GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Grade IX

Question: Do the teens of our country get the right amount of

psychiatric care?

Name: Saba Kashif

Class: IX
Section: H

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 Table of contents

Introduction 3

Global perspective 3

National perspective 4

Relevant Course of Action 7

Evaluation of sources of information 7

Personal perspective 8

Conclusion 9

Reference list 9

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Introduction

One in six people are adolescents; also, children and adolescents

constitute about 1/3 to ½ of the world’s total population. It is an
important period of social, emotional and mental changes that prove
permanent later in life.
But their developing brains, as well as various hormonal changes,
can make them highly vulnerable to mental health problems, which
contributes to the importance of meeting their mental, social and
emotional needs.
In this report I will be discussing whether teenagers of today receive
the right amount of psychological care and aid, on a global and
national/local basis. I will also be providing the causes and
consequences of the issues relative to them on the respective levels,
and propose relevant courses of action for them.

Global Perspective

Adolescent mental health is an important aspect of general health.

However, according to the WHO (2019), mental health conditions
make up approximately 16% of the global burden of disease and
injury in adolescents / teens. To support this, Kessler RC,
Angermeyer M and Anthony JC (2007) state that around 10-20% of
adolescents worldwide experience mental problems, yet they remain
under-diagnosed and under-treated.
Some factors for teen mental problems are; urge for independence,
peer pressure, desire for conformity, and increased access to

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technology. The internet can be a major element in influencing a
teen’s apprehensions and goals for future and distorting their image
of reality.
On a global level, much is being done to promote teen and
adolescent mental health, but practical implementations are not as in
a sufficient amount as needed. Global strategies and action plans are
frequently discussed in higher organizations as the WHO, but the
rates of teen mental problems are still very high, suggesting that
worldwide, teens are not getting sufficient amount of psychological
aid.

National Perspective

The issues of teen mental health are prevalent almost everywhere,

yet teens in low and middle –income countries (LMIC) do not seem to
be receiving as adequate professional help as in high-income
countries (HIC). The WHO (2005) suggested that while 78% of
countries in the high – income category have a child and adolescent
mental-health policy, not one low –income country does. For
example, in Pakistan, (with a population of 169 million) the allocation
to adult mental health is hardly about 1% of the annual health budget,
and there is no fix allotment for children and adolescents. The reason
might be attributed to the considerable challenges regarding the
recognition, awareness and promotion of child mental health needs
the country is currently facing. Also, cultural, regional and religious
differences hamper with the issue. Mental illness is perceived as a
major social stigma, due to illiteracy, intolerance, ignorance and

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indifference in the region, and if someone is afflicted with any then
people in rural (and even urban) parts of Pakistan consult faith
healers and spiritual leaders rather than a professional psychiatric
specialist. Added to this, there is an acute shortage of child mental
health trained personnel ( 1-2 for every 2-3 million ill children) , all of
which contribute to the fact that young people in low and middle-
income countries( LMIC) such as Pakistan do not receive required
sufficient psychiatric aid for mental health conditions .
In accordance with the topic, I conducted a small-scale primary
research along with two fellow-students. The motive of this survey
was to record the opinions of teenage students about measures
regarding mental health.
According to our findings, majority of students said that they were
formally educated on mental health and received proper professional
aid if needed. All of them agreed that teens are worried about social
pressure (due to stigmatization on mental health), and that any ailing
teens were shamed through religious beliefs. A vast number also
agreed that secrecy keeps teens from seeking counseling, and that
affected teens are judged for their mental conditions. Rather
unfortunately, all of them complained about the absence of
counseling sessions in their educational institute; furthermore, many
agreed that parents don’t promote teen mental health and should be
educated on it for their child’s well being.

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We carried out a small survey consisting of ten participants, all of
which fell in the category of adolescence/ teenagers, and the results
are as follows:

Questions Asked Agree Disagree

% %
Do your mentors educate you on mental health 60 40
issues?
Do you get professional aid if in a mental health 80 20
condition?
Do you think teens worry about societal pressure 100 -
when it comes to mental health issues?
Are teens shamed through religion if suffering from 100 -
a mental illness?
Does secrecy in our culture stop teens from 90 10
reaching out to strangers for mental health
counseling?
Does your guardian consider mental illness a 40 60
stigma?
Are there proper counseling sessions in your - 100
educational institute?
Should parents be educated on mental health for 90 10
their child?
Do parents promote teen mental health? 20 80
Are teens judged due to their mental health 70 30
issues?

Relevant Courses of Action

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The ranging issues of adolescent mental health are numerous, yet as
members of the same age group what can we do to solve those
problems? As students we may not be able to do much, but it’s the
small things that make a big difference. In many societies, adolescent
mental health problems prevail due to less awareness and more
stigmatization. Hence, we should educate people about the causes
and consequences of this issue. We can use social media and online
social platforms to spread awareness on teen and adolescent mental
health. We can also hold talks in educational institutes about the
topic; furthermore, we can offer peer counseling to fellow students
going through mental health conditions. As teens ourselves, realizing
the problem and striving for its solution should be our main goal, not
just relying on higher authorities to do it for us.

Evaluation of Sources of Information

The sources I used in this report were often online material and
generally multimedia. I frequently quoted the WHO as it provided a
sound range of facts on the topic worldwide. However, the main
challenge I faced for this source was that most of its publications
were generally out-dated, some even going back as far as 2003.
Never the less, I doubt that this affects the overall authenticity of their
statements.
When presenting national perspectives, I often came across
sensationalist articles and documentaries containing exaggerated
statements related to a particular country with high chances of bias
information or vested interest. Furthermore, often the sources

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contained unnecessarily high levels of information, as in the case of
research papers and journals, which added to the problem of filtering
out required information.
In conducting the survey for a local perspective, it was hard to find
well aware and willing respondents, which compelled us to study a
smaller group; however analyzing the results was not a problem.
Through this survey, I learned the skill of cooperation, collaboration in
teamwork. The most important learned skill was time management as
we had to carryout the survey within a limited timeframe.

Personal Perspective

Before researching for this report, I doubted that rates of teen mental
issues could be so high worldwide, even in our country. However,
research told me the high magnitude of the problem across the globe.
I was even more in a shock to find that not much has been done to
solve the issue; which brings me to my point that teens worldwide do
not really get the professional care that they need when suffering
from a mental health condition. It taught me to be more empathetic
towards such young people; it also encouraged me to look on mental
issues as a regular problem and not a major social stigma.

Conclusion

To sum up, teen mental health is an important global issue yet it is

not getting the sufficient solution to its problem. We can respect the

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organizations striving to make sure that teens worldwide get
adequate amount of professional aid when in a mental illness, but
more needs to be done. The problem lies not only with governments
and policy-makers, but even society and individuals themselves.
Though we can say that in more privileged societies, teens do get the
right amount of psychiatric aid, in developing countries like ours there
is yet a wide gap in doing so. Therefore, we can conclude that teens
of our country are not getting the right amount of psychiatric care
required for them, unlike high income-countries.

Reference List

 Khan, Faria, et al. “Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Services in Pakistan: Current Situation, Future Directions and
Possible Solutions | International Psychiatry | Cambridge
Core.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 2 Jan.
2008, /core/journals/international-psychiatry/article/child-and-
adolescent-mental-health-services-in-pakistan-current-situation-
future-directions-and-possible-
solutions/64796251F852B2FC47419F949F925EFF. Accessed
13 Feb. 2020.

 Sweileh, Waleed M., et al. “Sleep Habits and Sleep Problems

among Palestinian Students.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
and Mental Health, BioMed Central, 15 July 2011,

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 capmh.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1753-2000-5-25.
Accessed 13 Feb. 2020.

 Mian, Ayesha. “Child and Adolescent Mental Health in

Pakistan.” Eurekaselect.com, Bentham Science Publisher,
2013, doi:https://doi.org/10.2174/2210676611303010004.
Accessed 13 Feb. 2020.

 Caring for Children and Adolescents with Mental Disorders:

Setting WHO Directions. World Health Organization,
2003. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data,
https://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/785.pdf. Accessed
5 Feb. 2020.

 “Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health |

CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 Apr.
2019, www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html. Accessed
5 Feb. 2020.

 Adolescent Mental Health. World Health Organization, 23 Oct.

2019, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-
mental-health. Accessed 5 Feb. 2020.

 Schwarz, Susan Wile. Adolescent Mental Health in the United

States. National Centre for Children in Poverty, June 2009,

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www.nccp.org/publications/pub_878.html. Accessed 5 Feb.
2020.

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