What Is Mental Health?
Mental health is a condition of well-being in which individuals recognize their potential, cope with everyday stressors, work efficiently, and impact their immediate environment.1
Mental health is essential to our ability to think, empathize, interact with others, earn a living, and enjoy life collectively and individually.
Is Mental Illness a Disease?
How Common Is Mental Illness in Youths?
What Is Prevention?
Improving mental health begins with prevention. It entails preventing mental health issues from emerging, worsening, or returning. Treatment usually starts before or shortly after the first signs of mental illness appear in young adults.
Is It Possible to Prevent Mental Illness in Youths?
While there are no sure ways to prevent mental illness, young adults with mental illness can adopt methods to manage stress and other risk factors to help keep symptoms under control.
Types of Mental Illness Prevention
Mental illness should be destigmatized, and it is important to establish preventative efforts. Mental illness prevention practices will be detailed below.
Primary Prevention: Stopping Mental Illness Before It Starts
Secondary Prevention: Supporting Those at Higher Risk of Experiencing Mental Illness
Causes of mental illness can be detected and treated early in secondary prevention. The emerging signs of mental illness in young adults receive early intervention, minimizing serious consequences.
Tertiary Prevention: Helping Youth Living with Mental Illness to Stay Well
Causes and Symptoms of Mental Illness in Adults
There is not one single cause for mental illness. Several factors can give rise to the risk of developing a mental illness. The factors include biological factors or chemical imbalances in the brain, childhood trauma, the use of harmful substances like drugs and alcohol, and feelings of loneliness and isolation.4
What Causes Mental Illness in Youth?
Risk Factors for Mental Illness in Youth
Biological Factors
Environmental Factors
Social Risks
Experiences
Exposure to trauma, loss, grief, and physical and sexual abuse are all factors that can increase the likelihood of mental illness in youths.
Other Factors
Other risk factors include low IQ, little to no family involvement, poverty, low grades in school, abusive homes, and lack of support from family or parents.
Common Symptoms of Mental Illness in Youth
Although this will vary for different individuals, some of the common symptoms of mental illness in youths include:
- Constant fatigue
- Lack of emotion
- Loss of interest in almost everything
- Persistent sadness
How Can We Prevent Mental Illness in Youth?
10 Ways to Prevent Mental Illness
Value Yourself
Take Care of Yourself
Surround Yourself with Good People
Talk About Your Feelings
Learn How to Deal with Stress
Practice Mindfulness
Set Realistic Goals
Stay Active
Avoid Alcohol and Other Drugs
Get Help When You Need It
Treatment For Mental Illness in Youth
Treatment will vary for different people dealing with mental illness, but it always involves psychotherapy. Psychotherapeutic approaches do not necessarily cure mental illness, but they help significantly improve an individual’s mental health.
Mental Illness Treatment Options
Medications
Psychotherapy
Speaking with a mental health professional can also help prevent and cure mental illness and manage its symptoms. Various approaches are employed in psychotherapy depending on the individual’s needs.
Brain-Stimulation Treatments
Residential Treatment Programs
Residential treatment is exactly what it sounds like – clients reside at the treatment center where they receive frequent support from specialized doctors trained to prevent and cure mental illness.
Get Help at Pacific Beach
At Pacific Beach, we offer programs to prevent mental illness. We also provide specialized treatment for teenagers and young adults with mental health conditions.
Please contact us if you’d like to learn more about our programs for teenagers and young adults.
