might use. For depression counseling, cognitive and cognitive-behavioral interventions are effective. For anxiety counseling, cognitive, behavioral and teaching therapies are effective, as certain patients react well to learning relaxation techniques.

Group therapies are highly effective in some cases and is considered standard practice for addictions and other shame-based disorders. Shame leads to feelings of isolation and sharing experiences with others in similar straits can be useful.

Alternative therapies include hypnosis, massage, meditation, aroma therapy.

The key to talk therapy, it should be said, is that the patient “buy into” the therapist’s technique. It is not helpful for the client to be resisting the therapist throughout the sessions simply because of a deeply-felt cynicism about the therapy itself. If a client can’t be persuaded of the benefits of one type of practice within a few sessions, it might be wise to seek another type of therapy.