REGIE R. CUMAWAS, LPT KABANKALAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT (Maricel Ilag- Ramos) *UNDERSTANDING MENTAL HEALTH *COMMON PROBLEMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS

1. THE ART OF BEING OKAY-
BEING WELL
CHAPTER 7:

2. UNDERSTANDING OF MENTAL HEALTH
• “Wellness begins when an individual sees himself or herself as a
growing changing person. High level wellness means giving to the
physical self, using the mind constructively, channeling stress
energies positively, expressing emotions effectively, becoming
creatively involved with others, and staying in touch with the
environment”
(Ardell, 1976)
• The wellness description echoes the definition of mental health given
by the World Health Organization.
• WHO defines mental health as a “state of well-being in which every
individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal
stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and able to make
contribution to her or his community.

3. THE COMMON PROBLEMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS
1. Problem with Attention/Focusing
You are at the age of an exciting time
of your life. Your energy is high, activities is
diverse, your social life is growing, and
technology abounds with a lots of offers for
you to do and enjoy. The world is unfolding
lot of possibilities.
Sometimes, you get too excited with
things happening around that you lose
Aside from your studies, you still have other
activities (sports, music/band, outreach,
weekend time with friends and family, part
time job, etc.)
How would you handle them all?

4. Often, your studies suffer the most when inattention or losing
focus plagues you. You end up not being able to deliver what is
expected from you: doing homework, submitting projects, fulfilling
performance tasks, passing exams, etc. What is the outcomes? You
struggle in class.
Inability to focus may be temporary. It may be due to certain life
events or situations. However, if it becomes a chronic that is already
affects your normal functioning for quite a long time (examples: you get
repeated reprimand for annoying behaviour like “fooling around”
instead of listening in class, restlessness that you don’t get to finish your
work, has been a problem for 4 months or more), it is the best to
consult.
Talk with someone in authority like your parents. You can see
your school counsellor for advice.
Attention deficit/Hyperactive Disorder- This chronic problem in
attention, hyperactivity and/or impulsivity.

5. 2. Mood Swings
• Mood swings would mean the shifting of moods. Often you hear
comments like, “She is very moody. She would be happy now, then
would be quite after.” “Sometimes, he is friendly. Sometimes, he is a
snub. It depends on his mood.” Some one with mood swings tends
to be irritable and can be very unpredictable.
• It is quite typical for adolescents, especially for girls to be moody
because of hormones which bring a lot of bodily changes to adjust
with.
• Mood disorders-These are type of mental disorders characterized
emotional disturbances that affect physical, social, perceptual, and
thought processes of an invidual.

6. 3. Low Self-esteem
• Self esteem refers to how well
you regard yourself. Teenagers
with low self-esteem suffer from
inability to maximize his/her
talents and skills believing that
he/she doesn’t have what it
to do or perform tasks. You think
low or poorly, such affects your
self-confidence.

7. 4. ANXIETY
• It is normal to be anxious. We all
experience it every now and then. We
worry, we feel nervous, and this
emotion is often accompanied by a
racing heart or trembling hands.
• It usually happens when we are
anticipating something we are fearful,
or when we faced with difficult
situations.
• It becomes a problem when it
becomes chronic.

8. • It is a serious when it already affects
your normal functioning, like when
you start to experience sleeplessness,
feel scared for no reason or experience
restlessness.
• Moreover, if it is baseless and occurs
in disturbing regularity that you have
stopped doing your normal activities,
it is already time to consult a
professional like a counsellor or
psychologist to address it.
Anxiety Disorder
This is a class of disorders
marked by extreme worry and
apprehension.

9. Major Depressive Disorder.
It marked by persistent
sadness, despair, and loss of
interest in life activities.
5. DEPRESSION
• All of us experience feeling depressed
once in a while. It is normal especially
when faced a lot of problems,
difficulties, or frustrations.
• It becomes a cause of concern if the
duration last a number of weeks (4 to
6 weeks or months), and may have
already impaired you from doing
your normal activities.
• You probably miss class, or
experience low and no energy to do
your usual routine

10. 5. EATING PROBLEMS
• This is more than losing
appetite. Adolescents can be
vey conscious of their body,
but if they become overly
conscious, then there is a
problem.
• Becoming overly conscious
about one’s weight is usually
caused by unhealthy body
image and over- concern for
one’s physical looks.

11. • It usually manifested by the
concerned individual adapting
extreme measures to lose
weight , like crash-dieting and
cutting down on food intake.
• If it reaches a point of extreme
obsession to lose weight, then
it may result in some
psychological disorders like
anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

12. ANOREXIA NERVOSA
• is a psychological disorder wherein
the person keeps his/her weight as
a low as possible because of faulty
thinking that he/she is fat and
would want to be thin as possible.
• These extreme measures create
health problems like dizziness, hair
loss, or dry skin. Worst is over
thinness that threatens the overall
health condition of the person.

13. BULIMIA
• It characterized by a cycle of overeating then purging what has been
eaten by vomiting to avoid gaining weight.
• It is a serious eating disorder wherein the person feels that he/she
lost control of eating, and there is also distorted image of oneself.

14. 6. SUBSTANCE ABUSE
• WHO defines substance
as “hazardous or harmful use
of psychoactive substances,
including alcohol and illicit
drugs”.
• Psychoactive substance affect
the central nervous system by
altering brain function
resulting in changes
perception, behaviour, and
mood.

15. • Many factors account for use
illicit drugs.
• One major reason is social
influence, whether in the form
of peer pressure or conformity.
You see your friends and other
people doing it, and you think
it is just fine and part of
growing up.
• Social events have also
become an easy venue for
such activities.

16. • Other reasons why some adolescents engage with it include attraction
to popular media work, boredom, rebellion, and need psuedo-
confidence to overcome shyness or fear, and escape from problems.

17. • Other reasons why some adolescents engage with it include attraction
to popular media work, boredom, rebellion, and need psuedo-
confidence to overcome shyness or fear, and escape from problems.