Causes of Childhood Mental Illness Examined

May 9, 2019 by Ann Wishart

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least one in five children will experience some level of mental illness before they are 14 and fewer than 25 percent of them get help, said Jim Adams, director of Geauga County Mental Health and Recovery Services.

About 30 percent of all children have no positive adult relationships outside their families.

Severe, complicated mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, traditionally surfacing among 15- and 16-year-olds are now being found among 11- and 12-year-olds according to Natalie Smith, child and family program director at Ravenwood Mental Health Center.

These are not just national or regional figures. Mental health professionals in Geauga County recently sited them as trends in local communities — trends schools and mental health organizations are fighting to define and address before the upcoming generation is decimated.

Every generation of children has had its challenges. In the 70s, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was defined and the recognition of eating disorders among teens followed due to Karen Carpenter’s struggles with and eventual death from anorexia nervosa in the 80s.

More recently, depression and suicide have become more common among teens and even preteens.

“Kids have always had ADHD. The teachers just deal with it,” said Donna Cook, director of special programs and accountability at the Geauga County Educational Resources Center. “What we are seeing now is much more severe.”

Anxiety Runs Rampant

Natalie Smith, Ravenwood Mental Health Center child and family program director, said counselors have seen more and more teens being diagnosed with anxiety so severe, it keeps them from functioning in school or home environments.

“It’s definitely at a much higher rate than a few years ago,” she said, adding one reason for the explosion of mental problems seems to be children’s exposure to social media.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, texting and a constant flow of uncontrolled data, real or created, impacts how youth interpret information and conditions them to expect immediate gratification, Smith said.

Another looming generational tragedy is the opioid epidemic’s affect on families, leaving broken children in its wake, Smith said.

The trauma children face when their parents abuse drugs or alcohol is enormous, she said.

Not only are the adults emotionally unavailable, undependable and unpredictable, if they become unemployed or get arrested, the child can be severely traumatized. If he or she has to be fostered, multiple mental health issues may arise, Smith added.

She said the stressors can cause a child to have behavioral and learning problems.

“They can have a lot of reactions. Trauma affects them many ways,” she said.

That is when positive adult relationships outside the family become vital to a child’s emotional survival, said Jim Adams, executive director of the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services.

Without that teacher, church leader or coach, a young victim of trauma can find it hard to deal with transitions in his or her life. When relocation, divorce, blending a family or loss of a loved one occur, a child can become anxious and, without a stable, supportive adult in his or her life, begin displaying behaviors that can make a bad situation worse, said Adams.

Getting the child and the family into counseling can make a difference if the counselor understands the child’s symptoms, Smith said.

“It’s not, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ It’s, ‘What’s happened to you?’” she said.

Stigma Fades, Parents Seek Help

Billie Olsen, family program coordinator for the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness Geauga County, confirmed more children are being diagnosed with mental illness than in the past.

That’s partly because the social stigma of having children with emotional problems has lessened, so parents are more willing to seek help, she said.

But there are more and more children with clinical anxiety and depression due to trauma caused by parental drug use and split families, Olsen said.

“Those are very, very traumatic for a kid. It’s been a huge reason we see so many more children (with mental health issues),” she said.

Domestic violence, often related to drugs or alcohol abuse, almost always results in emotional problems for children involved, Olsen said.

Bullying, either face-to-face or via social media, is a huge stressor and may be the biggest cause of suicides by youth, she said, adding children don’t know where to turn when they are being bullied and teachers and principals, as well as parents, have to intervene if they are aware of the problem. Scared kids often have trouble learning.

“What is most impactful is that kids have no real connection with adults any more. They have no trusted adults to talk to about depression,” Olsen said.

NAMI family classes help parents recognize the signs of mental illness or emotional distress. If a child becomes afraid of food, doesn’t sleep well and gets anxious, sick feelings that keep him or her from everyday activities, help should be sought, she said.

Parents should also be aware that children approaching puberty may be facing gender issues more than in the past, Adams said.

“One thing I hear about is the LGBTQ kids,” he said, adding suicides are much higher among the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual/questioning population.

“Science is just catching up with what’s been happening for a long time,” Adams said.

If a child has regularly expressed his or her sexuality to be different from the norm for an extended period of time, parents should seek advice from a mental health professional on how to best support their child. Children who feel they need to conceal being gay or lesbian are likely to have emotional issues, he said.

“These issues are going to be more frequently addressed in the future,” Adams said. “Schools, parents and health professionals need to deal with them to avoid mental health issues.”

He also identified electronic bullying, which can be especially demoralizing to gender-confused children, as a serious, anxiety-causing practice. Although he does not know of any schools that currently collect that kind of data, the effects of e-bullying are well-known, Adams said.

“It’s horrific,” he said, adding there are several core reasons children develop mental illnesses.

One can be genetics combined with a family culture of illness, such as bi-polar disorder, depression, alcoholism, etc., he said, adding the possibility of inherited disorders needs to be considered early in counseling.

Physical Activity Vital to Mental Health

There is also evidence a shortage of the physical activity children need to grow and maintain a mental balance contributes to the problems.

“A lack of activity causes the body to shut down. It changes the chemistry of the body,” Adams said. “We know physical activity (positively) helps change the way a body responds to trauma and depression.”

The Center for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System shows a high percent of children and youth spend three hours or more watching television or playing video games, he said.

Combined with sedentary pursuits such as school, homework, social media interaction and daily family expectations, many children don’t have much time to play, decompress and just be kids.

In addition, many young children are over-committed to social activities, resulting in pressure from parents and peers, which leads to anxiety, Adams said.

If a child’s emotional problems are not addressed, he or she may well develop more issues as they grow to adulthood.

“As these kids age, their problems are going to get worse and worse,” Adams said.

The high number of children currently between the ages of 5 and 10 coming to the attention of mental health organizations in Geauga County correlates to the period during which the opioid epidemic gained a foothold in the region, he said.

Help for Kids, Families

Agencies, organizations and schools in Geauga County are attacking the plethora of mental health issues children are going through from many angles.

Cook said GCESC has created countywide initiatives, like their community forum, to align resources to support students.

“Additionally, the ESC is assisting districts in the development of consortium programming to assist with educating students who struggle in school due to severe behaviors caused by trauma, anxiety, depression, etc.,” she said. “This programming is in collaboration with Ravenwood health and hopefully will be available for the fall. The pilot day-treatment type class will most likely serve students in second through fourth grades.”

An evidence-based behavior modification program called PAX gives teachers and kids strategies for peaceful cooperation.

PAX doesn’t directly address children with mental disorders, but does create a safe environment so those with anxiety or ADHD know what to expect from classmates, thereby lowering the stress levels there, Cook said.

NAMI provides free classes and support groups stressing the need for quality family time to give children a strong emotional base.

Besides providing traditional outpatient counseling and psychiatric services for children and their families, Ravenwood has a wide continuum of services, including home visits to meet families’ needs, Smith said.

The group program called Bridges brings children in grades eight through 12 together twice a week for art and music therapy, to help them address their concerns and help them become more resilient, she said.

“Our programs start when a kid gets verbal,” she said. “Over the last couple of years, about 35 percent of all our new clients brought in are kids between the ages of four and 18.”