introduction to mental disorders common mental health problems affecting children and youth 1

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Introduction to Mental Disorders Common Mental Health Problems Affecting Children and Youth 1

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Page 1: Introduction to Mental Disorders Common Mental Health Problems Affecting Children and Youth 1

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Introduction to Mental Disorders

Common Mental Health Problems Affecting Children and Youth

Page 2: Introduction to Mental Disorders Common Mental Health Problems Affecting Children and Youth 1

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Introductions

• Find a partner• Each person ‘interview’ their partner • Find out 2 to 3 things about the other person• That means you will share 2 to 3 things about

yourself• Seek information about the other’s current work

situation as well as one non-work related item• Each person will introduce their partner to the

group

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Learning Outcomes

• To describe the prevalence and categories of the most common child and youth mental health and addictions problems

• To describe the characteristics of the most common child and youth mental health and addictions problems

• To understand the stigma that is associated with mental health and addictions problems in schools and steps that can be taken to address it

• To examine effective practices for supporting students affected by mental health and addictions problems

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Know-Wonder-Learn

• KNOWwhat you know about mental health disorderssome mental health disorders students in schools present

with

• WONDERany questions you have concerning mental health disorders

that you hope to have answered

• LEARNto be completed at the end of today’s session

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Brainstorm Activity

• On the Post-It-Notes provided, write as many responses as possible to the following:

• What comes to mind when you think of the terms mental illness or mental disorder?

• This is a brainstorming activity and so there are no right or wrong answers

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Pre-Test true or false

• True

• True - mental disorders tend

to be hereditary. E.g. one in ten people will experience depression compared to one in four for those whose parent has experienced the disorder

• Mental Disorders may affect between 15 and 20 percent of Canadians

• A student with one or both parents diagnosed with a mental disorder is more likely to develop one him/herself

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Pre-Test true or false

• True - there may be no previous indicators that a student will develop depression or any other number of disorders

• True - no one course of treatment works for all students

• False – although heredity can play a factor in developing a disorder, you cannot catch one

• Many clinical depressions that develop in adolescents come ‘out of the blue’

• Useful interventions for child and youth mental disorders include both psychological and pharmacologic treatment

• Mental Disorders are contagious

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Pre-Test true or false

• False - a depressed mood that lasts longer than two weeks is of concern and should be assessed by a MH professional

• False - these are normal stresses that adolescents deal with. A much more significant indicator is depression

• False - suicide rates have actually declined in response to increased awareness

• A depressed mood that lasts for a month or longer in an adolescent is not uncommon and should not be confused with clinical depression

• Three of the strongest risk factors for teen suicide are: romantic break-up, conflict with parents and school failure

• Teen suicide rates have increased over the past decade

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Pre-Test true or false

• True - this is especially the case for students dealing with anxiety or depression

• False - eating disorders affect 2 to 3 percent of the population and up to 5 percent of adolescent girls whereas anxiety can affect up to 10 to 12 percent of the same group

• Substance abuse is commonly found together with a mental disorder

• The most common mental disorder in adolescent girls are eating disorders

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Pre-Test true or false

• True & False – alcohol and other drug use can play a role in the development of some symptoms and disorders but do not usually cause the illness. Drug-induced psychosis, however, has many of the same symptoms that an organic disorder would have. Many young people use drugs and alcohol to cope with a disorder, often making their symptoms worse

• Drug use causes mental disorders

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Pre-Test true or false

• False – people with a mental disorder often behave very differently from those who do not. However, people with a mental disorder are no more violent than the rest of the population

• False – income is not a factor in the development of mental disorders (although depression is more common with lower income individuals) Because of a mental disorder, some individuals end up in poverty

• People with mental disorders tend to be violent

• Poverty is a significant contributor to mental disorders

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What We Know About Mental Health Problems:

• Children and Youth can experience a wide range of disturbances to emotion, thinking and/or behaviour

• These problems may place students at risk of developing a clinical mental health disorder

• May occur spontaneously• Severe (problematic to the student and others)• Lead to functional impairment (interpersonal and social)• Prolonged• Often require professional intervention• Derive from brain dysfunctions (brain disorders)• Are rarely, if ever, caused by stress alone

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Mental Health Problems are NOT:

• The consequence of poor parenting or bad behaviour

• The result of personal weakness or deficits in character

• The result of demonic possession• Caused by nutritional factors (except in

exceptional cases)• Caused by poverty

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How the Brain is Involved

• The brain is made up of cells, synaptic connections between these cells and the neurochemicals that are produced within the cells

• Different parts of the brain are responsible for different tasks (e.g. speech, vision, movement, etc.)

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How the Brain is Involved

• Most tasks completed by the brain require different parts of the brain to work together as a neural network

• Neurochemicals provide a means for the different parts of the brain to communicate with itself and with the rest of the body

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When the Brain is Not Working Properly

• Specific parts of the brain that work on specific tasks are either not working properly or in the wrong way

• The neurochemical messages that assist the different parts of the brain to communicate may be affected

• One or more basic brain function will be disturbed

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When the Brain is Not Working Properly

• Disturbed functions that a person directly experiences (sadness, sleep problems, etc.) are called SYMPTOMS

• Disturbed functions that an observer can see (over activity, withdrawal, etc.) are called SIGNS

• Symptoms and signs are indicators of the disruption to the student’s usual life or degree of functioning

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Brain Function

• Mental health problems are associated with a disturbance in one or more of the primary domains of brain function

• When this occurs and a person experiences problems that interfere with his/her life in a significant way, they may have a mental disorder

Note: the terms mental disorder and mental illness mean the same thing

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However …

• Not all disturbances of brain functioning result in mental health problems

• Some disturbances can be a normal or typical response to a life occurrence or reaction to the environment

• For example:Grief over the death of a family memberWorry over losing one’s job Result of a sleep problemReaction to a natural disaster

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What’s the Difference?• MENTAL DISORDER

less common may happen in absence of

stress often has high severity usually long in duration professional help usually

needed diagnosis required usually responds to

appropriate supports and positive lifestyle changes

• MENTAL DISTRESS common caused by problem or event

usually not severe usually short in duration professional help not usually

required no diagnosis usually responds to support

and positive lifestyle changes

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Health – Disorder Continuum

University of MichiganHealth & Well-Being Services2012

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What Causes a Mental Disorder?

• How do we know what causes any illness?

• What is it about mental disorders that makes the cause of the illness difficult for us to understand?

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What Causes a Mental Disorder?

• A number of different factors can lead to a mental illness

• These factors can happen independently of each other or can interact

• Basically there are two major factors:

1 Genetics/Biologygenetic influencesthe brain’s early developmentchemical imbalancesbrain trauma

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What Causes a Mental Disorder?

2 Environment (Characteristics related to the child, his/her family and parents and contextual influences such as the neigbourhood):

Cognitive and psychological disturbances Prenatal and/or postnatal challenges Severe life stress Problematic relations with peers Conflicts within the family Alcohol or drug use A family history of mental illness

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What Causes a Mental Disorder?

• Regardless of the trigger, mental health problems are usually sustained by a variety of environmental factors that influence the way the illness presents itself:

early experiencesstresses closer in time to the onset of the problemagegenderstage of development

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Categories of Mental Disorders

• Child and youth mental health problems can be classified into two broad categories:

1 Internalizing problemswithdrawalanxietyfearfulnessdepressed moods

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Categories of Mental Disorders

2 Externalizing problemsaggressiondefiancedestructive behaviour