Why are some teens so angry?
According to experts, the ripple effect of the pandemic is still creating problems that are impacting young people at an alarming rate and making them more anxious, upset, and then some.
Today’s youth are in trouble, in other words, according to national reports and they are facing higher rates of depression and suicidal thoughts causing them to lash out in unexpected ways.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a troubling trend is emerging among today’s youth since the lockdown in March 2020 with suicide risk rising sharply for Americans, especially youth, across the board. The rise in suicide cases, though, was most noticeable among the nation’s youth.
“Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, children’s physical and mental health, education and economic well-being have been put in jeopardy,” according to an article on COVID-19: Five Crises Facing Children After 2 Years of Pandemic. “Moreover, there are fears the impact will be felt for years to come, as the world enters the third year of a global children’s crisis brought on by the collision of COVID-19, conflict and climate emergencies, according to experts from Save the Children.”
Kijala Shako, director of Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media for East and Southern Africa at Save the Children, said in the article that the impact of COVID-19 on children was minimized since the beginning of COVID-19.
“To protect an entire generation from the lasting impacts of COVID-19, the world needs to urgently ensure that all countries, especially low-income countries and fragile states, can respond to the pandemic effectively and build back better for children,” said Shako.
Shakeena Melbourne, licensed attorney at Black-women-owned virtual law firm, Upton Law, PLLC, helps young people who suffer from anxiety and other issues brought on by the pandemic in addition to legal troubles.
She shared previously with The Michigan Chronicle how she addresses pandemic-related anxieties in youth.
“One of the things I do now, I wanted to be in a position to help … I always took pride in sharing my story,” she said, adding that “code red” is the term young people on her team say when things are getting too much.
Also, according to a report from the CDC, from March to October of 2020 mental health-related emergency room visits increased 24 percent for children aged 5 to 11 and 31 percent for children 12 to 17 when compared to the same time in 2019.
While 11 percent of respondents to a CDC survey had seriously considered suicide, the same figure jumps to 25 percent for people aged 18 to 24.
According to CDC data for Michigan:
- Suicide is the first leading cause of death for ages 10-14.
- Suicide is the first leading cause of death for ages 12-18.
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 18-22.
Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) Psychiatrist Dr. Shanti Mitchell helps a lot of young people in her line of work.
“We do a lot of work with anxiety and depression — two of the most common diagnoses, we treat children and adolescents for,” she said. “As far as HFHS goes we definitely [saw] an increase of families requesting appointments for new patient evaluation and also families needing sooner return appointments. I can say the children in adolescence are needing more mental healthcare services and struggling more with anxiety and depression with the stressors of the pandemic.”
Mitchell added that young people having suicidal thoughts, for the most part, comes from patients who already had a diagnosis of depression.
“That is mostly what I have seen — patients already struggled with mental health concerns…going into COVID… which brought their mood lower — not to say there aren’t brand new cases.”
Mitchell said that the overall takeaway is for parents to have open communication with their kids and teenagers and vice versa and don’t be afraid to ask children how they are doing and how their day is going.
Rev. Dr. Ronné Wingate Sims, an ordained Baptist minister, speaker, teacher and activist, develops “culturally relevant healing spaces” for people facing intergenerational and other forms of trauma. She is the executive minister at Imani Community Church in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. She also has a Healing Trauma meditation on the free meditation app, Healthy Minds Program.
She added that while “we are survivors,” people don’t have to stay in survival mode forever. “Caring for one’s mental health is a critical step to move from surviving to thriving,” she said. “Mental health is wealth.”
Marie Ganaway, Detroit-based spiritual coach at Autumn Experience Life & Spiritual Coaching, agrees and said that going to therapy can be one step closer to thriving.
“[When] making a decision to go into therapy or not, what I’ve found with a lot of the people I work with, the Achilles heel is the fear of the unknown — that is number one,” she said, adding that people don’t always understand what might happen if they face their darkest fears and the things of the past.
Contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255, a free resource that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for anyone who is in a suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
Find out more information at www.jasonfoundation.com.