MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

Mental Health and Psychological Well-Being

“Mens sana in corpore sano”, a healthy mind in a healthy body. It is natural for every
person to take good care of one’s personal health. But a lot of times, we want to focus
more on taking good care of our physical body and think less on how to maintain our
mental well-being. We have to remember that taking good care of our mental health is
as important as taking good care of our bodies. As for an adolescent, it is very much
necessary to pay attention to one’s mental health as you go through the process of
transition.

But what is mental health? Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional
well-being. It is all about how people think, feel, and behave. People sometimes use the
term “mental health” to mean the absence of a mental disorder. To be mentally
healthy as an adolescent, one thing to look for is if they are enjoying quality of life, free
of mental illness and are able to function well at school, home and in their communities.
Ensuring mental health and hygiene leads to overall well-being for individuals. What do
we mean when we say well-being? According to Pollard and Lee (2003) there has
been no single definition of well-being across literature but it could be safely described
to be a multi-dimensional construct. For Pollard and Lee, well-being among young
people consist of positive indicators in their physical, psychological, social and
economic domains. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), poor mental
health in adolescence is associated with several health and social concerns such as
higher alcohol, tobacco and illegal substance abuse (Llaneza-Ramos, 2017).

Mental Wellness

Mental health should be everyone’s concern. Teenagers have to realize that taking
good care of themselves is their responsibility as parents may not be always there to
guide them. As a teenager journey towards adulthood, he/she is very much prone to
experience mental distress. The table below is just common examples of different signs
that a teenager is experiencing mental distress:

DOMAIN SIGNS OF MENTAL DISTRESS

Non-Attendance, consistent failure to complete tasks, loss of

ACADEMIC motivation, neglect of personal responsibilities

Being tearful, appearing confused, experiencing high levels of

anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, unpredictable outbursts of anger,
EMOTIONAL & displaying speech patterns that seem pressured, racing or confused,
PSYCHOLOGICAL sustained low mood, frequent expression of negativity
 Looking pale, perspiring excessively, fainting, muscular spasms,
PHYSICAL obvious intense pain, extreme fatigue, complaints of sleep problem,
continual episodes of illness, colds, flu, etc.

Avoidance of tasks, withdrawing socially or verbally, poor self-care

BEHAVIORAL and neglected personal hygiene. Being excessively demanding of
others, talk of suicide, violent acts towards self or others

COPING WITH STRESS

Before proceeding to the discussion about mental health struggles of most

adolescents, we will first talk one of one unavoidable event that every person
experiences, i.e., Stress. It is very important to understand one’s stress tolerance,
especially teenagers, for it would greatly affect one’s individual mental health.

What is stress? Stress refers to the total response of an individual to what may be
perceived as harmful or dangerous stimulus in his/her external environment. It is
experienced when an individual encounters a threat that he/she could not deal with
due to lack of proper resources (McLeod 2010). Things that ignite threat, danger or
tension are called Stressors. Adolescence period is characterized as a stage of
meaningful changes and these young people experience more stress during this period
and could cause distress. It is necessary to take this into consideration for these threats
attack three major developments that are occurring in that time of life, namely: the
development of self and identity, involvement in groups and development of close
relationship outside the family, and emotional and behavioral autonomy development
(Zimmer-Gembeck & Collins, 2003)

But how can a person know if he/she is under stress? Stress is characterized by
feelings of tension, frustration, worry, sadness and withdrawal. These feelings commonly
last from a couple of hours to a few days, but for some, it may last longer. For most
adolescents, they are able to face the stress of negative life events by finding ways to
cope; but for others, these events tend to pile up and the stressors become far too
great to handle. When this happens, inadequately managed stress may lead to
anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, poor physical health or unhealthy coping skills like
substance abuse (Llaneza-Ramos, 2017). Below are said to be the common sources of
stress for adolescents:

 Breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend

 Increased arguments with parents, and between parents

  The pressure of expectation from self and others

 Change in parent’s financial status

 Serious illness or injury of a family member

 Pressure at school from teachers, coaches, grades and homework

 Relationships with family and friends

It would be really helpful for every teenager to learn how to manage stress.
Common ways of managing stress would be: maintaining a balanced diet, adopting a
healthy lifestyle, seeking social support and enjoying the good things in life. Always
remember that Self-Care is very important. As you journey towards adulthood, learn
ways on how to develop positive coping mechanisms in handling stressful events in your
life. Stressors will always be there. Your ability to respond positively from these stressors
would really help you a lot. And if you find yourself struggling greatly, seeking social
support and help from those people whom you know can help and lift you up.

MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS IN ADOLESCENCE

Mental health problems that teenagers encounter usually range from little stress
that they encounter daily to severe and prolonged situations. If not taken seriously,
these problems could ruin a teenager’s life. We will now discussed the common types of
mental health problems:

1. Depression - Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of

sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical
depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety
of emotional and physical problems. One may have trouble doing normal day-
to-day activities, and sometimes may feel as if life isn't worth living. Below are the
common symptoms of depression:

 Fatigue, disinterest, and poor energy level

 Sudden shifts in eating patterns or changes in weight

 Unclear body ailments such as headaches and stomach pains

 Changes in sleeping patterns such as insomnia or oversleeping

 Extreme worrying, lack of sympathy and self-confidence

 Difficulty in relating with family members

2. Anxiety – Anxiety is a sense of vague unease with no known actual cause that
makes one feel mostly tensed and restless. Teenagers who are experiencing
anxiety could experience being impatient and may have difficulty in sleeping.
Adolescents experiencing high-anxiety levels may also suffer from sudden
feelings of acute and disabling anxiety, phobia or Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder.

3. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – OCD refers to anxiety and intrusive

thoughts that drive the patient to unusual repetitive actions called
“Compulsions”. Common compulsion includes counting their steps, repetitively
washing hands, preoccupation with certain numbers and rituals (opening and
closing doors).

4. Phobias – Phobia refers to extreme or irrational fear of specific things. Phobias

share similar symptoms with anxiety. Here are some examples of phobia:

 Fear of spiders (arachnophobia)

 Fear of heights (acrophobia)

 Fear of thunder and lightning (astraphobia)

 Fear of being trapped in small enclosed place (claustrophobia)

 Fear of flying (aerophobia)

5. Eating Disorders – Eating disorders may be characterized by having the need to

eat excessively or modestly. Excessive intake restriction of food intake is
called Anorexia Nervosa while binge eating and self-induced vomiting or taking
laxatives to avoid weight gain is called Bulimia Nervosa.

6. Psychotic Disorders – Psychotic disorders are interruptions (abnormal) in thinking,

perception, and behavior. These mental diseases are relatively
severe. Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorder fall under this category. People
with Schizophrenia have changes in behavior and other symptoms such as
delusions and hallucinations that last longer than 6 months. Persons
with Delusional Disorder, the key symptom is having a delusional (a false, fixed
belief) involving real-life-situations that could be true but are not such as being
followed, being plotted against, or having a disease.

7. Anti-social behavior – Anti-social behavior covers a wide range of actions, from

theft to burglary to physical abuse to substance abuse. The cause may be to
inflict harm to people or to the community, or it may simply be behaviors running
out of control and affecting other people negatively in effect.

8. Self-harm/Self-injury – Self-harm is a mode of manifesting severe agony where

people do things to cause physical suffering themselves. People with this disorder
are not aware why they harm themselves. People with this disorder are not
aware why they harm themselves.
 9. Personality Disorders – Personality disorders are described as having severe and
unnatural modes of reasoning or performing individuals suffering from personality
disorders have problems pertinent to perception of their environment and have
trouble dealing with people. People with this disorder may not know that they
have problems as their manner of perceiving and actuating seem normal to
them.

These common mental health problems of teenagers can affect their lives if they
will be taken for granted. Parents or guardians should be watchful and should seek help
if the need arises once they show signs that their children are showing signs of struggles
with their mental health. Every teenager should also realize that it is also their
responsibility to stay mentally healthy at all times. Self-care, a good support system
(family and friends) are the major keys in motivating adolescents to stay mentally
healthy and live life to the fullest.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
The term emotion comes from the Latin verb “movare” which means to stir up,
agitate, upset or move. When a person experiences an emotion, he/she feels an
agitation or a stirred up state of your entire being. We have to realize that we are not in
our normal selves when we are angry, happy or sad that is why we often express the
words: ‘losing one’s cool”, “out of his mind/head” when a person is under emotional
strain.

What then is Emotional Intelligence? according to Salovey and Mayer (1990),

Emotional intelligence is the “subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to
monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them,
and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”. It is essential that
people are able to express and control their emotions and it is equally important that
they are able to recognize, decipher, and react to the feelings of other people.

The Wheel of Emotions

A psychologist by the name of Robert Plutchik introduced the wheel of emotions

theory that could help us understand better the various aspects of emotions.
 Plutchik stated that the strength of emotions varies from mild to intense. This
intensity of emotions also corresponds to the degree by which an emotion affects one’s
behaviors. Plutchik also believed that there are just eight primary emotions. Below are
the primary types of emotion:

1. Joy – feeling of happiness (gladness, delight euphoria)

2. Sadness – feeling of being unhappy or gloomy (grief, sorrow, melancholy)

3. Fear – feeling of being scared, frightened or anxious ( distress, horror, fright)

4. Anger – feeling of being mad, irritated or annoyed

5. Disgust – this is what we feel when something is wrong, erroneous or dirty.

6. Trust – positive emotion which also means confidence or belief.

7. Anticipation – looking forward to something good or positive to happen

8. Surprise – this what we feel when something unexpected happens

 Each of these emotions has a corresponding opposite as shown in the figure of the
wheel of emotions. Emotions which are nearer to the core are the more intense ones
and the intensity of emotions decreases as one moves outward of the core.

POSITIVE vs. NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

Most psychologists classified emotions into two: Positive and Negative. Positive
emotions can be a source of motivation and enjoyment. These are usually expressed
through words like shouting for joy, through facial expression such as smiling and
through actions like jumping or hugging a person. On the other hand, negative
emotions may cause sleep disturbances, restlessness, loss of appetite, inefficiency and
moodiness. Some people express their negative emotions by attacking the source of
frustration, kicking chairs, weeping and cursing (De Guzman & Nicolas, 2016).

As we grow old, we can learn how to modify, hide or replace our emotions. This is
very true especially for negative feelings. We have to accept that negative feelings are
very unpleasant and could lead us to experience distress. For adolescents, they could
learn how to hide feelings even in the early stages of their development. Regulating,
hiding or masking one’s emotions have advantages and disadvantages. Surely it could
offer immediate relief as you a person tries to relax and forget or hide his/her true
emotion. But this is not healthy if one will prolong hiding his/her emotion. There will be a
possibility that hiding emotions could lead one to uncontrollable actions. Repressing
emotions could also lead to depression, anxiety and many other mental health
problems.

It is very important for every teenager to be aware of one’s emotion and learn how
to manage it properly. Hiding emotions does not offer a permanent solution and could
make one’s life worse if not treated properly. Here are some ways to manage one’s
emotions properly (De Guzman & Nicolas, 2016):

1. Understand and identify one’s emotions. Know the source, stop and
contemplate and figure out the best way to address the problem.

2. Evaluate the situation.

3. Think before you act.

4. Learn the art of effective communication.

5. Put things in proper perspective and order.

6. Practice controlling emotions and expressing emotional reactions in constructive

ways.