|
wild colors? It's about life being colorful. It's about our emotions and feelings adding color to our lives. It's about thinking
in colorful hues instead of just black and white thinking.
don't like them?
Click the link below and send me an e-mail to tell me so!
click here !!!
I am absolutely sincere in my invitation
to send me an e-mail. If you'd like to vent - share your history - feel validated, make a new friend or just ask a question...
I'm here and will always answer! kathleen
Within the emotional feelings network of
sites there are already two mental health sites. This site primarily deals with mental health issues that are
facing young adults. If you want more information concerning any of the mental health disorders that isn't here within this
site - or simply additional information - you can visit anxieties 101 and anxieties 102! Just click the underlined link words to get there!
 
Transitioning to Adulthood for Young Adults with Mental Health
Issues
J. Heidi Gralinski-Bakker, Stuart Hauser, Rebecca
Billings, and Joseph Allen; Phillip Lyons, Jr., and Gary Melton
About 1 in 5 teen
suffers from diagnosable mental health disorders, although it is unknown exactly how many
of those problems persist into adulthood. Nevertheless,
it is safe to say that for many, the problems identified in adolescence
follow them into adulthood.
One study, for
example, found that about 3/4 of those with a diagnosable mental disorder at age 26 had first been diagnosed
in their teens.1
As the road to
adulthood has become more diverse and demanding over the past few decades, it is perhaps not surprising that youth with mental disorders are struggling to attain the markers of adulthood -graduating
from high school, completing college, getting a job, forming close relationships, and starting a family.
Transitions are
almost always difficult, but for young people with mental health problems, moving into adulthood is made more difficult by the complexity of their individual mental health conditions and the complexity of the mental health system.
J. Heidi Gralinski-Bakker and coauthors, and Phillip Lyons and Gary Melton in
their chapters in On Your Own without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable Populations, edited by D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, Constance Flanagan, and Gretchen Ruth (forthcoming, University of Chicago Press),
take a closer look at this group of young adults with mental disorders, focusing particularly on those who
do manage to “make it” as an adult.2
This brief highlights the key points in those chapters.
Treatment Options for Young Adults
with Mental Disorders
As Gralinski-Bakker
and coauthors report, in 2001 about 18% of, or about 4.3 million, teens aged 12 - 17 received treatment for mental health problems. This likely represents
only about 1/3 of those who need treatment. Of those
receiving treatment in 2001, they report, about 2 million used school-based health services, and about 2 million used specialty mental health services. An
estimated 332,000 received care in residential or inpatient settings.
The most common
conditions among teens are mood, anxiety, and disruptive behavioral disorders. About 3%
- 8% of high school students suffer from a depressive mood disorder at a given point in their teen years. Approximately 4% experience
anxiety disorders, and 2% have disruptive behavior disorders.
Of these, about
2% are classified as severe, accompanied by marked functional
impairment; about 8% are classified as moderately severe; and 10% are milder
forms of disorders.
Although the likelihood
of a mental disorder following one into adulthood is quite high, service use drops off as
youth move into adulthood. Among the population receiving
mental health care in 1997, for example, Gralinski-Bakker
and coauthors report that 13% receiving outpatient services
were teens compared with only 10% of young adults aged 18 - 24.
Among those receiving
inpatient or residential care, the gap was even greater; 38% of teens were receiving
such care compared with 18% of young adults . Perhaps part of the decline in service use
stems from the abrupt
system changes that occur at age 18 or 21.
Young adults typically find themselves
cut off from the services they had received as teens, and
the service options before them as adults are fragmented and complex. As
Lyons and Melton outline in their chapter, turf battles among public agencies serving youth; competition among private hospitals; multiple, sometimes overlapping goals among various
systems; the nature of mental health care financing; and
managed care philosophies often work at odds with one another and against efforts to streamline and unify services.
In addition, similar
issues as those outlined in the brief by Blum and White/Gallay on the health care system apply to the mental health system. Eligibility for many public programs, such as Medicaid and
Social Security, changes at age 18, as do admission criteria
for independent living programs and vocational rehabilitation programs.
Youth are also often no longer covered by their parents’ private insurance.
The public school system is a major provider and broker
of therapeutic services for youth, and graduation not only signals an end to primary education but also often to mental health services for many.
Further complicating
the issue, Lyons and Melton argue, is the nature of the mental health needs of youth. Youth often fall into one of three broad categories
of conditions, each of which calls for different types of intervention and service,
and each of which usually brings the youth into the service system through different doors.
Youth with mood disorders or substance abuse, for example, often enter through schools’ health systems, whereas those with conduct
problems are often referred by school personnel to the juvenile justice system. Students with emerging chronic thought disorders, the most serious form of mental
health disorders, rarely find programs specifically designed
for them.
However, after
they leave high school, young adults with schizophrenia
or other major disorders may
find a variety of specialized programs, while the same mental health centers rarely have specialized programs for young adults with other kinds
of problems.
Outcomes for Young Adults with Mental Disorders
Youth with a history
of mental disorders often struggle in life. As Gralinski-Bakker and coauthors note, they
are at higher risk of dropping out of high school, not finishing
college, having unplanned pregnancies, abusing drugs or alcohol, and being unemployed. They are also more likely to have a criminal past.
About 24% - 39%
of youth with mental disorders
experience at least one of these outcomes compared with 7% - 10% of those without disorders. In addition, youth with mental health issues often struggle to develop
a sense of autonomy, form mature relationships with parents,
develop and sustain close relationships with friends, and learn skills necessary to cope emotionally, socially, and financially as an independent adult.
Gralinski-Bakker
and coauthors’ study of 70 youth in inpatient treatment as teens showed that by age 25, only about 1/2 had completed high school, and fewer than
10% had completed college. This compared with 98% and 70%, respectively,
for a group of similar youth without mental disorders . Former patients were also often
lonely and had low self-worth.
Friends described them as
more hostile and less well-adjusted than peer assessments provided by the comparison
group. A Scandinavian study, the authors report, found that 44% of youth who had been in inpatient care as teens committed serious crimes during a 33-year follow-up. 3
Resilient Youth
Yet not all youth
have poor outcomes. In fact, about 1/4 of the youth in the Scandinavian study avoided death, disability, and crime. Those who met with better success in life tended to score higher on intelligence tests, have
few disciplinary problems in school, and have no history of disruptive behavior or substance abuse.
Likewise, based
on their study of former inpatients, Gralinski-Bakker and coauthors identified important characteristics of resilient youth. Those who could step
back and consider their actions and motives tended to show better outcomes, as did those who took responsibility for their actions rather than being constantly shaped by the behaviors
of others and adverse conditions they did not influence.
Resilient youth were also better able to understand themselves in complex ways, set goals, and persist toward attaining them, and adjust their own ratings of self-esteem and confidence over time.
Moreover, they told their stories
in a more coherent way, in contrast to the often disjointed narratives
of the average group. In
relationships, the resilient youth saw friendships and close relationships as a key resource in
their lives.
Future Work
Knowing who will
transition successfully and who will not may be a difficult task, but as Lyon and Melton argue, knowing when the transition will occur is not. As such, the authors argue, we can and should plan accordingly.
Planning in advance
of release from juvenile detention or prison for youth with conduct disorders, for example, can ease the transition and secure the necessary supports. Families, social support networks, and the broader community should be fortified
to provide support. Accessible, community-based supports are integral to success, the authors argue, and families must be involved. With
training and assistance, families can help bridge the support gap at critical points in the transition.
Finally, the U.S.
Surgeon General has called stigma “the most formidable obstacle to future progress
in the arena of mental illness and health.” It is a key reason that nearly 2/3 of all individuals with mental health problems do not seek treatment.
Youth with serious
mental disorders face a matrix of difficulties as they grapple with adulthood. The
preponderance of poor outcomes underscores the need to better understand the process that places young adults at risk for continued problems. Doing so will make it easier to target scarce resources better to help those in greatest need. It is also incumbent on researchers to explore further
the characteristics that define those youth who do succeed against the odds.
source site that includes references: click here
|
 |
|
Young adults hit by mental health issues
Study shows nearly half are dealing with a disorder, but only a quarter seek treatment
By Kelly Brewington | kelly.brewington@baltsun.com
Nearly 1/2 of college-age adults struggle with a mental health disorder, from alcohol dependency to depression and anxiety. But only 1/4 seek treatment, according to a study published today.
"This study gives
a picture of the magnitude of the problem and the extent to which these disorders go untreated," said Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry
at Columbia University Medical Center and lead author of
the study.
"It really lays
out the challenge of providing services to meet the need, particularly of
alcohol use disorders."
The study found
similar rates of psychiatric illnesses among college students and those not enrolled in
college, suggesting that the stressful transition from adolescence to adulthood can trigger the onset of a mental health problem regardless of setting.
Olfson said he hopes the data will provoke discussion about
how to get more young people into treatment.
Researchers analyzed
results of the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related
Conditions, a sweeping national survey of 43,093 adults of all ages conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Olfson's study,
which appears in this week's Archives of General Psychiatry,
focuses on the responses from about 5,000 people between
the ages of 19 and 25. It compared findings in two groups, those enrolled in college - 2,188 - and those who were not - 2,904.
Among college students, alcohol abuse and dependency were the most common at 20%, followed by personality disorders
such as obsessive-compulsive and paranoid disorders at 18%.
Non-college students
were most likely to report personality disorders and nicotine dependence.
The rates of mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, were 11% for college students and
12% for non-students. The same rates were found for anxiety disorders in each group.
The study did not
measure the prevalence of such disorders among adults of other ages. Jim
Spivack, a psychologist and director of the counseling center at Towson University, said the problem of alcohol abuse among students has long been recognized. But today, he said, nearly 1/2 of
the students who seek help from the center display signs of anxiety and mood disorders.
"Counseling center
directors have reported consistently over the last 5 to 10 years the increase in the
complexity and severity of issues college students are bringing to college campuses," he said.
Many factors may
be contributing to the rise. While young adulthood has long been recognized as a tumultuous
time, greater awareness of mood and anxiety disorders and the availability of drugs to treat them have resulted
in young people being diagnosed earlier, Spivack said.
Some young people
are under a lot of stress, with more students working while going to school and under greater pressure to declare a major and career
field as soon as possible, he said.
In addition, the
onset of some disorders appears in the early adult years, just as young people are leaving the structured world of childhood and navigating their new freedoms
and responsibilities.
"Years ago we thought that childhood and late adolescence are happy times and people didn't tend to
be depressed," Olfson said. "In fact, it is in late adolescence and early adulthood some of these problems
have their onset."
A limitation of
the analysis is that it did not include eating disorders, said Dr. Harry Brandt, director for the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt and head of the psychiatry department at
St. Joseph Medical Center.
At least 1/2 of the patients he sees at the eating disorder center are young
adults, he said. "I was very surprised that among
all the diagnoses, they did not look at eating disorders, since those are among
the most deadly and serious disorders of that age range," he said.
In general, Brandt
said, young people resist treatment because of denial and the societal stigma of mental illness.
Spivack said that
Towson is trying to raise awareness of mental health problems and services. For instance, this semester, for the first time, resident assistants took
part in a mandatory suicide prevention training session.
"I think that we probably see about 10% of the student body in any given year," Spivack said.
"We certainly are
not catching all of them."
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
source site: click here
Please click here to read my personal thoughts concerning my experiences as a young adult and mental health!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
