Eveleth 1

Kaitlyn Eveleth

James Smith

ENGL 2010

April 26, 2023

The Importance of Good Mental Health in Children and Adolescents and its Positive Impacts on

Development

Mental health is seemingly becoming a more popular controversial topic. Mental health

affects everything an individual does. It affects everything from how they think, feel, and act.

Over the years more awareness about mental health has spread due to the ongoing crisis it poses

to children’s development. Mental health has many negative impacts like low-self-esteem and an

increased likelihood of developing poorer mental health issues like bipolar disorder, and major

depressive and anxiety disorders (Holder 369).

Mental health problems stress out the individual and school, family, and larger society

(Kim S23). Good mental health is essential for children and adolescents because it is linked to

positive outcomes in various aspects of their lives like social relationships and academic

performance, and interventions promoting mental health can lead to significant benefits in the

long and short-term.

Mental Health and Physical Health

Mental health impacts an individual's physical health, people with poorer mental health

are linked to experience more degrading physical health conditions than people with a good

mental health state (Prince 862). It is a well-known fact among mental health enthusiasts that
 Eveleth 2

mental health impacts an individual's physical health, the links between physical and mental

health is what professionals would say is “clear.”

There are unexplained somatic symptoms that accompany mental health like dizziness

and fatigue, aside from the unexplained symptoms that accompany mental health problems,

Prince explains how an abundance of evidence shows strong associations between depression

and anxiety disorders being, and various hearth diseases (862). Prince used a variety of sources

and studies to look at the links between mental health and physical health and found that obesity

is linked to an increased rate of lifetime diagnoses of major depressive and bipolar disorders

(Prince 862).

Not only does mental health issues increase the risk of ill-physical health, it also is a huge

risk factor when it comes to physical health issues. People with physical health issues are more

likely to develop things like depression and anxiety (Prince 862: McDougall 51), which in return

makes a physical disorder harder for an individual to cope with, and eventually leads to even

more degrading physical health.

As shown, mental health impacts an individual's physical health, leading one to believe

that untreated mental health in children can be fatal for their development and life outcomes.

Mental health does not just impact the physical health of someone, it also impacts their

performance in various aspects of their lives. Mental health problems are associated with

educational failure, and because of that educational failure is academic stress, then that academic

stress causes more mental health problems for an individual (Fazel 2014).

Academic failures are often signs someone is dealing with mental illnesses such as

depression, according to Fazel. Fazel synthesizes multiple studies about the overall effectiveness
 Eveleth 3

of mental health interventions. It aims to give an understanding of the current evidence of mental

health interventions in schools. And proves the claim that mental health is connected to how a

child does academically.

Not only does it affect academic performance as McDougall explains “Research shows

untreated mental health problems in young people lead to a range of poor outcomes.” (48) one of

the things included in that was crime and antisocial behavior. Poor mental health also affects

how one acts, as mentioned previously, research supports the claim that children with poor

mental health will suffer with long-term problems and results in low functioning members of

society. That leads one to believe that poor mental health in childhood most often leads to

problems like substance abuse and more problematic mental problems like mood disorders like

schizophrenia (McDougall 52).

Children and Adolescents that are mentally healthy are more likely to develop a sense of

right and wrong (McDougall 50) which goes hand in hand with previous claims about mental

illness and crime. Children that are healthy mentally can also enjoy childhood things like

learning and playing, being aware of others, resolving problems, and learning from them

(Mcdougall 50).

Mental health affects every part of individual life and goes through a continuous cycle of

worsening physical health which worsens mental health, and the cycle begins again and

continues without stopping.

Intervention
 Eveleth 4

The only way to stop that never-ending is intervention. Intervention is classified as things

like therapy, prescribed medication, diagnosis, and school-based social and emotional learning

programs, those things all have a profound impact on life outcomes of children.

Research also shows that when a child receives adequate treatment earlier in life, it

reduces the risk of them developing serious mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and

schizophrenia (McDougall 52) as mentioned.

In connection to how mental health is connected to academic achievements Agnafors

article titled “Mental health and academic performance: a study on selection and causation

effects from childhood to early adulthood.” that used a collection of studies that also pointed

towards how important intervention is, but the aim of this article was to investigate the

associations between mental health and academic performance.

Agnafor conducted a study that 1700 children took part in, said study had the children’s

mental health being assessed from birth to 19 years of age. The results showed that children

around the age of 12 that had mental health problems were associated with “lack of complete

final grades”. Agnafor then concluded that mental health problems in childhood and adolescence

increase the likelihood of mediocre performance academically later in life.

Mental health intervention provides children with the ability to develop crucial skills like

emotional resilience, the ability to enter mature and satisfying relationships, and the skills to

cope with emotions during times of adversity and stress (McDougall 54). Intervention is

important because it gives individuals a chance to live a healthy life, Prince explains “Up to 15%

of suicides could be averted by interventions” which shows how important intervention can be.
 Eveleth 5

Intervention gives opportunities for people to get the help they need. While the overall aim for

intervention is to prevent development or worsening mental health problems.

Positive outcomes of good mental health

Intervention has a positive impact on an individual's life, having good mental health has

positive outcomes like improved academic performance, improved behavior, improved mood,

and improved physical health. There are lots of trivial things that an individual experiences

because of having a good, positive mental state. Those trivial things include things such as

gaining coping skills, longer life expectancy, and the ability to be in a secure relationship.

Over all those things make people less prone to depression. Holder in their article about

the implications that are result of stigma in mental heal at micro and macro levels, pointed out an

interesting statistic about depression and money earnings. Holder explained that people who

have mental health issues of any kind have lost earnings up to “$193 billion a year” (Holder

372), having good mental health gives individuals the willpower, resilience, and strength to keep

a stable job and the ability to better be able to provide for themselves.

Counterargument

Now one could make the point that the medication, might have unknown consequences

on a child’s development, or how children of young ages might not benefit from verbal

communication therapies such as cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), because they are not mature

enough to know how to talk about their feelings.

Rebuttal
 Eveleth 6

That is a valid point, and it does hold a little truth in them, however there is no strong

evidence backing up that claim. In Singh’s article titled “Beyond polemics: science and ethos of

ADHD” covered many aspects of the discussion on ADHD. ADHD prevalence has increased,

and the best-found way to treat said psychiatric problem is stimulant medication.

There is lots of research that has been done that shows that stimulant medications are safe

and so far, have shown no impact on a child’s development in a negative way. Most of the

problems individuals have with medication are the ethics of treating children with “psychotropic

drugs” (Singh 957).

Now every child is different in terms of what will work for them when it comes to mental

health help, some kids do not benefit from CBT, and others do. Those children who do not

benefit from therapies like CBT may find non-verbal therapy beneficial, non-verbal forms of

therapy as McDougall listed are to be things based on dance, play, and music (54). Things like

group and family therapy may also be more beneficial for someone who does not do well with

one-on-one talks with a therapist.

Mental health awareness is in lots of places, and this awareness has led to intervention.

As I have mentioned before invention is one of the most important things when it comes to

mental health issues, and the ability of being able to provide sufficient mental health treatment

for everyone is a vigorous task, access to that help is slowly becoming more accessible though

government-funded projects, nonprofit organizations, and even schools.

According to Fazel in their article titled “Mental health interventions in schools in high-

income countries” talks about how schools all over high-income countries (including America)

are trying to use “universal approaches” to help the effectiveness of intervention, the thing with
 Eveleth 7

“universal approaches'' are that they are hard to implement, and overall do not prove to be

remarkably effective. Other kinds of approaches like indicated approaches, and indicated

approaches have been proved by many studies, to be beneficial for those who have depression,

and overall show a greater reduction of symptoms than universal approaches did (Fazel 2014).

Conclusion

Overall lots of evidence points towards better life quality for those who have good mental

health. There should be more emphasis on the importance of mental health for children and

adolescents while creating more accessible mental health care so individuals can get the help

they need.

In conclusion, the evidence does show that continual positive life experiences, outcomes,

and affairs, along with positive emotions and actions, in any stage of life, but especially

childhood and adolescence, are signs that someone has a healthy mental state. As said by many

studies in this essay.

Looking forward, there is a lot of potential in exploring how beneficial several types of

therapies can be. What are the most beneficial ways to combat any kind of mental health issue

that arises in an individual? Is it cognitive behavior therapy, group therapy, family therapy, non-

verbal therapies centered around physical activities, medication, or is it a combination of all of

them?

A topic that had popped up a lot in the articles previously presented was the accessibility

of mental health care. McDougall said, “Nurses share a responsibility to ensure that children

receive care and treatment,” Kim said, “It is important that these services and programs (talking
 Eveleth 8

about mental health care) are accessible” and Holder said, “(Stigmas) play a critical role in

limiting mental health care access.”

All those sources talked about accessibility, because how is someone supposed to resolve

their mental health issues if care is not accessible to them? Accessibility needs to be increased.

There are tons of non-profit organizations and other things raising funds to provide help for

people who cannot afford it, but for this crisis to be solved there needs to be a bigger investor.

What Is meant by bigger investor is turning to the government to get more involved, the

government can provide more accessible access to mental health care than non-profit

organizations. Certainly, there has been much more initiative by multiple organizations to

address mental health stigmas and the need for better mental health care through education

(Holder 372). There needs to be more initiative on a government level. Government involvement

could give the mental health crisis national recognition and more resources for education about

mental health and other things that are vital to prevent major mental health problems

Will improving mental health care make people feel more inclined to take care of their

mental health? It is to be believed that easier accessible mental health care will lead to a whole

list of positive outcomes for hundreds and thousands of individuals? Would more accessible

mental health care make for a brighter future for America?

Would taking mental health concerns to a governmental level make it so more young

people get help and then leads to America prospering overall. If the people who inherit America

have the mental clarity to make wise choices will not that leave the country better off? Mental

health could be the future of America.

 Eveleth 9

Works Cited

Agnafors, S., Barmark, M. & Sydsjö, G. Mental health and academic performance: a study on

selection and causation effects from childhood to early adulthood. Soc Psychiatry

Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 857–866 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01934-5

Fazel, Mina et al. “Mental health interventions in schools 1: Mental health interventions in

schools in high-income countries.” The lancet. Psychiatry vol. 1,5 (2014): 377-387.

Holder, Sharon M., et al. “Stigma in Mental Health at the Macro and Micro Levels: Implications

for Mental Health Consumers and Professionals.” Community Mental Health Journal,

vol. 55, no. 3, Apr. 2019, pp. 369–74. EBSCOhost,

https://doiorg.snowcollege.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0308-y.

Kim, Hyun K., et al. "Children's mental health and family functioning in Rhode Island."

Pediatrics, vol. 119, no. 2, Feb. 2007, pp. S22+. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A159279914/HRCA?u=snowcoll&sid=bookmarkHRCA&xid=43

52576b.

McDougall, Tim. "Mental health problems in childhood and adolescence." Nursing Standard

(through 2013) 26.14 (2011): 48.

O, Neil, Adrienne, et al. “Relationship Between Diet and Mental Health in Children and

Adolescents: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 104, no.

10, Oct. 2014, pp. e31–42. EBSCOhost.

Prince, Martin et al. “No health without mental health.” Lancet (London, England) vol. 370,9590

(2007): 859-77. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61238-0.

 Eveleth 10

Singh, Ilina. "Beyond polemics: science and ethics of ADHD." Nature Reviews Neuroscience

9.12 (2008): 957-964.