Understanding mental health – Part one

 Sleep is essential to achieve the best state of physical and mental health. Research suggests that sleep plays an important role in learning, memory, mood, and judgment.

Sleep affects how well you perform when you are awake—both your daily work and athletic performance. The amount of time you sleep as well as the quality of your sleep are both important.

If you or your child is an athlete, it is even more important to regularly get a good night’s sleep to allow your body to rest well and recover between periods of exercise, as well as to de­crease risk of injury.

Mental Health

Mental-health conditions, which include behavioural and mental-health problems ie depression, anxiety disor­ders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and disruptive behavioral dis­orders as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, mood disturbances, substance use, suicidal behavior, and aggres­sive disruptive behaviour, are the leading causes of adjust­ment problems in adolescents and young people worldwide.

Mental-health conditions have a significant impact on the development of over two billion youth and their social and economic integration, including employability.

It is also critical that attention to global mental health moves beyond treat­ment-oriented programmes in health care settings to include broader approaches inspired by public-health and social-inclusion consider­ations.

Mental-health conditions have a significant impact on youth development and social and economic integration. Mental-health conditions during adolescence and young adulthood can have a signifi­cantly negative impact on the development of safe and healthy relationships with peers, parents, teachers, and romantic partners.

Many mental-health conditions negatively affect youths’ ability to successfully form supportive and healthy relationships and manage conflict in relationships, which is particularly discon­certing given that adoles­cence is a critical time for identity formation and taking on roles, especially with peers.

Disruptions in the ability to form and sustain interper­sonal relationships can have lasting impacts on youths’ social and emotional func­tioning.

Mental health problems increase the likelihood of poverty, limit employment opportunities severely, and impact work performance negatively -Kessler and Frank, 1997.

Traumatic experiences, including adverse childhood events – the death of a par­ent, abuse, being a refugee affect youth worldwide, but are particularly common in post-conflict or disaster settings.

The accumulation of these and other risk factors give rise to the greater likelihood of developing mental-health conditions.

Many studies of men­tal health among youth in low- and middle-income countries have document­ed the elevated risk of mental-health conditions in post-conflict or disaster settings.

PTSD is particularly common in these set­tings, and contributes to subsequent adjustment problems and considerable disability.

Certain youth are at particular risk of mental health conditions. This includes youth who are homeless and street-in­volved, orphaned youth and those involved with the juvenile justice and mental-health systems.

The accumulation of these and other risk factors contribute to the increased likelihood of impairment and disability. Stigma is a considerable barrier to mental health service delivery, particularly among young people.

Help-seeking behaviour comes less readily to young people who may be even more impacted by stigma, embarrassment and the lack of basic knowledge about mental health.

The issue of stigma is fur­ther challenged by the lack of quality mental-health ser­vices in low- and middle-in­come countries.

By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson