He has been making the headlines for years. And for parents, teachers or anyone who works in close collaboration with young adults, it is a familiar concern.
The mental health crisis of young people.
Friday, Dr Thomas InselA psychiatrist, neuroscientist and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health from 2002 to 2015, tried to demystify what could lead to amazing mental health figures to persist, despite a recent improvement. He was the first lecturer of the series of distinguished conferences from the provost, a new initiative started by Guillermo “Willy” PradoInterim executive vice-president for academic affairs and provost, which is also academic in the field of mental health.
“Dr. Thomas Insel has revolutionized the field of mental health and has integrated it into the general discourse and the discussion of health care and public policies,” said Prado, who worked on behavioral interventions For Hispanic families.
During his speech organized within the Kislak Center of the University of Miami, Inteel first presented the landscape of mental health across the country and noted that in 2023, this crisis cost the lives of more than 240,000 people. Overall, he noted that the life expectancy of the country has since dropped before the Pandemic of Covid-19, and it has continued to do it since then.
Insel explained that people with mental health problems are generally distributed in three categories: people with serious mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia, serious mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and severe depression or anxious disorders that are disabling), problems with the fight against substance abuse (largely fentanyl) or alcohol death and alcohol death and alcohol death and alcohol death and alcohol death and alcohol death and Mental health fights for young people.
What is so disturbing about the Mental Health Crisis for Young people, said Insal is that it increases more than the other two areas. It is mainly characterized by anxiety and depression and is more often in girls. There is also an increase in suicide deaths, a major increase in emergency visits to self -harm and an increase in the fivefold of suicide attempts among young people who identify like LGBTQ.
Fortunately, in the past two years, these figures have decreased slightly, but inl has said that this does not explain the last 10 years of growing mental health struggles followed by American centers for disease control and prevention.
“We still do not fully understand what mentioned them and do not understand what makes them fall,” he said.
More recently, INSEL said that even if the Pandemic COVVI-19 had affected adults more physical, children and adolescents were psychologically impacted.
“It was a psychological pandemic for young people, and we always see the tail,” he added. “Many children have not been able to catch up socially and academically, so it will be a problem for this generation as we go ahead.”
Insel then exposed its theories on what stimulates the increase in mental health problems of young people in the past two decades.
“It’s not one thing. Many people say it’s one thing, but I don’t think it’s how it will be playing,” said Insel.
Instead, he believes that many things cause mental health difficulties for young people.
An extremely popular idea is the rise in social media, as described in the book by Jonathan Haidt “The Anxious Generation”, as well as in the general report of the American surgeon of 2023 “Social media and mental health of young people. “Both describe how the rise in mental health problems for young people is correlated with the growth of smartphones and social media.
“The only truth concerned here is that today’s children do not do things that we have all done as a child who are important to develop independence,” he said. “Take a bike and go around the block or climb trees. If you are on Tiktok during these hours, you don’t do the things your brain needs to develop normally, and that’s a concern.”
However, inel said that there was also a sleep deprivation in young people today – children born after 2000 was sleeping at least two hours less, on average, every night. Thus, instead of 10 or 11 am per night – which is recommended by adolescence – they get seven to eight o’clock.
“As a psychiatrist, there is no unique factor that contributes more to mental health disease than sleep deprivation,” he said.
In addition, there is a new sense of “Culture to crush. “This refers to the idea of increased pressure and expectations that can become adolescents who can become overwhelming, said Insel.
Despite all these potential aggravators, inli said that he thought that the nation should adopt a public health approach to treat the mental health crisis for young people. In other words, the country’s health leaders should be proactive to prevent future young people from developing mental health struggles.
His main prevention suggestions?
Set the limits to screen time. Especially during school hours. Also, move the hours of school to match sleep habits. Teach children today about the means of being resilient and understanding that life will have setbacks. And invest in programs for teachers, parents and institutions to help children who have trouble.
For children who may commit suicide, Insel said that schools and colleges should develop a risk -based risk approach to help adults and students notice the signs that a classmate or a friend is struggling. In addition, colleges should have parents to sign a consent policy so that they can be alerted to serious mental health problems with their child, added inl.
“Seventy-five percent of mental health diseases start before the age of 25, so early detection is essential,” he said. “And often, some of the most effective suppliers and interventions are often not the most expensive.”
Teaching establishments can also take advantage of technological tools such as artificial intelligence to help connect students who need them with therapy and care, added inl.
“We know how to deal with this problem. When someone gets depression or SSPT, we know how to treat them,” he said. Some of these ideas are described in his latest book, “Healing: our way to mental mental health disease”, which the participants received. “For a university, what you want to think is how to use innovation to evolve this care, and how to change the story that you may miss a semester, but students can come back and have the opportunity to succeed.”