Mental health education for children age 13-18

At this age, you can start educating your child about mental illness and how to prevent it. If you suspect your child is having mental health issues, this is the time to encourage him to talk about it with a school counselor or therapist. As much as you want to help your child, sometimes it’s easier to talk to a third person.

Educating about mental illness

It’s vital that your child understands that mental illness is not someone’s fault, it can be a combination of genetics, childhood, social circles, physical illness, experiences, etc. Mental illness is not contagious, and people with mental illness are rarely dangerous. If you educate your child about mental illness it’s best to explain that mental illness is the same as any other illness, it’s just harder to see.

Educating your child about depression

Tell him that people with depression feel sad a lot of times because the brain is missing certain hormones that make you happy. These missing hormones make depressed people very tired, and they don’t want to do a lot of things. They don’t want to feel sad, but they can’t help it, and even though exercise, self-care, and healthy living will improve their situation, it’s not a cure.

Educating your child about anxiety disorders

If you want to teach your child about anxiety disorders, you can tell that the brain of someone with anxiety is like a sensitive alarm that keeps going off. People with anxiety had a bad experience in the past, and now the brain keeps telling them they are in danger. Ask your child to think about a time they felt scared, and explain that people with anxiety always feel like that. It’s hard to beat an anxiety disorder because humans are wired to avoid dangerous situations if your brain keeps telling you are in danger, it’s hard to confront it.

Educating your child about bipolar disorder

People with bipolar disorder have a hormonal imbalance. You can tell your child that people with bipolar disorder feel very low at times, Their energy levels are low, they feel sad and don’t know what they want anymore. Other times they feel very high, and they are full of energy and excited about all the things in life. Bipolar disorder is very complicated, but it’s enough for your child to know that bipolar disorder causes periods of highs and lows and periods of neutral moods, these periods can rapidly shift, stay for a more extended period or even appear at the same time. Bipolar disorder can be managed with medication and therapy. A life chart can be used to keep track of the disorder.

Educating your child about personality disorders

There are several kinds of personality disorders, but one thing is the same for all of them, people with a personality disorder reach a moment in their life where they realize their coping mechanism is failing them. They lose friends, have trouble handling emotions or can’t keep a schedule. However, this is not their fault. People with a personality disorder missed something in their childhood; they had to survive, so they came up with something that helped them. They no longer need it in adult life, but they are still missing the basic needs, safety, self-love or something else their parents were supposed to teach them.

There is a stigma on personality disorders, for a wrong reason. People with personality disorders just want to survive, they want to fit in, and they do this in a way they know best. If you’re going to explain personality disorders to a child, you can start by telling how everyone is different and people act a certain way to survive. They do what they feel is best, but sometimes that is not actually what is best for them anymore, and they need to find a different way to make up for what they missed in their childhood.

Educate your child about self-love

Before you can love someone else, you need to love yourself first.When educating your child about mental health make sure to include self-love. The teenage years are very hard on children, they look at others and wonder if they are good enough, Social media plays a big part in this. Here are a few tips that can help boost your child’s self-esteem.

Encourage your child to pursue their interests

They learn what they like, and by finishing what they started, they build healthy habits and the feeling they accomplished something. The satisfaction of reaching a goal will give their self-esteem a fantastic boost.Show them the real story behind cover models.

Let them help

Give them chores, explain that you aren’t doing it to punish them, but to teach them they can do it. Let them cook a meal, or make the bed. Explain that their help is valuable and they will be ready for when they move out.

Let them make their own choices

Show them your trust, by letting them make their own decisions. It will boost their self-esteem if they know you believe in them. They will not always make the right choice, but that will also be a lesson.

By Dimph