Although the prevalence of mental health problems and disorders among youngsters is low, the focus on intervention is undeniable. Intervention, in other words, is a method that prevents patients’ symptoms from going worse. When researchers study interventions for different patients with different levels of impairments, they target the psychopathological symptoms and behaviors from mild to moderate level. Within the range of mild level, they aim to find the early signs of the mental problem or disorder. Therefore, if an adolescent or a child exhibit abnormal behaviors with a low frequency, we can keep track of them and try applying a few mild level interventions.
Many people may argue that developing prevention is a better way to keep youngsters mentally healthy without suffering psychopathological symptoms. Understandably, children should not receive the intervention after an amount of time feeling unhappy or psychologically unstable. However, mental syndromes are various and hard to identify separately. Many syndromes share similar symptoms and signs. Moreover, the causes of a symptom can also vary. Looking for prevention for a specific symptom is like diving in the ocean to find a perfect fish out of thousands.
Despite that, there are ways to improve youngsters’ mental health. Children and adolescents still emotionally depend on family. Parents and siblings can either a protector or a threat to their mental problems. The most important and basic thing for parents to do is to genuinely listen to their children. By showing respect and interest in their children, the youngsters will be able to appreciate their values and beings. This is a good sign that leads to a healthy mental life.
Taking a closer look at eating disorders among teens, if the cause is about the distorted body image and altered appearance culture, comments from people around them are one of the most essential motivations for them to starve themselves or make a great effort to throw up. Researchers concluded from their studies that young patients who have this disorder tend to be influenced by society and their beloved ones. Besides medical and behavioral treatment for this disorder, all of these unhealthy activities can’t be ended successfully without mental support from their families.
According to Smith, Robinson, and Segal(2019), what family members could do is to learn more about the eating disorder their youngsters are having. Besides that, avoiding negative comments about youngsters’ appearances is also necessary for recovery at home. It’s a good idea to have meals together as a family, which improves their eating habits and makes mealtime more enjoyable and relaxing. Smith et al. (2019) state that another thing to do is to help these youngsters gain more self-confidence through what they are good at. Hence, parents can encourage them to involve in activities that they might be interested in. One of the most negative, common things parents accidentally do in these situations is to blame themselves. Instead, she (2019) claims that parents should focus more on how to deal with eating disorders within their children.
To prevent this situation from occurring, boosting a youngster’s confidence is a good start. Family members should give compliments to each other’s appearance. Moreover, parents should comfort youngsters when they are teased with their look.
Paying attention to children and adolescents is not always an easy task. However, if we invest enough mental support from the beginning, we can reduce the prevalence of psychopathological symptoms within our youngsters. In doing so, youngsters will appreciate their values and feel being loved.
Eurus Thach
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Reference:
Smith, M., Robinson, L., & Segal, J. (2019). Helping Someone with an Eating Disorder. HelpGuide. Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/eating-disorders/helping-someone-with-an-eating-disorder.htm.
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