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Teen Mental Health

After my last few posts on stress and happiness, it is only fitting that I write on mental health today which is designated as the World Teen Mental Wellness Day. According to the American Psychological Association, Gen Z has the worst mental health of any generation. The Teen Mental Wellness Day was designed to normalize conversations and remove the stigmas surrounding teen mental health issues. 

Mental health has been a touchy subject in many cultures, including mine. And mental health is thought to be a more "modern" concept or problem. But looking back at ancient medicine, the same issues around mental health existed for centuries. Mental health was first considered by Hippocrates whose “healthy mind in a healthy body” approach was the main component of ancient Greek medicine.

In fact, mental care formed one of the three main categories in Hippocratic medicine along with physical health promotion and illness/trauma care. Hippocrates believed that mental illnesses can be treated more effectively if they are handled in a similar manner to physical medical conditions. While nutrition and physical activity were promoted for physical health, music, drama, and art therapy were considered important management tools for mental health. So not much has changed in two thousand years except we now understand mental illness as a combination of psychological and physiological processes. 

Hippocrates indeed had a rudimentary understanding of the physiological effect on mental health: he believed a build-up of black bile (one of the four humors in our body) led to “melancholy,” which is essentially the same as depression. Although the humoral theory was flawed in many ways, it laid the foundation for the physiological causes of mental illness; for instance, depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain among other factors. And the same tools that ancient Greek doctors used to treat mental health can be utilized mental health therapies, particularly for teenagers. As I wrote in an earlier post, music can do wonders for your mental health and it is now a scientifically proven treatment.

So in honor of this important day, here's wishing all my friends a happy and relaxing day filled with happiness and togetherness. Here are some tips suggested by experts to combat mental health for teens:

  • Limit social media time (easier said than done 😔
  • Take time to breathe (practice deep breathing!!) 
  • Sing a song (or listen to your playlist)
  • Video chat with a friend (my personal favorite!)
  • Drink water 
  • Laugh with family (or friends)
  • Meditate with yoga 
  • Watch a movie
  • Make art
  • Write in your journal 


Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263393/
http://www.thedunnlab.com/updates/ancient-perspective
https://twitter.com/blazernationahs/status/1366843568451641347


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