Mental Health Treatment for Youth

This assignment delves into the multifaceted topic of mental health treatment for young people. It analyzes the various therapies, medications, and rehabilitation programs employed to address youth mental health issues. While acknowledging the positive outcomes achieved through these interventions, the assignment also emphasizes the potential downsides of overexposure to such treatments. It further explores the barriers faced in providing accessible and effective mental health care for young individuals.

Running head: MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people mental health: then and now
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
Mental health policies and treatment in adolescent has undergone drastic changes in the
few decades. Delivery of mental nursing services, access to those services and several funding
models has been implicated in recent years. This essay will illustrate how mental health services
have changed over decades and will analyse the implications of these changes in the
psychological outcomes of youth.
Then- Mental illness was thought to be a form of demonic possession (Andrade, et al.,
2014). Patients were mistreated, subjected to cruelty, given food meant for animals and died
either from exposure or malnutrition. Families also felt embarrassed to keep the person at home.
Iron rings and staple were used to secure the young patient, they were handcuffed and a pair of
fetters was tied around the legs. Asylums contained a mix of mentally ill, criminals, epileptics
and handicapped people. By the 1940s, electroshock treatments were administered.
Antipsychotic medications gained popularity in 1960s to treat teenagers. Gradually asylums were
closed and local treatment was promoted.
Now- Drugs and different medications have replaced the cruel and inhuman treatment.
Mentally ill young people are treated in local environment. Chronic institutionalizations are
avoided. Surveys suggest that the incidence of serious mental illness in young people increased
between 2012 and 2014 (Han, Compton, Gfroerer, & McKeon, Mental health treatment patterns
among adults with recent suicide attempts in the United States, 2014). Governments have begun
to focus on short-term care of patients. Short-term stays are advised to avoid high hospitalization
costs. There has been a massive increase of 75% in application of medications and antidepressant
prescription costs increased by 22.6% in recent years (Curto, Masters, Girardi, Baldessarini, &
Centorrino, 2016). Commonly used drugs are chlorpromazine, risperidone, fluoxetine,
lamotrigine, clonazepam and lorazepam. Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy is self-help,

2MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
cost effective treatment for depression. Recent treatment also utilizes mindfulness as an effective
intervention for preventing relapse in recurrent depression.
Implications of the medications. The treatment of mental disorders in youth was barbaric
in early decades. The traditional mental health treatment practices had a profound effect on the
psychology and behaviour of the young people. The construction of asylum in developed
countries led to custodial containment of such patients and provided very little care. It lead to
loss of life-skills and development of deficit symptoms in adolescent. Ill-treatment and isolation
victimised the youth. The use of insulin to treat psychopaths often made the young patient reach
a stage of coma of convulsion. Public stigma turned the mentally ill patients against themselves.
Imprisonment of young patients and use of electroshock therapies severely affected their
participation in activities and seeking behaviour. The affected young people started to believe the
negative stereotypes imposed by others and thought themselves to be dangerous and undeserving
of nursing and care. This made them develop low self esteem and they became incompetent to
achieve their goals (Andrade, et al., 2014). The adolescent also started to focus on the ‘why try’
effect, which made them believe there was no need trying any form of therapy or medication
because they would not get cured. Lack of clarity between mental health facilities, their ethical
aspects and the cost coverage also made the young patients show non-compliance from
treatment. Myths related to mental nursing and certain social and cultural norms also influenced
their behaviour. Recently, many public health policies and initiatives have been developed that
have proved successful in encouraging young people to focus on their treatment. These policies
elaborate on educating the society on the different ways to combat negative stereotypes
associated with mental illness and have greatly benefited the adolescent patient group (Yap,
Reavley, & Jorm, 2015). Though, mental health stigma exists, a survey conducted by the

3MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention states that the young people are gradually being
able to visualize the connection between their wellbeing and mental health. The old and obsolete
treatment methods have been replaced by community based services and therapeutic
interventions to identify acute mental disorders (McGorry, Bates, & Birchwood, 2013). Trained
mental staff and use of appropriate knowledge help the adolescent in fighting against prejudices
and social stigma. Combination of medications, psychotherapy, rehabilitation programs and
family support programs have helped in improving behavioural health in the youth by addressing
their needs. CBT interventions help in reducing the probability of psychotic experiences by as
much as 50%. They reduce disabilities and distress. When anxiety and depression interfere with
social life, therapies prove most beneficial. Most adolescent aged between 12-17 years engage in
risky activities. Such behaviours often occur due to dysfunction in the family. Several studies
suggest that poor family functioning and stress leads to conflict and worsening of symptoms in
the youth. The use of occupational therapy has proved beneficial in lowering the effectiveness of
such conflicts (Johnsen & Friborg, 2015). Launch of different anti-stigma programs by the
World Health Organization have shown young people achieving better mental outcomes. Since
their inception, more than 20 nations have joined the network and they have prioritized the needs
of schizophrenia patients. These programs helped made the youth abstain from criminal
activities. They have successfully stopped the use of illicit drugs and have shown to be extremely
benefited from the rehabilitation programs (Rickwood, Telford, Parker, Tanti, & McGorry,
2014). Reports suggest that, proper therapeutic intervention and implication of the behavioural
and occupational therapies have drastically reduced the number of juvenile crime cases, poor
physical conditions and interpersonal conflict among the mentally ill. Early diagnosis of
psychotic symptoms in the youth have resulted in providing necessary relief to schizophrenia

4MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
patients and their families. Several young psychotic patients have reported improved prognosis
and a dramatic reduction in their behavioural symptoms. Effective medications have helped them
to return to normal life rapidly. However, recent mental treatment advances also show some
adverse effects on young patients (Yesufu-Udechuku, et al., 2015) . Several reactions like
insomnia, suicidal tendency, nausea, dizziness and increased risk of suicidal thinking in the
youth have been demonstrated. Non-adherence has been reported in some young patients who
fail to believe that the drugs are showing desired outcomes (Slade, et al., 2014). Some adolescent
mentally ill patients have shown symptoms of akathisia, tardive dyskinesia, weight gain, blurred
vision and hormonal problems owing to overdose of antipsychotic drugs (Gerhard, et al., 2017).
Thus, it can be concluded from this essay that mentally ill young people were not given
proper treatment in the dim past owing to ignorance, stigma and lack of good health care
facilities. The barbaric practices severely affected the youth’s self-esteem, dependency and
cognitive outcomes. In recent decades, several organizations and hospitals have been established
which provide care to the youth without any prejudice or social stigma. Different drugs,
medication therapies and rehabilitation programs have been created positive outcome in young
people. However, in addition to certain positive outcomes, overexposure of these forms of
treatment can cause any negative effects on the youth as well.

5MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
Bibliography
Andrade, L. H., Alonso, J., Mneimneh, Z., Wells, J. E., Al-Hamzawi, A., Borges, G., & Florescu,
S. (2014). Barriers to mental health treatment: results from the WHO World Mental
Health surveys. Psychological medicine, 44(6), 1303-1317.
Curto, M., Masters, G. A., Girardi, P., Baldessarini, R. J., & Centorrino, F. (2016). Factors
Associated with Costs of Hospitalization of Severely Mentally Ill Patients. Bipolar
Disorder, 2(104), 2.
Gerhard, T., Stroup, T. S., Correll, C. U., Huang, C., Tan, Z., Crystal, S., & Olfson, M. (2017).
Antipsychotic Medication Treatment Patterns in Adult Depression. The Journal of
clinical psychiatry.
Han, B., Compton, W. M., Gfroerer, J., & McKeon, R. (2014). Mental health treatment patterns
among adults with recent suicide attempts in the United States. American journal of
public health, 104(12), 2359-2368.
Johnsen, T. J., & Friborg, O. (2015). The effects of cognitive behavioral therapy as an anti-
depressive treatment is falling: A meta-analysis.
McGorry, P., Bates, T., & Birchwood, M. (2013). Designing youth mental health services for the
21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 202(s54), s30-s35.
Rickwood, D. J., Telford, N. R., Parker, A. G., Tanti, C. J., & McGorry, P. D. (2014). headspace
—Australia’s innovation in youth mental health: who are the clients and why are they

6MENTAL NURSING IN YOUNG PEOPLE
presenting? The Medical Journal of Australia, 200(2), 108-111.
Slade, M., Amering, M., Farkas, M., Hamilton, B., O'Hagan, M., Panther, G., & Whitley, R.
(2014). Uses and abuses of recovery: implementing recovery‐oriented practices in mental
health systems. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 12-20.
Yap, M. B., Reavley, N. J., & Jorm, A. F. (2015). Is the use of accurate psychiatric labels
associated with intentions and beliefs about responses to mental illness in a friend?
Findings from two national surveys of Australian youth. Epidemiology and psychiatric
sciences, 24(1), 54-68.
Yesufu-Udechuku, A., Harrison, B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Young, N., Woodhams, P., Shiers, D., &
Kendall, T. (2015). Interventions to improve the experience of caring for people with
severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 206(4), 268-274.