The month of May brings so many good things to the Monadnock Region – bright sun, warm breezes, new growth and the welcome liberation from a frozen world. May is also Mental Health Month, a national observance to help bring awareness about mental health to the public. This year, the theme, Mind Your Health, reminds us that mental health is as important to our overall well-being as our physical health, and that early recognition and treatment of mental health problems can help children, and everyone, reach their full potential.

Of the many strategies employed by the substance abuse prevention field, none is as effective and far-reaching as the nurturing of personal skills that contribute to a sense of competency, self-worth and confidence.  It’s well known that a sense of personal competence stems from abilities to make sound decisions, communicate effectively, accurately assess risk and consequences, delay gratification, and cope with emotional discomfort.

It’s important for youth to recognize that mastering all of these skills doesn’t guarantee that one will never feel sad, angry, conflicted or anxious. Rather, it means that one is able identify those feelings and find ways to manage them. When people are unable to tolerate intense feelings (which is, after all, what adolescence is all about), they naturally want to make them go away.  Add to this, a popular culture rife with messages that label any emotional discomfort as abnormal and undesirable, and you have a recipe for addiction.

The ability to recognize and tolerate normal emotional discomfort is important because it provides information about how the external environment affects us, and often, how we should respond. Emotional pain is equivalent to the burning sensation that occurs when we touch a hot stove – chock full of information that is vital to our continued well-being.

Equally important is recognizing when the level of emotional pain is not normal and is symptomatic of serious mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. Many of the young people who abuse substances are actually attempting to medicate serious conditions such as depression, post traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety disorders in the only way they know how.  Recognizing the difference between normal everyday feelings and serious mental illness is key to its proper diagnosis and treatment.  

The National Mental Health Association has compiled the following statistics on mental illness and children for Mental Health Month.

• Five to 9 percent of children in the United States have a serious emotional disturbance. (USSG, 1999)
   
• About 13 percent of children between 9 and 17 years old have an anxiety disorder. (USSG, 1999)
   
• About 4.1 percent of school-age children have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (NIMH, 1999)
   
• Nearly 4 percent of boys and more than 6 percent of girls have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by violence they have endured or witnessed. (JCCP, 2003)
   
• Nearly two-thirds of boys and three-quarters of girls in juvenile detention centers have a psychiatric disorder. (AGP, Dec. 2002)
   
• Only about 21 percent of children in the United States who need mental health services actually receive them. (AJP, Sept. 2002)
   
• Kids who say other students bully them at school are 50 percent more likely to admit they brought weapons to school during the past month than students who’ve never bullied or been bullied. (NICHHD, 2003) 
   
• About every two hours, a young person kills himself or herself. (AAS, 2002) 
   
• Three million teenagers have considered suicide or attempted suicide in the past year. (SAMHSA, 2002)
   
• Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people under 24 years old after accidents and homicide. (CDC, 2002)

For more information about mental health month, mental health and mental illness, visit the National Mental Health Association website at www.nmha.org

Creating Positive Change is a Drug Free Community Grantee that focuses resources to build community, strengthen families, encourage healthy behavior and reduce the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.