My patients over the years have been mostly teenagers, young adults and children. Over the years, I have diagnosed and treated thousands of patients with anxiety, depression, OCD and other mental health conditions. It has been a privilege to have worked with these patients and families and help them lead their best lives.
My thoughts after the first visit with the patient and their family would always be the same…”I wish you came to me a year ago…you could have been spared the pain and distress and felt better sooner.”
I have always wondered what if we taught the basics of mental health to our young ones and adults? Would it result in timely access to professional help if needed? What if we help create skill sets in our young to cope with everyday stressors and help train the mind and brain for future challenging situations?
We now know that training, learning how to problem solve and prepare for challenging situations can improve our mental health in the long term and has an impact on our overall health. It is similar to exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy diet for overall health and to keep HTN and diabetes at bay or under control.
The training I received and my experiences in academia, in administration and with corporate health systems has been an enriching experience. I saw that most patients sought help during crises, very few would seek professional help early on. The reasons for not seeking help early are many and include lack of knowledge about the condition, stigma, lack of access to qualified professionals and yes many times denial of the situation.
My experience includes working in academia at Duke University for a decade as an educator, clinician and in collaborative research efforts. The research studies that I was privileged to work with have led to evidence based guidelines for most pediatric mental health disorders such as Anxiety, Depression, OCD, autism and ADHD.
Along this journey, it has become clear that teenagers and young adults will benefit immensely from skills to modulate their emotions, and learn how to deal with different situations that will arise in their lives for sure. These situations can be family related, relationships, professional issues, academics and more. Being prepared and having a tool set to cope with problems and difficult emotions goes a long way in preventing mental health issues from escalating, improving overall quality of life. For those with a diagnosable mental health condition such as severe depression, education about mental health and learning skills to regulate emotions and problem solve can prevent suicide as well.