Doctor's blog: 'We see young people who are really struggling'
Blog written by Dr Sophie Davies, from the Child Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. These are her views which she is sharing with ITV Central.
Our service sees young people who are really struggling with low mood – their feelings of sadness or worry have tipped into a mental health problem like depression or anxiety.
We know there are lots more young people out there who are simply finding things hard. There’s lots to cope with as a teenager:
Pressures around growing up and having increasing independence
Changing relationships with parents (which can mean lots of arguments!)
Managing friendships and relationships with girlfriends/boyfriends
School and exam pressures and having to make decisions about the future
Issues around smoking, alcohol and other drugs
Needing sleep but staying up late
Developing sexual relationships (or feeling like you’re the only one who isn’t)
Changing body shapes and feelings around your body image
Perhaps wondering about your sexual or gender identity.
All of these things are made even harder to cope with when you’re surrounded by photoshopped images in the media, and a sense that you need to prove via your own social media accounts that you have as many likes, followers and comments as everyone else and that your life is full of as many amazing activities as everyone else.
For me it’s really sad to see how many young people feel as if they’re the only one, that their worries are ‘strange’ or that there’s no-one they can talk to. Our moods can change really quickly; you can be ‘fine’ one minute and then feel really angry or upset the next.
Some young people find ways to cope with these difficult and powerful emotions, but not all of these strategies are healthy, and some – such as self harm – can cause other problems and dangers for the young person.
The good news is that there is always someone you can talk to and lots of ways to get help. School nurses are a great source of support. As well as the drop-in clinics they run in schools, young people can get confidential health advice from them via our secure text messaging service Chat Health.