While the world has improved in key ways over the last several decades, rates of mental health ailments seem to be rising at an alarming rate. Specifically, scores of youth across the country report experiencing some form of mental illness.
While the youth mental health crisis is extremely disheartening, there is hope that this obstacle can be solved in effective ways. In particular, many are hopeful that using psychotherapy in new ways can help provide afflicted youth with the treatment they need.
Here is dealing with the youth mental health crisis and utilizing psychotherapy.
Prioritizing More Mental Health Resources
Psychotherapy is an incredibly effective method for treating a range of mental health illnesses ranging from anxiety to depression. The reason that it’s so useful has to do with the fact that there are many different types of psychotherapy, each with its own approach and ability to heal.
However, while psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, can be extremely effective in helping teens work through problems, it’s not always enough. In some cases, youth who are battling mental health ailments need medication to help them overcome more serious cases of mental illness.
In these scenarios, it’s typically the role of psychiatrists to prescribe medicines based on a patient’s specific mental health needs. Unfortunately, as cases of youth mental illness rise, the psychiatric shortage in America is becoming more severe.
Fortunately, thinking of new, creative ways to provide mental health resources to youth in need has the power to solve this problem.
One particular method that has incredible potential to be an effective solution to this problem is utilizing nurse practitioners and their specialized skillset to act in the capacity of psychiatrists. This can widen the amount of resources available to youth affected by mental illnesses across the nation.
By championing psychotherapy and taking advantage of the specialized skillset of nurse practitioners to make up for the psychiatrist shortage, a significant dent can be made in the youth mental health crisis currently plaguing America.
Making Psychotherapy Available In Schools
While many schools have counselors and some minor forms of mental health resources, not many have psychotherapists available for children to see. This means that children from wealthier families may have more access to the mental health resources they need while those from lower income backgrounds may not.
By prioritizing student mental health and hiring psychotherapists to be available for students to see, schools can play a key role in solving the youth mental health crisis.
Those familiar with mental health ailments know that many of those afflicted find it difficult to reach out and seek help. This often results in afflicted individuals having a serious breakdown at some point as a result of never receiving the proper treatment.
To deal with this issue, many professionals agree that it’s important to make mental health care as easily accessible as possible. In this way, those battling with mental illnesses will have fewer obstacles between them and the care they need. As such, schools can greatly encourage students battling with mental illnesses to receive help by providing robust mental health resources such as psychotherapy sessions.
Battling Mental Health Stigmas
In addition to not having access to useful mental health resources, many people battling mental health illnesses fail to seek help because of the stigmas associated with mental health problems. In teenagers, this is often exacerbated as kids and teenagers often feel a heightened need to be accepted by peers and social groups.
To help address the youth mental health crisis it’s important that organizations such as schools and government organizations set up initiatives to battle these stigmas. The more effort put into reversing these stigmas the more youth affected by mental health ailments will be motivated to seek care earlier.
Some key ways that stigmas around mental health can be battled include:
- Highlighting key figures who battle mental illness: The more that people who kids and teens see as role models speak openly about their experiences with mental illnesses, the less ashamed people will feel about sharing their own experiences and seeking help.
- Making mental health a common topic: If mental health is spoken about more regularly, then it will become a more normalized topic. As a result, having regular events around mental health topics in school can be incredibly effective way to make youth battling with mental illnesses feel less ashamed and more motivated to seek care.
- Educating the public: The more educated the public becomes about mental health illnesses and the countless number of people who experience them, the less they’ll feel the need to stigmatize those affected by mental illness.
Ultimately, lessening the attitudes and negative stigmas associated with mental health can help spur more youth into seeking help. As one can imagine, this can improve the mental health states of youth across the country and help solve this current crisis.
The Youth Mental Health Crisis Can Be Solved
Though it can seem like an overwhelming and insurmountable problem, the current youth mental health crises can be overcome. By engaging in key strategies, such as providing more psychotherapy resources to youth in need and promoting initiatives to reduce stigmas, we can work toward solving the problem. As time goes on and more efforts are engaged, many are hopeful that this crisis will soon be one of the past.
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