Child and Youth Mental Health: Causes and Interventions

This essay provides an overview of child and youth mental health, highlighting the challenges parents face in identifying mental disorders in children. It discusses the bio-psychosocial factors contributing to these disorders, with a focus on psychological factors and early intervention strategies. The essay emphasizes the prevalence of depression among children in urban areas of Australia and explores the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and mental health issues. It also touches upon the role of the Australian government's mental health care programs and the importance of ethical considerations for mental health care workers. The essay underscores the significance of awareness programs and education to help parents recognize the early signs and symptoms of mental diseases, and the benefits of early intervention measures in reducing long-term effects.

Running head: CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Child and Youth Mental Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

1CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
It is one of the challenging activities of the parents to identify the symptoms of mental
disorders among children. This is mainly due to the difficulty in identifying the early signs
and symptoms that are associated with mental disorders. There is also the issue of social
stigma that is associated with mental disorders (Van der Kolk, 2017).
The bio-psychosocial factor helps to understand the mechanism through which it is
described the way a healthy individual acquires mental disease without any severe traumatic
situation. In the given context it is essential to understand the psychological factors that
responsible for mental disorders among children. This will help in the process of
implementing early intervention measures to minimise the effect of mental disorders. The
given study will also provide outline guides for the parent that can be adopted to deal with
higher level of Mental Health disorders and will discuss interventions related to depression in
this case. It is also important to consider the legal and ethical issues that will be faced by
mental health care workers while dealing with children.
According to Cook et al., (2017), nearly half of mental illness that are caused in
lifetime occur within the age of 14. Depression is the most common mental health problems
that occurs within the children in urban areas of Australia. It is estimated that over one
quarter of total teenagers in Australia are currently suffering from depression related
disorders (Polanczyk et al., 2015). This is an important warning signal for all parents, who
are facing issues due to lack of normal capability of their children. It is also important to
highlight relationship among the socio-economic disadvantage that is believed to be one of
the root cause of mental issues within the adolescents. Hence, lower rate of income and
unemployment are believed to be directly associated with mental disorders. This is also
affecting the education that are received by the children.
Several social democratic factors like lack of availability of Mental Health
counsellors and proper awareness support are also responsible for Rapid rise of mental health

2CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
disorder cases. The higher rate of mental disorder has been witnessed in families with lower
rates of income and belonging from lower socioeconomic status. The rate of mental disorder
is more among boys of the same age. The lack of parental care and support are believed to be
root cause of mental disorders. The personal experience that are gained by the children during
their younger age are believed to be responsible for higher levels of depression and anxiety.
The experience that again during the changing period of life cycle also can have a major
impact upon the mentality of the individual during their adulthood.
The lack of interest in the academic life is one of the major outcomes of mental
diseases. This is encourage due to the increased level of attention deficiency and
hyperactivity, thereby resulting in impulsive behaviour. There can also be learning disorder,
which is caused due to Autism within the children. This can also cause lack of
communication skills within the children.
The Australian government has implemented an epidermal logical Mental Health Care
program. This was done under the official name of national survey in Mental Health and
wellbeing, where the government officials collect essential data about the Mental Health Care
conditions of the youths and adolescents. With the help of the essential data collected from
the government survey, it is possible to implement proper intervention measures in the form
of awareness program and mental health care training to deal with the social challenges
(Botkin et al., 2015).
It is important for the mental health care workers to follow a standard professional
code of ethics while they are implementing intervention strategies for young children. The
main purpose of the professional code of ethics is to ensure that all the mental health care
workers respect the needs of the parents and the children. It is also essential to communicate
properly with the parents, which will allow them to understand their personal issues.

3CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Respecting the values of each mental patient are the primary ethical Duty for every
mental Healthcare workers. This can help them to gain high levels of trust and confidence of
the patients. It is also important to maintain high level of confidentiality about the personal
medical record of individual patient (Jacob et al., 2016).
In the given outline of the essay, the cause of the mental health issue has been
highlighted. It has also focus upon the importance of awareness programme and educating the
society that can help the parents to identify the early signs and symptoms of mental diseases
among children. Early intervention measures can help to reduce the long term effect that are
caused due to mental health issues.

4CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Reference
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Cook, A., Spinazzola, J., Ford, J., Lanktree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., ... & Mallah, K.
(2017). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 390-
398.
Jacob, S., Decker, D. M., & Lugg, E. T. (2016). Ethics and law for school psychologists. John
Wiley & Sons.
Polanczyk, G. V., Salum, G. A., Sugaya, L. S., Caye, A., & Rohde, L. A. (2015). Annual
Research Review: A meta‐analysis of the worldwide prevalence of mental disorders
in children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(3), 345-
365.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Developmental Trauma Disorder: Toward a rational diagnosis
for children with complex trauma histories. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 401-408.