According to The National Institute of Mental Health’s report, 49.5% of adolescents experience mental illness between 13 and 18. You’ll be surprised to know that the mental disorders range from ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), anxiety, depression to behavior problems.

Teenage is all about exploring new options, having new experiences, meeting new people, and everything that leads to fun and happiness. And let’s not ignore the fact that being a teenager is also about mood swings. But too much stress, negative thoughts, and emotional rollercoasters can lead to mental illness. Yes, that’s right. The condition affects the ability to learn, affects behavior, and influences the way they handle their emotions. You wouldn’t want your children to go through any of that. Right? Also, before we dive into how to help your teens with mental disorders, let’s get one thing out in the open. Having a mental illness or condition doesn’t make your children weak or crazy. Just like physical injuries, mental issues can happen to anyone, regardless of their age.

According to teen psychologists, most parents fail to recognize the warning signs of mental illness. As a result, the condition stays untreated for years and gets worse with time. If you don’t want to be one of those parents who put their children’s mental health on the back burner, keep reading to find ways to help your teenage children.

• Unveil The Reason For Mental Illness

Researchers confirm that adolescence is a common time for significant mental health issues to take root. According to them, there could be several reasons responsible for this. Here we’ve mentioned some of them.

• Hormonal Changes: Puberty can be challenging for teenagers. They go through so many changes mentally and physically. In fact, youngsters are prone to mental health problems during their teenage years due to hormonal changes and brain development. Medically speaking, a teen might experience changes in thinking, mood, and behavior when the neural system doesn’t develop at a correct rate. This can also be a genetic link to the issue. This means that if any one of the child’s biological parents has unstable mental health, the future generations are at risk of developing those issues.

For this, you can try talking to your kids about the changes they are going through. Alternatively, you can also connect with professionals who specialize in psychotherapy and seek help to address your kids’ confusion. They know their way around teenagers and their dilemmas and can talk about all those hormonal changes with ease. This is because each child is going through a different issue. A therapeutic approach can help you resolve each of them.

• Environment: Environment plays a vital role in nurturing a youngster’s mind. For instance, if you often fight with your spouse/partner or have a hostile environment at home, your children will likely develop anxiety and depression. In fact, traumatic incidents, including sexual abuse, near-death experience, or bullying, can also lead to fear, anxiety, and bipolar disorders. Apart from this, stress can also be a huge cause of mental disorders in teens.

So, make sure that you raise your kids in a happy and safe environment where they feel free to discuss what’s bothering them. Tell them that failing isn’t the end of the world. Also, talk about school and friends to make sure that you are in the loop with your children’s school life.

• Look For Warning Signs

Being a parent, you must draw a fine line between mental illness, hormonal changes, and teenage phases. Hovering around kids and literally monitoring each and every movement can be frustrating and annoying. Try to make your observations subtle by looking at these warning signs.

• Irregular sleeping pattern: Lack of sleep, insomnia, or taking frequent naps after school is indeed an alarming sign.
• Feeling uninterested in usual activities: If your children quit their favorite sports, stop pursuing their hobbies, or don’t want to hang out with friends, chances are something is going on in their mind which needs your immediate attention.
• Fluctuation in academic performance: Let’s be honest; your children’s academic performance reflects their mental state. Thus, if they fall behind in class or lose interest in doing their homework, it clearly means that they are having trouble focusing on their subjects. That’s one of the repercussions of mental illness.
• Changes in appetite: Consuming junk, hoarding food, and gaining extra pounds rapidly are signs of eating disorders. In fact, eating too much or too little can be a sign of acute depression.
• Abnormal mood swings: If your children feel angry, weepy, or irritated all the time, it’s a sign that something is wrong with their mental health.
• Going into the EMO phase: A strong desire to isolate and be left alone can signify something is bothering your kids. Increased isolation might also affect your communication with your kids, which is not at all healthy.
• Communicate About Your Concerns Calmly

Mental health issues are treatable if diagnosed on time, just like physical ones. But after you spot those red flags mentioned above, make sure that you don’t panic. It will just make things worse. Try to connect with your children personally, keeping in mind that it doesn’t intimidate them. Teen psychologists prefer making observations in a subtle manner and bringing it up in the most comfortable way possible.

Here’s a list of things you can say to your mentally disturbed children:

• “I have been noticing that you spend a lot of time indoors rather than hanging out with your friends. I am a bit concerned about that.
• “I checked your homework the other day and noticed that you’ve been falling behind. Is there something pressurizing you?”
• “You have not touched the new art set I got for you. Is there something that’s stopping you from pursuing your passions?”

If the child gets irritated or refuses to answer your questions, don’t force them to spill the beans. Many of them cannot share their problems due to their fear of judgment, or maybe they feel that you won’t understand them. In that case, you can always arrange a psychotherapy session with a professional who can create a safe environment for the child. The professionals will listen to their problems and find out their root cause.

Final Words

Teens are complex beings. From handling the pressure to excel at school to moving past the first break up, there are many things they have to handle. The least you can do is to be patient and build an open relationship with your kids so that they feel free to talk about what’s going on in their lives.