Category: Mental Health

Categories
Feelings Mental Health Self-Care Wellness

Celebrate Emotional Wellness Month

October is Emotional Wellness Month in the United States. This means we should take the time to bring awareness to the importance of emotional wellness in overall physical and mental health.

Emotional wellness can be defined as the sum of our moods – in terms of how appropriate our emotional responses are and in terms of how much our moods may vary. An emotionally healthy person will react in certain ways, such as feeling joy in happy moments, grief in loss, and anger in frustration.

Emotional wellness is not a form of Zen or an encouragement to be happy at all times. It is about being mindful of how we feel and recognizing that, sometimes, our emotions may be misaligned with the world around us.

We might feel deep longing and sadness when we should be content. We might feel nothing even though everything is in disarray. This is not an attempt to try and argue that there is a right way to feel in any given circumstance, but it is an acknowledgment of the fact that, depending on the circumstances around us, some feelings are inappropriate and should be heeded as a warning that something might not be right.

Learning to recognize when our emotional health has taken a major hit is important for addressing mental health issues before they grow.

What Does Emotional Wellness Month Represent?

Emotional wellness is something most of us are aware of, yet few of us truly embrace or cherish. As a whole, mental health awareness has massively improved over time. People understand the difference between depression and anxiety, they know about ADHD, and they may even know what an obsessive-compulsive disorder might look like.

Yet despite growing awareness, there are still many gaps in public knowledge, and a dire lack of access to crucial resources for mental health and treatment. People who are depressed rarely get the help they need, even if they know they might need it. And when they do go looking for help, many might feel rebuffed by the difficulty of getting access to consistent care.

If you are feeling well, then emotional wellness month may be your opportunity to help those who aren’t. On average, we all have a friend or family member struggling with their mental health, whether through diagnosed illness or simply due to excess stress and a tough time.

Assist them in navigating local resources to access mental healthcare, whether it’s through the address of a reputable counselor or psychiatrist, helping them sort through the paperwork for their mental health insurance coverage, or simply convincing them to consider an appointment with a therapist.

Taking Care of Your Emotional Wellness

How do you take care of your emotional wellness? The answer will be a little different for everyone. In general, fulfilling your own personal physical and mental needs can go a long way. This goes beyond running a hot bath or considering a humidifier and some essential oils for your living room – while these can be excellent tools for relieving stress, there are a few foundational needs that must be met first.

Addressing these needs and recognizing if others around you are doing the same is an important part of drawing attention to emotional wellness issues during emotional wellness month.

It’s about looking past short-term gains in mental health or seeing self-care routines as a band-aid for deeper personal health issues. It’s about recognizing the importance and value of seeking professional help and valuing the relationship between physical health and mental health, and how that translates into better mood regulation and emotional wellbeing.

Are You Eating Well?

It all begins with physical needs. The big three are eating well, sleeping well, and moving often.

A good diet is important yet difficult, but it does not need to be. Time constraints and financial limits are usually the two reasons people cite most often when it comes to not eating well. Fresh ingredients can be difficult to source or expensive. Depending on where you live, you might not have access to good produce or quality proteins.

If you do get access to something healthy, it might be unaffordable. Then, there are storage concerns. Many people do not have large freezers or refrigerators to facilitate meal prep or bulk buying. Finally, it takes time to prepare meals. And if your emotional health is suffering, it becomes even harder to find the motivation to start cooking.

Finding Better Ways to Cook and Eat

A good way to overcome these challenges is by looking at easier ways to cook and eat. There are budget options for both vegetables and meat products, as well as simple recipes that take no more than fifteen minutes to prepare. Buy frozen vegetables, which are often cheaper, pre-prepared, and just as nutritious as fresh produce. Pick ingredients that are filling and nutritious, then rely on cheap spices to extend your palate. Play around with interesting flavors and learn about new food combinations from different cultures to keep your diet interesting.

Taking an hour out of the weekend to batch-cook refrigerable ingredients can make it easier to cook during the week. A few pieces of toast, some soft-boiled eggs, and slices of cucumber make for a good lunch that takes minutes to whip up. Reduce your coffee consumption to one or two cups a day, and drink more water or tea. Cut your costs by removing all snacks and sugary drinks from your shopping cart, or switch to sugar-free drinks for the same cost. Blend frozen fruits with a bit of milk and ice for a quick vitamin boost.

Eating better might not seem central to emotional wellness, but it is. A good diet is an important first step.

Sleep is Key

Sleep is just as important. While we mostly understand the value of sleeping well, we struggle to do so. Technology and caffeine consumption play important roles here.

Excess coffee might help you stay awake throughout the workday, but you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Take a few days off to do a caffeine reset or work through it with lower doses of coffee (or a low-caffeine alternative, like black tea), and set a cut-off time for your caffeine needs.

Then, set a hard rule for screentime at night. Try to turn off all screens around 9 pm for the best sleep results. Although many screens try to minimize their blue light exposure in the evenings, they can still mess up and delay your body’s internal clock. The first few weeks are crucial – but once your sleep habits start to improve, it will be easier to maintain them.

Get Your Steps In

Physical exercise is also helpful, but not everyone has the time or the motivation to get up and work out. You don’t have to. If you work at an office, try to take as many opportunities as you can to get up from your desk regularly, whether it’s to refill your tea or water cup, go to the bathroom, or just take a quick break by the window.

If you work from home, set a time to stand up at least every half hour for a few steps. That, alone, can make a serious difference in your body posture, your daily step count, and your overall mental health.

Eating better, sleeping well, and trying to get just a little more movement in your day-to-day can each lead to marked improvements in your stress management and mood regulation. From there, we move on to other needs.

Building Bridges and Mending Bonds

Social health is crucial for emotional wellness. How well do you get along with your friends? Your family? Your loved ones? Do you have the ability to make time for your partner? Are you struggling with intimacy? Are you hanging out less and less with your friends?

These issues have been on the rise since the pandemic, leaving many people feeling socially stunted and increasingly isolated.

For some, it has even led to symptoms of agoraphobia and a reluctance to engage socially. It’s important to slowly wean off these new habits and get back into a social mood, especially for your emotional well-being.

If you feel that your emotional problems are becoming more than you can handle alone, it’s important to seek help.

Take the time during emotional wellness month to address your primary needs and improve your emotional health – and encourage others around you to do the same.

Categories
Mental Health Parenting Therapy

Can a Teenager Refuse Mental Health Treatment?

Can a teenager refuse mental health treatment?

It’s an important question many parents ask themselves when faced with a teen who refuses to get help for their worsening mental health symptoms. The answer is that it depends. For the most part, minors cannot refuse care – but some states do insist that mental healthcare providers need a minor’s consent to continue treatment. And most therapists and psychiatrists will not work with a teen if they are not interested in seeking help, unless their care has been court-appointed.

If your teen is an adult – meaning, 18 or older – then there’s nothing you can do to force them to seek treatment. The most you can do with a teen under the age of 18 is force them to show up to the therapist’s office – but without their consent and willing participation, the whole exercise can feel a little pointless. And remember, depending on the state you live in, you may not be able to force your teen into any kind of mental health treatment without their consent.

An inpatient program can help, a little bit. You can make your minor go to rehab, but it’ll likely damage your relationship with them if it isn’t something they ever agreed to, and it can take a lot of time for them to begin opening up to the lessons they will potentially learn while in recovery. This can be a very expensive mistake.

What Should I Do If a Teen Refuses Treatment?

Depending on your teen’s condition, they may be interned in a psychiatric hospital or may be forced to go to rehab against their will. Psychiatric hospitalization is a short-term treatment plan utilized in cases where people suffer from an acute episode of self-harm, suicide, psychosis, or other mental health conditions that cause harm to themselves or others around them.

After psychiatric hospitalization, a person is often referred to an inpatient program or an intensive outpatient program, such as a partial hospitalization program, to transition back to living at home. All in all, it can take multiple weeks for them to return home and feel better.

In some cases, a court might force someone to go into rehab for their condition. Court-mandated or court-ordered rehab is only imposed in cases where people committed a crime in connection to their drug use. If your teen went on a drinking spree and drove drunk, endangering others, they may choose to go to rehab instead of facing jail time.

But if you’re aware of your teen’s condition and its worsening symptoms, you will want to fight as hard as you can to make sure it doesn’t have to come to that. You can work with a therapist to convince your teen that getting help is the best thing for them to do right now.

Should I Even Force Mental Health Treatment on My Teen?

It’s rare for your only option to be to force your teen into treatment, whether it’s a therapist’s office or an inpatient facility for drug use. You may still have options in between.

The most obvious downside to seeking forced treatment is that your teen doesn’t want it. This means they won’t be receptive to treatment. They won’t trust their treatment providers, be dismissive towards therapists and other treatment specialists and professionals, and have a harder time benefiting from treatment in any possible way.

It’s hard enough as it is to successfully seek help for conditions like teen depression, drug addiction, and teenage anxiety and come out the other end with improved symptoms and a better quality of life. It’s much harder when you start off vehemently against the idea of getting help. However, you may have other options.

Talking to a Professional About Interventions

Interventions are basically confrontations between loved ones or family members with the goal of convincing the target person to seek the help they need. Interventions might feel famously cliché, but when done right, they can break through to a person and make them realize that getting treatment really is the best thing for them and what they need to do right now.

Teens may be becoming adults, but they’re still ultimately children, and they may be your children. Mental health symptoms can be scary and make the world a more terrifying place to be in. Seeking help might be something they’ve been conditioned to avoid or not accept, and helping them remember or learn that it’s okay to be helped can open them up to finally seeking care.

It’s important to talk from the heart here, but it’s also important to stick to the framework your therapist provides. It’s easy for interventions to break down into arguments, and that will not be conducive to your goal.

Try To “Sell” Your Teen on Mental Health Treatment

Your teen might have all manner of misconceptions about what treatment really means. Maybe they’re worried about having to take medications and being forced to endure all manner of side effects. Maybe they’ve heard horror stories about bad therapists and poor experiences in rehab centers. It’s important to talk to them about their treatment expectations and find out what it is they’re specifically worried about.

Most teens who struggle with anxiety or depression to a debilitating degree are aware of the fact that they’re different and that they might have trouble with things other people don’t.

Talk to your teen about treatment and what it might mean for them. If your teen feels like committing to treatment ignores all the problems they’re facing at home, consider making a commitment for them. Talk to a therapist about family therapy or group therapy. Take notes and apply what you learn in therapy at home together.

However, some conditions are harder to seek care for. For teens with schizophrenia, it might be hard to convince them to get help if they’re currently experiencing a psychotic break or have been more paranoid than usual.

Some personality disorders also feature paranoia as a primary symptom, which can make it harder to get treatment. Other conditions, like narcissistic personality disorder, may become violent or irritable if you imply that they need help. It may be in your best interest to talk to a therapist about approaching your teen with these conditions.

Commit To Mental Wellness at Home Together

One of the reasons group therapy is helpful to many people is because it helps remind them that they are not alone, and that they are not the only people who need help, or who are getting help. It also allows people to forge new friendships with others who have shared their experiences and have a unique insight into what it might be like to live with certain conditions.

If you and your teen both similarly struggle with certain symptoms, getting help together can not only improve your mental health but strengthen your bond as parent and child.

It’s not easy to convince someone who doesn’t think they need help that they should reach out for it. But if you reach out together, it might feel a little easier.

Categories
Depression Mental Health

The Effects of Depression in Teens

The teen years are known for mood swings and irrational behavior – but there’s a clear line between not thinking straight and struggling to think. With that said, today we’ll take a closer look at the effects of depression in teens, how to recognize the signs, and where to get help.

Adolescence and Mental Health

Adolescence is hard enough as it is for most kids, but some – as many as ten percent – are fighting more than just the effects of puberty. Conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and even drug use disorder often begin in the early to late teens and continue to affect millions of people throughout adulthood.

Among children and young teens, anxiety, ADHD, and depression constitute the three most diagnosed mental health issues, at rates ranging between ten and four percent. Many teens diagnosed with one disorder also suffer from symptoms of another. Learning to recognize the signs of depression in teens can help you get them the professional guidance they need and access to the treatment they deserve.

Depression or Sadness?

Whenever the topic of depression and its increasing rates becomes a mainstream discussion, there are concerns around the risk of pathologizing sadness. But recognizing depression does not mean ruling out the importance and significance of healthy human emotions, including negative ones. Depression is not extreme sadness or extreme grief.

Depression is characterized mainly by the absence of joy. It is anhedonia, loss of pleasure, and the inability to reach a neutral baseline or feel happy. Even if kids can laugh at a joke or crack a smile, if they are struggling with depression, those fleeting moments do nothing to bring them back from what feels like a constant brink.

Our understanding of depression, as well as other common mood disorders, has allowed us to improve the way in which we address the issue, draw attention to it, and try to bring it to light. Psychiatry is an evolving field and a relatively new one in human history – it’s not that teens and children weren’t as depressed before, but it wasn’t as often named or diagnosed, and there weren’t very many good ways to deal with it.

Recognizing the Effects of Depression in Teens

Depression can be characterized by many different things, but one of its primary symptoms or characteristics is the loss of joy and pleasure.

In teens and children, this can be recognized by a loss of interest in hobbies and play, as well as a significant drop in the amount of time spent with other people. Depressed teens tend to spend more time alone and may not even necessarily spend it doing the things they like doing.

Restlessness and Too Much Sleep

Oversleeping and feeling restless at night are also common signs of depression or other mental health issue. Sleep is crucial for kids and teens, and while it’s normal for teens to struggle with falling asleep even more than their adult counterparts for biological reasons, depressed teens often sleep in far longer than their peers and struggle to feel well-rested even after several hours spent oversleeping.

Emotional and Physical Fatigue

This brings us to emotional and physical fatigue, another important set of symptoms in depressed teens. “Feeling tired,” in the sense that one is affected by a form of exhaustion that bites to the very bone and can’t be rested away, is a common sentiment of depression in teens. It affects everything, from cognitive function – such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and memory – to physical strength and stamina and the will to act. Depression can sap a person’s motivation to the point that it becomes difficult to do even the simplest things, such as brush one’s teeth and hair or keep a room tidy.

Some other important effects of depression in teens include:

Depression, Appetite, and Body-Image

Puberty is a difficult time for most teens. Rapid physical change can be tough to get used to, especially when it happens gradually, in spurts, and often asymmetrically. Some body parts outgrow others, and then there are a whole host of awkward and sudden adjustments, from body odor to acne.

For teens with depression or anxiety, these changes can often trigger and reinforce a whole host of personal physical complexes and help foster a negative body image. Bullying in all its forms, whether physical or digital, can feed these thoughts.

That is why depression often co-occurs with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. In some cases, physical starvation or binge eating becomes an abstract form of self-harm and a sign of poor coping. To make matters worse, conditions like anorexia are among the most fatal mental health conditions and are often difficult to treat without an intensive mental intervention after hospitalization.

If your teen’s depression begins to affect them physically – leading to dangerous eating habits, such as binging and purging behavior, starvation, or growing body image issues – it’s important to step in early and talk about getting help.

Nihilism, Self-Harm, and Suicide

Sometimes, teens fixate on strange things and get into even stranger hobbies. Some teens make it their hobby to specialize in horror fiction and get into morbid curiosities. But an interest in the macabre is not the same as a depression-related fixation on death and suicide.

An important distinction to make here is that depressed teens are often preoccupied specifically with their own death, fantasizing either about what the world might be like without them or whether anyone would notice if they were gone. A common train of thought behind many cases of suicidal ideation is the thought that others would be better off or wouldn’t notice if they died.

It is crucial to recognize and address these thoughts and questions before they materialize into something more concrete. Some teens are completely quiet about how they feel – and even adults who contemplate suicide might do so for months or years without telling anyone before committing suicide one day. However, if your teen does discuss the topic quite often, take it seriously. It’s often more than just an act for attention.

Depression Throughout the Ages

At the end of the day, it’s also important to remember that depression is far from a teen issue. Rates of depression may be higher in older age groups than we can statistically verify, and the three age groups most likely to commit suicide include ages 25-34, 75-84, and 85+ at the highest, at a rate of roughly 21 deaths per 100,000. In contrast, only about 14 out of 100,000 people between the ages of 15-24 commit suicide per year – the lowest among all teen-and-adult age groups.

Depression can often go unnoticed, even among loved ones. Keep an eye out for subtle signs, such as behavioral changes, social changes, sudden weight loss or weight gain, or a loss of interest in personal hobbies. Recognizing depression in those we love is an important first step toward getting help.

For more information about depression in teens and residential treatment options, reach out to Visions Treatment Centers today.

Categories
Anxiety Mental Health Stress

What are the Causes of Anxiety in Teens?

Anxiety disorders remain the most diagnosed mental health condition in the world, among adults and adolescents alike. While being anxious in certain moments is a healthy response to stress and uncertainty, an anxiety disorder is characterized by overwhelming feelings of fear and worry, even under non-threatening circumstances. And when it comes to teenagers, many things can contribute to anxiety. So, what are the causes of anxiety in teens?

Teens are arguably more anxious than they’ve ever been, with a number of confluent factors to blame, from the rise in information technology to the growing pressures and responsibilities teens are subjected to, such as hefty student loans, early career paths, inordinate expenses, mass inequality, and a constant social media news cycle dominated by tragedy and panic.

Yet environmental factors, such as stress, aren’t always to blame for teen anxiety. Most teens aren’t just experiencing anxiety symptoms as a result of societal ennui or climate change. They worry about the same things teens have generally worried about for generations: school, relationships, social status, driver’s licenses, parents’ approval, competitions, and more. But why do some teens worry about these things a lot more than others? And as asked earlier, what are the causes of anxiety in teens? Let’s take a closer look at teen anxiety and figure it out together.

Defining Teen Anxiety

As mentioned previously, the defining characteristic of an anxiety disorder over a healthier, more measured anxious response are the factors of frequency, relevance, and intensity. While stress is ultimately subjective, there is a difference between feeling nervous about a test and feeling some form of heavy dread in nearly every waking moment.

In general, most teens with an anxiety disorder are diagnosed with one of the following:

  • Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by feelings of overwhelming dread or worries, even in the absence of any reason to worry. Teens with GAD may feel like a weight is pushing down on them all the time and may feel fatigued for no reason.
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by unwanted and uncomfortable intrusive thoughts and ritualistic compulsions that temporarily soothe them. This cycle can often be self-destructive and difficult to break.
  • Panic disorders are diagnosed in teens who experience multiple recurring panic attacks, often in short succession.
  • Phobias are extreme fears, even in response to non-threatening stimuli, such as pictures or stories.
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by a number of symptoms surrounding a traumatic event, such as avoidance, dissociation, or hypervigilance. Also known as a stress disorder, PTSD can affect and change the way the brain responds to stimuli.

Among teens, social phobia (social anxiety disorder) and generalized anxiety disorder are the most common types.

What are the Causes of Anxiety in Teens?

The causes for each of these anxiety disorders differ. Some conditions are inherently more genetically determined than others, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some are almost necessarily triggered by an environmental experience, such as post-traumatic stress. In general, however, all diagnoses of anxiety ultimately require a combination of both internal factors (family history) and external factors (stress, bullying, trauma).

Protective Factors

Protective factors, and the lack thereof, can also modify the severity and kind of anxiety a person experiences. Teens growing up in fractured households with loveless parents or in abusive situations are much more likely to develop symptoms of anxiety later in life, whether in adolescence or adulthood.

Meanwhile, a healthy parent-child relationship, a stronger community bond, and greater access to mental health resources within the community can each act to minimize and reduce the likelihood of a developing anxiety disorder.

The Specific Cause Can be Complex

The difficult thing about anxiety disorders is that they are complex both in their treatment and in their causes. It’s hard, if not impossible, to narrow down a specific cause for any given anxiety or stress disorder, even in cases of trauma.

A person’s traumatic experience may be a powerful contributing factor to their panic attacks or PTSD, but it isn’t a simple one-to-one – if a bus crash leaves half of its survivors with PTSD and the other half without, the traumatic event itself isn’t the only relevant factor.

Genetics, Biology, and Anxiety

Our genetic understanding of anxiety and stress disorders as a whole has improved over time, but we haven’t isolated what specific genes make the onset of anxiety symptoms more likely. Even in this regard, it’s impossible to find the anxiety gene – there are a number of biological markers that affect a person’s likelihood of responding to stress in a way that triggers a long-term disorder.  

Ultimately, we have more control over individual risk factors than genetic markers. Minimizing these risk factors in your teen’s life can not only help them avoid anxiety disorders but can also help them cope with them in a better way.

Treating Teen Anxiety

Treatments for teen anxiety differ from condition to condition. In most cases, talk therapy is paramount, although therapists will adapt their approach to match a patient’s condition. For example, there are unique talk therapy options for post-traumatic stress disorder versus obsessive-compulsive disorder or generalized anxiety.

Medication is sometimes helpful, but not always. Anti-anxiety medication is prescribed sparingly and may not always be needed. It can help reduce the severity of certain episodes and help therapy become more effective. The goal, in the long term, is to cope without medication.

Because anxiety disorders are often co-occurring with other mental health problems, including depression or substance use, treatments must be individualized. A patient with an anxiety disorder may need concurrent treatment for their addiction or their depressive symptoms, as well. If you want to learn more about treatment plans for your anxiety disorder, contact a medical professional today.

What You Should Do

If you or your teen is struggling with anxiety issues, consider seeking professional help. You might not need therapy, but you might also feel better if you did decide to visit a therapist a few times a month.

While medication is also proven effective in the treatment of anxiety, it usually takes a backseat in the proper long-term treatment of most anxiety disorders, with a few acute exceptions. Learning to confront the sources and causes of your anxiety, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and adopt lifestyle changes that help affect your anxious thoughts in a positive way are often much more constructive than simply relying on medication.

Teen Anxiety Disorder Treatment at Visions

All it takes is one step forward. You don’t need to schedule a physical interview with a therapist – consider looking for online resources to get started, book a video call, or try out an online test verified by a mental health professional for anxiety. These tests don’t replace an official diagnosis but may help point you in the right direction.

No matter what, you’re never alone. There are effective treatments for every form of anxiety, and help is around the corner. If your loved one is struggling with anxiety, support them in their quest to find a better way to deal with their negative thoughts and emotions.

To get started with treatment, get in contact with us at Visions Treatment Centers.

Categories
Communication Education Mental Health Self-Care

Juggling Mental Health and School this Fall

If you or your teen is headed back to school this Fall, then awareness of common mental health problems and how to identify them can be invaluable. Teens today face mounting pressures as they pave their way towards college and the workspace. Building a better skillset for tackling and addressing mental health and school can help you or your teen deal with future stressors, become more resilient, and learn how and when to seek help.

Did you know about one in five teens will struggle with symptoms of mental illness, ranging from depressive episodes to major anxiety and everything in between? More than just a rare occurrence, mental health problems are a common issue in modern society and one that compassion, community, and a societal commitment can help address.

Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety are treatable, yet only a fraction of those who need treatment get the help they require. Our responsibility as a society is to ensure that mental healthcare is not just available, but easily accessible and well-known. Fostering an open and understanding relationship toward mental health issues begins at an early age and needs to be especially emphasized during adolescence, a time in which many mental health conditions have their onset.

Work On Your Coping Skills

To cope is to deal with something negative. We cope with death, with grief, with stress, with loss. We cope with the things that may bring us down and keep us down. But coping skills can be both positive and negative.

Negative Coping

An effective, but negative coping skill, is having a drink. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and can have both a calming effect, and encourage the release of neurotransmitters that make us feel happier.

But both effects are short-lived and come at a heavy price. In the long-term, alcohol use actively feeds anxious thoughts and makes negative episodes more frequent, negatively impacts cognition and problem solving, affects memory, and leads to a whole host of dangerous, physical ailments and symptoms. That doesn’t mean you can’t ever drink alcohol, once you’re of legal age. But it does mean that alcohol is a poor answer to life’s problems.

Positive Coping

Similarly, there are positive coping skills. Going for a run or channeling your anxieties and negative thoughts into physical activity can be a healthy and effective outlet for stress. Exercise and physical movement have a positive long-term impact on your mental and physical wellbeing but are also useful in the short term, leading to the release of endorphins.

However, that doesn’t mean working out or breaking into a sprint will solve your problems, and just like anything else, you can overdo exercising, leading to overuse injuries and joint pain.

Coping Is Not the Answer to All Problems

Coping skills help us feel better, but they are not an answer to our problems. They are meant to help us deal with them, directly or indirectly, without introducing new ones. As such, we can split coping skills into maladaptive (such as resorting to substance use or self-harm) and constructive (such as exercises and creative outlets, like journaling and painting).

Building positive habits and finding effective, constructive coping mechanisms are both important tasks in adolescence, because these habits can carry on into adulthood, and help you deal with life’s future stressors, like mental health and school.

Planning a Schedule to Balance Mental Health and School

Being overwhelmed is a major source of stress for teens and adults alike. Effective time management is important for mental health and school to avoid overwhelming amounts of stress, such as concurrent deadlines, mounting pressure from parents and teachers on late projects, or your own sense of guilt for procrastinating. That is where learning to create realistic and helpful schedules – and finding ways to stick to them – is important.

Procrastinating

First, we need to address procrastination and feelings of guilt. Many of us grow up to learn that being lazy is bad and that procrastination is a character fault. However, research tells us that putting things off is often a natural consequence of poor mood and psychological health. It becomes a vicious cycle, as procrastination leads to negative outcomes, which leads to poor experiences and even more procrastination.

We avoid the things that we are worried about but, in turn, only make them worse, as the pressure to address them mounts to a breaking point, at which point we rush to complete our tasks and feel a momentary sense of relief before the cycle restarts.

Creating Realistic Time Management Skills

Building healthy time management skills and realistic schedules can help avoid this destructive cycle of procrastination and guilt. Consider creating a list of everything you need to accomplish in a given week and break that list down into manageable daily tasks.

Break each task down into chunks of 30-minute to one-hour working periods and plan your day around these work times. Interrupt the monotony of your tasks with frequent snack and water breaks, music, and stretching.

Have a friend or study group hold you accountable to your schedule and remind you to focus or refocus on your work. By breaking your weekly tasks down into individual daily segments, you can take your time and focus on the tasks at hand without rushing to get a week’s worth of work done in a single day.

Put Together a Mental Health Kit

If you are prone to episodes of anxiety or depression, then it might be a good idea to put together your very own mental health kit. These are emergency kits you can refer to, to boost your mood, help you cope with your feelings, take a break, or seek help. A few examples of kits you can put together include:

  • Digital playlists of videos or music that make you feel better.
  • Your favorite (healthy!) snack, kept in your bag or close at hand.
  • Something to fidget with or stimulate your hands or mind, such as a puzzle toy.
  • A pocketbook you enjoy rereading.
  • A journal to create notes, list your thoughts and go over your emotions.
  • And more.

Tell Your Friends and Form a Support Network

Positive coping skills, mood boosters, and better time management habits can help us keep our negative thoughts in check and promote a healthier state of mind. But it’s dangerous to assume that our mental health is something we can control entirely on our own. There will be tougher days than usual and times when nothing seems to help. It’s important not to blame yourself for these days or feel like a failure for needing help. No one is an island – we are all connected and help each other through life.

As such, it’s important to discuss your condition with your closest friends and family and emphasize the need for a support network. Set up a group chat to talk with your friends and share your feelings. Get on calls frequently. Spend time together. Organize a plan for how to help one another on darker days. And share resources for emergency situations, such as self-help numbers, the numbers of a good therapist, the school counselor, or a reputable psychiatrist.

When Is It Time to Get Help?

Mental health professionals, such as those at Visions Treatment Centers, are trained to help whenever they are needed, and not just when a person has reached their breaking point.

Do not wait for a “rock bottom” of any kind, learning to effectively deal with mental health and school is essential. If you are feeling confused about your emotions, if your mood has been down a lot lately, if you can’t stop feeling sad, or if you are just beginning to feel burnt out – even before school has begun! – it’s time to ask for help.

Categories
Adolescence Communication Feelings Mental Health Parenting

Supporting LGBTQ Teen Mental Health

LGBTQ youth (teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning/queer) are far more likely to experience victimization because of their identity, are far more likely to struggle with symptoms of mental illness, and are far more likely to resort to self-harm and suicide. With all of these variables at play, it’s essential to support LGBTQ teen mental health to provide help, empowerment, and growth.

These statistics are not inherent to being queer, but they are often a side effect of identifying as part of the LGBTQ community or living under circumstances that force repression and self-hatred. Getting help can be difficult, especially when teens worry about or fear the repercussions of coming out as LGBTQ or struggle with acknowledging their identity.

Acceptance goes a long way. Mental health rates and suicide have gone down among gay and lesbian teens, although they are still above the rates for their straight peers. In the same vein, suicide rates remained highest among trans teens, especially in the wake of a rise in violence against LGBTQ youth and continued attacks on LGBTQ groups – especially trans individuals – in both media and politics in America.

Helping your LGBTQ teen get the support they need to lead a fulfilling and happy life can be difficult, but it can be done. The resources are there, and the communities exist, both locally and online. You are not alone, whether as a teen or as a parent.

Beware of Conversion Schemes

Seeking help is an important part of getting better, whether you initiate it with your teen or through your teen’s own research. But with the desperation of wanting treatment comes the vulnerability that leads thousands of teens and parents into the trap of conversion therapy.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, research shows that conversion therapy is unethical and harmful to children and teens. It does not work and only causes lasting psychological trauma as a result. It is under no circumstances a form of “therapy” to begin with, and it is, with good reason, banned in 19 different states and jurisdictions.

Finding a Therapist with Knowledge of LGBTQ Teen Mental Health

The best thing you can do for your teen’s well-being, and to help your teen cope with the growing mental stressors associated with coming out as an LGBTQ+ individual, is to accept them as they are and, if they are struggling with their mental health, find a professional therapist or psychiatrist who has a history of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, LGBTQ+ teens, and/or LGBTQ teen mental health.

A therapist with a personal history and knowledge of the different struggles that LGBTQ teens go through today may be able to have more success in helping your teen find treatment than someone with no experience with LGBTQ.

Just as personal representation in media can make a difference for many teens and adults who feel invisible in a heteronormative culture, working with a mental health professional who has personal experiences in the LGBTQ community to draw on or can better relate to your teen professionally through their LGBTQ identity may be a better fit for them.

Comfort is important when choosing your therapist. A gay man or a trans woman may have a better idea of what it is like to be in your teen’s shoes, in addition to their professional training and academic experience as psychologists and therapists, to help identify valid treatment options, root out local resources, and help cope with individual stressors.

How You Can Help Your Teen

There are countless ways in which parents contribute to their teens’ well-being, knowingly and unknowingly.

While professional treatment is important, especially in the event of self-harm, suicidal episodes, or debilitating mental health symptoms, parents should never underestimate the significance of their influence and supportive parenting, nor should they lose sight of how their actions and behaviors continue to shape their teens’ lives. Here are a few things you could do or are doing that can continue to help your teen with their mental health.

  • Let your teen know they’re loved unconditionally.
  • Talk to them and hear them out. Listen to their thoughts and words.
  • Spend time getting to know their interests a little better. Spending time with your teen and showing interest in what they like can help them feel more comfortable talking to you about other things, and helps them understand that you aren’t out to judge them as many others might be.
  • Review your misconceptions. Well-meaning intentions may lead to ideas and sayings that are actively hurting your teen. For example, don’t shrug off their identity or their mental health issues as “just a phase.” Learning more about gender identities and sexual orientation can help you relate to your teen and avoid alienating them.
  • Advocate at school. Not all schools have LGBTQ+ ally groups or LGBTQ-friendly student bodies, but all schools have LGBTQ teens. Talk to teachers and parents about organizing queer-straight alliance organizations to help LGBTQ teens in your community feel welcome, and to reduce victimization.
  • Talk to the teachers. Teachers can be a good source of information about what’s going on at school. Your teen might not always be forthcoming about what’s going on at school, especially if they’re being hurt or bullied. They may blame themselves or feel ashamed.
  • Get into therapy together. If your teen is struggling with depression or anxious thoughts or has a history of self-harm, then getting help can be daunting. Mental illness, in particular, has a way of feeding on self-doubt and shame, and many teens who know they need help may be reluctant to get it. Encourage them by making an appointment together and tagging along the first few times. Alternatively, look into remote online therapy as an option, to begin with.
  • Give them privacy. Being there for your teen is important, but there’s a difference between being aware of what’s going on in their lives and spying without their consent. If you try to monitor all of your teen’s online activities, for example, they’re just more likely to go to greater lengths to establish secret accounts or carve out some other niche of privacy and foster resentment. The best way to keep your teen from keeping too many secrets from you is to ensure they know you’re always available to talk to and are willing to listen.

LGBTQ Teen Mental Health Services at Visions

Being a parent is hard, and it can be harder yet when your teen is struggling with depressive or anxious thoughts. LGBTQ+ teens are just like any other teen but are much more at-risk for mental health issues, often as an indirect result of their identity. Helping them protect themselves, know they are loved, develop stronger self-esteem, and feel proud in their own skin can go a long way towards helping them feel better.

If you or a loved one is seeking additional information on LGBTQ teen mental health, reach out to us. At Visions Treatment Centers, we offer unique mental health programming for LGBTQ+ teens, addressing many issues often found in the LGBTQ+ community.

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Mental Health Therapy

Is Online Therapy for Teens Effective?

Online therapy, whether it be for teens, children, or adults, is used to describe any professional treatment plan applied remotely through a credentialled teletherapy program. While online and phone-based therapy programs have been available for years, they have become much more popular with the advent of voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) technologies, cheap/free videoconferencing tools, and online chat rooms. But, specifically speaking, how does online therapy for teens work? And is it effective?

Credentialed and licensed professional therapists can offer online therapy sessions to clients via safe and secure networks on websites, over the phone, or through special apps. While certain forms of teletherapy are relatively novel, the treatment process itself – remote, voice-based, or video therapy sessions – is heavily researched. Current studies show that teletherapy is not just effective but can be just as effective as face-to-face therapy.

However, there are pros and cons, as well as security and privacy concerns. Online therapy can be an amazing alternative to face-to-face therapy for a number of different teens, including teens with agoraphobia, teens who are uncomfortable with their initial therapy sessions, teens who struggle with face-to-face communication and prefer text or chatting, and other cases.

But it’s important to do your research. Online vulnerabilities can result in a loss of privacy or the leak of private information. It is important to seek out an online therapy service that prioritizes data protection, patient privacy, and is properly credentialed, in addition to providing an ethical and qualitative healthcare service as an experienced therapist.

Does Teletherapy Work?

We know that teletherapy works. However, whether it works equally for everyone is never a guarantee. Some patients respond better to teletherapy than face-to-face therapy sessions. Some patients are the opposite. In some cases, patients respond best to a treatment plan that begins with teletherapy and then segues into traditional therapy sessions. Figuring out a patient’s needs and making the necessary recommendations to alter their treatment is part of every therapist’s job description.

Online Therapy for Mental Health

Teletherapy has been implemented for the treatment of multiple psychological and physical conditions. Telehealth services, whether consulting a patient on at-home pain management techniques during a flare-up of chronic pain, to providing regularly scheduled therapy for depressive symptoms or symptoms of anxiety, have also grown and become more popular over time, including businesses utilizing the telehealth model such as BetterHelp and Talkspace.

Telehealth has become even more vital over the course of the COVID pandemic, as an alternative to traditional therapy, and a way for clients to continue to communicate with their therapist while maintaining safe social distancing practices.

Who Has Access to Teletherapy Services?

These practices have not been without controversy. Not all patients can adequately access teletherapy services due to a lack of personal technical knowledge. Some websites are not safe, not properly credentialed, or do not host professional staff. People who seek teletherapy services are often vulnerable and in need of immediate help. This makes them more likely to be affected by Internet scammers looking to steal private information.

Some problems are less obvious. BetterHelp, for example, landed itself in hot water recently for advertising itself as a matchmaking business between patients and healthcare professionals in YouTube influencer spots. However, the company’s own terms and conditions do not guarantee the help of a mental health professional, nor do they speak to the quality of their so-called “Counselors.”

If you are interested in making the most of a telehealth feature, be sure to utilize the services of a private practice, a mental health clinic, or a credentialed psychiatrist or therapist.

Be sure about the qualifications, experience, and reputation of the professional you wish to work with. Like any other therapy service, it is important that you feel comfortable and confident in your choice of therapist.

How Is Online Therapy for Teens Structured?

Online therapy programs differ from provider to provider. In general, non-public platforms are used to communicate with patients and provide specialized, one-on-one care. These include therapy-specific web platforms, as well as common teleconferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom.

Online Therapy and Privacy

In the case of a general-purpose meeting software or business communications platform, passwords and individualized invite links are usually used to ensure privacy. Only platforms that are HIPAA-compliant may be used for telehealth services, including professional teletherapy. That means utilizing only platforms that have the minimum security and encryption standards needed to keep others from easily listening in on your therapy sessions.

Techniques in Online Therapy

Different forms of therapy have been proven effective over online therapy platforms, most importantly including cognitive behavioral therapy.

Your online therapy will be structured according to your needs. That might mean one session per week or as many as five or six weekly sessions. Sessions could be shorter or longer. Some therapists include the use of visual aids, such as PowerPoint presentations and infographics to help teach patients about different treatment techniques, coping mechanisms, and recovery skills. The number of online sessions you require will also differ depending on the severity of your condition, the nature of your diagnosis, and the professional opinions of your psychiatrist.

The First Online Session

Your first few sessions might feel a little awkward. Here are some important tips to make the most out of online therapy:

  • Use headphones. Not only does that keep your conversation private, but it can help keep out distracting noises.
  • Find a well-lit but quiet part of the house where you can start your therapy in private. A room with a lock and a window, for example.
  • If you are using your phone, try to get a tripod or phone stand. This way, your hand won’t get tired from holding the device, and you can use both hands for note-taking.
  • Consider getting a notebook to take notes for your therapy and continued recovery. Writing can be helpful in reviewing what you’ve written in the future, but it can also help to keep your therapy lessons fresh in mind.

Most qualified examples of online therapy utilize the professional services of a credentialed therapist. However, there are also therapy-like services offered by websites using trained chatbots or non-professional chatting companions. While some studies do show that teens have successfully used these programs and chatbots to help soothe emotional distress, they are far less effective than a professional service.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Therapy for Teens?

There are a few distinct advantages and potential disadvantages to utilizing online therapy for teens.

  • Online therapy is an effective alternative for teens in rural areas or where access to mental healthcare is limited.
  • Online therapy is especially helpful for teens who are immunocompromised or struggling with a different chronic health condition and might not want to risk infection.
  • Teletherapy services might be cheaper than an outpatient program while offering many of the same perks.
  • Online therapy might feel more comfortable to you if you are anxious about visiting a therapist’s office or need to rely on someone else for transportation.
  • You may feel more comfortable with private online therapy and may be able to start seeking help without necessarily alerting your family.

However, there are also potential disadvantages to utilizing online therapy for teens.

  • Telehealth services, including teletherapy, are not always covered by insurance.
  • Some people benefit more greatly from face-to-face treatment. There are limitations to voice-only or screen-based therapy for certain people.
  • Online communication requires good verbal and text skills. Your teen might not be able to fully convey how they feel without body language, which can be frustrating.

Looking for Online Therapy for Teens?

Should you consider online therapy as an option for yourself or your teen? Under most circumstances, yes. If you or your loved one might feel more comfortable starting treatment through an online therapy program, then it is certainly an idea worth pursuing, and they can still transition into face-to-face therapy or an outpatient program in the future.

For more information about Visions Treatment Centers and online therapy for teens, get in contact with us today.

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Mental Health

6 Signs of Dissociative Identity Disorder in Teens

Dissociative identity disorder is sometimes confused for schizophrenia, but the two are very different, albeit equally severe mental health disorders. To understand dissociative identity disorder in teens, what it looks like in teenagers, and how to treat it, we need to understand dissociation and why it happens.

Dissociative identity disorder, or DID, used to be called “multiple personality” disorder. While fragmented personas and “alters” are still a common element in cases of DID, it’s important to emphasize that our understanding of DID is not centered around the idea of multiple people in one body, but a fragmented psyche, usually as the result of a traumatic event.

What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

The central characteristic of dissociative identity disorder is dissociation, usually in response to a traumatic event. Dissociation is characterized as a separation or distancing between a person and their perspective on reality. In one example of dissociation, a person might “check out” in moments of stress, appearing nonresponsive or different somehow. When they’re “back,” they might have no recollection of dissociating and might even experience holes in their memory. In cases of dissociative identity disorder, a person’s dissociation extends to the degree that they become someone else for a while.

Dissociative Identity Disorder vs Psychosis

It is not necessarily the same as psychosis, where a person’s perception of reality is altered significantly through delusions or hallucinations; however, the outside similarities between the two – in the sense that people who dissociate and people who experience psychosis are not entirely present – is what often leads people to conflate conditions like schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress disorder with split personalities or dissociative disorders.

As a result, mental health professionals believe that dissociative personality disorder is currently underdiagnosed and may be mistaken for another similar mental health condition. Currently, about 1 percent of the general population experiences dissociative identity disorder, with rates being significantly higher in clinical settings.

Dissociation as a Defensive Mechanism

In a way, dissociation can be understood as a defensive mechanism after a significantly traumatic event. People who dissociate do so to protect themselves from the reality of their situation and their circumstances. However, these dissociative symptoms can last for a long time and continue to impact a person’s mind even long after the original danger has passed. This is the prime characteristic of trauma – like mental scarring, trauma means reacting, unknowingly and unwittingly, as though the past is recurring or as though what happened is always imminent.

Not everyone dissociates after trauma – dissociation is just one of the ways in which the mind might react to something horrifying or impactful.

Signs and Symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder in Teens

Recognizing dissociation in our loved ones is important because teen dissociative disorder treatment is effective but take time and patience to work. Helping someone heal from their trauma, cope in healthier ways, and develop a consistent and unified personality can help them avoid the negative consequences of dissociative identity disorder, including memory loss, social anxiety, depressive thoughts, and mood swings.

Teens with dissociative identity disorder don’t behave like stereotypes from movies. There is a spectrum of symptoms involved in cases of DID, and not every case is alike. While representations of DID in media have improved in recent years, it’s important to differentiate reality from fiction. Some common signs of dissociative identity disorder in teens include:

1. Separate and Distinct Personalities

The defining symptom of dissociative identity disorder is the presence of two or more distinctly different personality states. In many cases, people develop multiple different personalities, upwards of five. Each one of these personalities, or alters, will have its own distinct age, name, gender, memories, and behavior.

Switching from one alter to another may occur randomly, although the switch usually happens in response to a stressor, whether it’s a traumatic trigger or some other mental stimulation, including drug use. Alters usually do not share memories and may not always be aware of each other. This means that teens with dissociative identity disorder suffer from memory gaps and frequent bouts of amnesia.

2. Memory Issues and Amnesia

In addition to changing personalities, accompanying memory problems are another common aspect of dissociative identity disorder. Teens affected by DID are not acting out as other people – their mind compartmentalizes moments in time, experiencing them as different individuals and not always letting these experiences interact with each other.

If we think of dissociation as a protective mechanism, we can imagine it like a series of filters – swapping one filter for another, sometimes in response to a person’s surroundings, so the “right” filter captures the experience, rather than having one filter experience everything at once.

As a result of these swaps, however, teens with dissociative identity disorder might not have a coherent understanding of their day-to-day.

3. Intrusive or Unwanted Thoughts

Intrusive or unwanted thoughts are, to a degree, normal. We all experience a fleeting moment of thinking about something we did not want to think about or were surprised to think about. However, some mental health conditions can exacerbate the frequency and severity of these thoughts to the point that they almost feel compulsive.

Dissociative identity disorder can suffer from unwanted thoughts, usually in the form of recurring memories or flashbacks, sudden traumatic remembrances, or unwanted shifts in thinking, such as an outburst of anger or sadness.

4. Social Anxiety

Dissociative identity disorder can be a very socially disabling condition. It is difficult for people to manage friendships and relationships while struggling with DID, and poor experiences can further feed a growing sense of social anxiety as a result of these symptoms.

These anxious thoughts can trigger and worsen traumatic stressors and make the mind more sensitive to such stressors. Some personalities within a teen may be more confident than others, but social anxiety is still a common symptom.

5. Depressive Symptoms

Depressive symptoms, including symptoms of self-harm and suicidal ideation/suicidal attempts, are also unfortunately common in cases of DID. Furthermore, reports that as many as 70 percent of patients in treatment for DID attempt suicide at one point or another, meaning the unknown statistic may be even higher.

Related: Teen Depression Treatment

6. Substance Use

Dissociative identity disorder correlates strongly with substance use, at times as a form of self-medication or just for recreational purposes.

Sadly, drug use can further amplify the effects and symptoms of DID, as well as suicidal ideation, depressive thinking, and anxiety.

Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder in Teens

Patients with dissociative identity disorder may require outpatient or inpatient residential treatment to see long-term success. In addition to their dissociative and trauma-related symptoms, teen patients with DID may struggle with suicidal thoughts, drug use, and anxiety.

A holistic treatment plan addressing multiple symptoms and co-occurring disorders is often necessary. To that end, a teen with DID may undergo trauma-specific individual and group therapy, in addition to taking medication to help reduce their symptoms.

An inpatient or outpatient facility can help provide structure in a teen’s treatment and give them the medical and psychiatric attention they need, while providing a safe or comfortable home environment, or allowing them to continue going to school and home between treatments.

For more information about dissociative identity disorder in teens, reach out to Visions Treatment Centers.

Categories
Mental Health Therapy Treatment

What Can a Teen Mental Health Center Treat?

Mental healthcare can be an involved and intense process. Therapy can go a long way, but there are times when a teen needs more than a weekly session with their therapist to make significant progress. In such case, attending a teen mental health center for residential treatment is a great choice.

Some conditions are harder to treat than others, and controlling certain factors – such as a teen’s schedule or environment through a teen mental health center – can help a teen understand and overcome their symptoms and develop the coping skills needed for an effective long-term reprieve.

What Is a Teen Mental Health Center Like?

Mental health centers differ in size, shape, and intended purpose. Like an urgent care clinic or private practice, different clinics specialize in different types of treatments and mental health programs. Specialization is important – in cases of severe mental illness, a specialized environment and experienced mental health staff are necessary to make a difference.

Inpatient vs Outpatient Treatment

A mental health center will usually provide either inpatient or outpatient services, or both.

Inpatient services require a teen to stay at the facility while receiving treatment, including overnight stays and day-to-day activities. Some specialized inpatient mental health facilities include day schools and a plethora of activities and amenities to help teens feel at home, meet new peers, and keep up with their schoolmates.

Outpatient programs, on the other hand, allow a teen to stay at home and continue going to school while receiving continued care at a mental health facility on an appointment basis. Some outpatient programs, such as intensive outpatient care, may require a teen to visit the facility for multiple hours a day, five or six times a week. Other programs are more relaxed but will usually still require multiple appointments per week.

Other Treatment Services

Sometimes, mental health facilities are prepared to receive patients who need more intensive care. Psychiatric hospitals, for example, exist to cater to and tend to patients being hospitalized for a short period of time. Where outpatient or most inpatient treatment programs can last weeks and months, a stay at a psychiatric hospital is often no more than a few weeks.

Partial hospitalization is another form of outpatient treatment, considered a half-step between inpatient programs and an intensive outpatient facility. In many cases, partial hospitalization is used as a transitory step, helping patients move away from rehab and into long-term psychiatric support through an outpatient program and therapy in the outside world.

In a partial hospitalization program, a patient who would otherwise need to be hospitalized, who has just come from an inpatient program, or who might be at risk of relapse can seek intensive short-term care – no more than a few weeks – to focus on pivoting towards living alone or with family, and continuing support through group meetings or one-on-one therapy sessions.

Between partial hospitalization, outpatient program, psychiatric hospitals, and inpatient programs, mental health centers prepare for a wide variety of conditions and disorders.

When Is a Teen Mental Health Center Necessary?

Treatment at a mental health center may be necessary for your teen if first-line treatment through a therapist or psychiatrist is not enough. Depending on your teen’s condition, it may be difficult for them to make progress without more intense support.

While therapy can help, a lot of the leg work involved in overcoming feelings of depression or anxiety is ultimately related to consistent and daily changes in thinking and lifestyle, in addition to the effects of medication. Without the right support at home or in more severe cases, a teen will require inpatient or outpatient programming to benefit from their treatment plan.

Some Conditions Require Intensive Treatment

Some conditions are more likely to lead to intensive treatment than others. For example, severe schizophrenia can lead to long-lasting delusions, hallucinations, memory problems, and periods of confusion. A teen with schizophrenia may require a clinical setting and the help of multiple professionals working together to get the right treatment. Afterward, an outpatient program can help these teens continue to seek care while adjusting to life outside of therapy, sticking to their new schedules, their medication, and their new coping skills.

Substance use disorder is another example of a disorder that frequently calls for mental health treatment at a professional facility. Rehab at home or going cold turkey is often ill-advised for professionals, both due to the high risk of relapse and the physical dangers of an uncontrolled or improperly supervised withdrawal period.

If seeing a professional is not enough, in your teen’s opinion, consider talking to them about seeking out a treatment program at a mental health center. Here are a few examples of when you might want to talk to your teen about visiting a treatment center together.

Depression and Anxiety

Depression and anxiety are two of the most commonly diagnosed mental health issues in the world, but there are many different kinds of anxious and depressive disorders. Severe depressive disorders can include symptoms of self-harm and suicidal ideation, sometimes necessitating professional supervision while a teen receives treatment.

In cases of anxiety disorders, some conditions such as post-traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or severe phobias may require intensive outpatient treatment to overcome the strongest symptoms and help a teen reintegrate into everyday living.

Substance Use Disorder

Substance use disorder, or addiction, is one of the more common conditions that may require inpatient or outpatient treatment at a mental health center. Drug addiction can be a difficult habit to break, not least of which because it is often entrenched both physically and psychologically.

Furthermore, more than half of people with substance use disorders struggle with at least one other mental health disorder (dual diagnosis), which can compound and complicate treatment. An inpatient program can help teens detox safely and begin their rehab journey in a drug-free environment.

Personality Disorders

There are ten recognized personality disorders, each with its own unique set of symptoms and characteristics, across three major clusters.

Many personality disorders are chronic or even lifelong conditions. Under certain circumstances and severe symptoms, a teen might need treatment at a specialized facility to learn to control and mitigate the symptoms of their disorder and improve their overall quality of life.

Psychosis

Psychosis is characterized by experiencing, seeing, hearing, or even smelling things that aren’t there. When a person experiences a “psychotic break,” this usually means that their perception of the world around them has separated itself from reality. The most well-known psychotic disorder is schizophrenia, but there are several different conditions with hallucinatory or psychotic symptoms, including physical conditions such as brain tumors or head trauma.

Treating psychosis can be difficult, especially if a teen patient becomes paranoid or suspicious of their surroundings. Trust, in addition to patience, are important aspects of treatment.  

Do You Need Professional Help?

If you are unsure whether you or a loved one require an intensive treatment plan, please consider discussing it with your doctor or therapist. They may be able to refer you to a potential treatment facility or give you personalized advice.

If your loved one is struggling with a mental health condition that often requires inpatient or outpatient treatment through a clinic or a teen mental health center, then consider talking to them about it – and scheduling an appointment together. Struggling with mental illness is frustrating and often terrifying. Receiving help and support from others, especially those we love, goes a long way towards soothing those feelings.

For more information about Visions Treatment Centers, please contact us anytime.

Categories
Mental Health

Mental Health Facilities for Teens: Are They Worth it?

Mental health facilities for teens and adults are treatment clinics, residential programs and/or clinics, psychiatric hospitals, and community-based mental health centers that specialize in addressing, diagnosing, and treating psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, and substance use. Despite an increase in demand, mental health resources continue to be scarce, and both adults and adolescents are not receiving the care they need.

Statistics estimate that as many as 35 percent of adults with severe, debilitating mental health issues do not receive any treatment for their condition, and over half of adults with a mental health issue of any kind receive no care. For teens, the stats aren’t much better.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that the average delay between onset and treatment in the US is 11 years. That’s over a decade spent living with symptoms without the necessary professional guidance or pharmacological help that could reduce symptom severity, and greatly improve a patient’s quality of life.

Getting access to care can be difficult, in part due to stigma, and in part due to associated costs. Different mental health facilities exist to ease that burden and help break down some of these barriers. Some places specialize in providing as much access to necessary care as possible, while others further specialize in addressing individual concerns, such as substance use with co-occurring mental health issues in teens.

Mental health facilities are not always needed to get the necessary treatment for your teen. Individual psychiatrists and therapists can help refer your teen to a professional diagnosis, and get them access to the care they need, whether it is a prescription for mood stabilizers or a long-term therapeutic treatment plan. But when they are needed, they can be true life savers.

What Are Mental Health Facilities for Teens?

In the United States, mental health facilities can generally be split between outpatient facilities and inpatient facilities.

Outpatient Facilities

Outpatient facilities are places you go to for treatment. You make an appointment, or receive a treatment schedule, and you attend treatment regularly. These may be a clinical setting where a therapist works, receiving your teen on a weekly basis for cognitive behavioral therapy.

Some outpatient programs are more intensive than others. In some cases, teens might be brought to an outpatient facility, but may be required to visit three to four times a week, for as many as four or five hours a day.

Inpatient Facilities

Inpatient facilities are places where patients receive room and board in addition to treatment. They might be a clinical or hospital setting, or they might be a more long-term residential setting. Short-term treatment at a psychiatric hospital might be necessary for someone with a condition that makes them much more likely to engage in self-harm for a period of time, for example.

In some cases, conditions like schizophrenia can cause people to perceive things around them differently, whether it’s through auditory or visual hallucinations or convincing delusions. A clinical inpatient setting can ensure that a teen remains safe during this episode.

Primary Residential Facilities

Residential facilities are more home-like, utilizing residential spaces and repurposing them into places for teens to live in while they receive care. This may be necessary in cases where a teen’s environment is contributing to their illness, such as an addiction, where nearly everything familiar can be a trigger, or in cases where a teen’s peers are making it difficult to stay sober.

Inpatient programs might be necessary for teens with specific cases of severe mental illness, but they are not a kind of prison or an internment camp.

All treatment is ultimately voluntary unless court-mandated after illegal activity. This is important, because it sets itself apart from the more harrowing histories of previous mental health facilities. Psychiatric asylums, or psychiatric state hospitals, no longer exist in the United States.

Private Treatment Facilities

That being said, private treatment facilities for mental health issues can be expensive. It is important to know when your teen should consider seeking residential or outpatient treatment, and when they shouldn’t. Your best bet is to consult a medical professional to find out. Only your teen’s psychiatrist or therapist will be able to make the best call as to whether they need long-term outpatient treatment, or even an inpatient treatment plan.

When Is Inpatient Treatment Needed?

Inpatient treatment may be recommended in cases where a teen needs a stable and safe environment with a professional staff, such as severe cases of bipolar disorder, depression with suicidal ideation, schizophrenia, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Inpatient treatment may also be recommended in cases of substance use disorder. Substance use can involve painful withdrawal symptoms, a medically dangerous detoxification process, and intense drug cravings.

Inpatient facilities equipped to deal with substance use will be staffed by multiple physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and therapists, each committed to providing a high level of care to your teen as they go through detox, withdrawal, and the early stages of rehabilitation.

Inpatient drug use programs typically last around four weeks but can last longer. In addition to helping teens wean off drugs, these programs also help them reintegrate into life without drugs, focusing on incorporating and building healthy coping skills and other tools that might help them throughout sobriety. After inpatient treatment, a teen may be required or recommended to an outpatient program to continue their recovery education and their therapy. Support groups can help, as well.

What Is a Psychiatric Hospital?

Psychiatric hospitals are different from residential inpatient programs or a partial hospitalization program. These are clinical settings where medical professionals focus on patient care on a day-to-day basis, like any other hospital – but with a focus on psychiatric conditions and severe mental health issues. Psychiatric hospitals aren’t long-term treatment facilities – patients may be interned after hurting themselves or landing themselves in the hospital and are free to go after a few days or weeks.

When Should I Seek Help for My Teen?

If your teen comes forward to you about not feeling well, or about having a hard time recently, it’s important to entertain the idea of seeing a professional if things don’t get better.

We all want to be there for our children, and we all want to help. But there are times when certain thoughts and moods crop up, and we don’t have the power to make them go away.

Professional treatment can help your teen improve their quality of life and regain control. Sometimes, that might involve working with someone through a mental health facility.

If you’re interested in learning more about mental health facilities for teens with substance abuse or other mental health issues, reach out for help. Our professional staff at Visions Treatment Centers is here for you and your teen.

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