Four steps we can take to improve mental health, especially among youth
I'm constantly reminded that the world they are growing up in is very different than the world in which I grew up. In the 1980s and 90s, we didn't have 24/7 visuals on what our peers were doing and algorithms designed to keep us scrolling.
I have followed the many headlines about the growing youth mental health crisis. And it strikes me: the problem is not our teens. The problem is the conditions in which they are growing up. As Dr. Lisa Damour reminds us, teens are not fragile or damaged; it's normal to have intense emotions that go up and down, and the single most powerful force in teen mental health is strong relationships with caring adults.
More: Lindner Center of Hope $38 million building to expand mental health treatment | Going Up
As we kick off Mental Health Awareness Month, I am thinking of the steps each one of us can take to improve mental health and well-being in our community − and especially among youth.
Here are some things we all can do:
Practice ASK (Acknowledge, Support, and Keep in touch) with people in your life who may be struggling with their mental health.
Encourage social connection − join a group that gathers regularly around a hobby, fitness, community service, or professional interest.
Strengthen safe and supportive spaces for youth by being a safe, trusted adult. Lean into curiosity and empathy.
Improve your conversational skills by talking to youth about emotions with resources at Sound It Out Together
More: Ohio Senate votes to ban students from using phones during school hours
Recently, the Cincinnati Regional Chamber and Hopeful Empowered Youth (HEY!) held a virtual conversation with Jonathan Haidt, author of the best-selling book "Anxious Generation." With powerful data and stories, he reminded us that "we are overprotecting our children in the real world while underprotecting them online." And he encouraged the Cincinnati community to join other cities nationally in building four new norms that create a healthier foundation for childhood in the digital age:
No phones in school all day. Many local schools are grappling with cell phone policies. At Cincinnati Country Day, an "away all day" policy has made a positive impact, and even students like it. This type of policy is backed by evidence: 60% of students report spending at least 10% of class time on their phones.
No smartphones until high school. While admittedly hard, this gets easier as more families align in setting a new norm. Safe-tech phones that offer calling, texting, and apps without internet access are a good option for middle school years.
No social media until age 16. Research supports aligning children's access to technology with their developmental growth. Experts recommend waiting until 16, when impulse control and emotional regulation have progressed.
Give kids more freedom to play without supervision. Allowing more independence and responsibility, like walking home from school or making the family dinner, brings kids joy and builds confidence.
This month, I'm reflecting on the ways I can better show up for my kids and for kids in our community − and especially how I can help build better connections and experiences in real life (or IRL, as they would say). We all have a role to play in establishing new norms that provide a better childhood and a brighter future for our youth. I invite you to be part of this movement. Our kids deserve it.
Kate Schroder is president and CEO of Interact for Health. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, you are not alone. Call or text the 988-suicide crisis hotline.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Establishing new norms for kids is key to good mental health | Opinion
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Time Magazine
4 days ago
- Time Magazine
The Connection Between Spirituality and Mental Health
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There are many reasons why these are particularly challenging times: Natural disasters are intensifying, chronic diseases continue to climb, and AI is driving fear and anxiety about all aspects of life. People are afraid they will lose their jobs to AI, that their kids will be negatively impacted by AI, and that AI's constantly accelerating development will evolve beyond human control. But beyond the circumstances of the times we're living in lies a more complicated existential crisis. As the French priest and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin once said, 'we are spiritual beings having a human experience.' When we give up on the spiritual part of human nature, we also give up on a supportive framework which can help us handle the anxieties of this historic moment of disruption. Many answer this need for spirituality through organized religion, but as Columbia psychology professor Lisa Miller explains, there are many ways for people to embrace their spirituality. 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A 2024 study on frontline healthcare workers in Poland during the pandemic found that higher levels of spirituality were connected to positive psychological change as the result of struggling with life challenges, known as post-traumatic growth. According to Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University, the focused attention which occurs during spiritual practices like meditation and prayer can increase frontal lobe function, which governs executive control, and down-regulates the limbic system, which is linked to fear and the fight-or-flight response. 'When it comes to broader aspects of health, the improvements in brain function associated with spiritual practices that lead to reduced stress and anxiety ultimately can lead to benefits in physical health as well,' Newberg says. 'The practice of religion, as opposed to its theological underpinnings, offers an impressive, time-tested array of psychological technologies that augment our biology,' writes DeSteno. 'To ignore that body of knowledge is to slow the progress of science itself and limit its potential benefit to humanity.' He describes religion first as working similar to how a a vaccine works, 'boosting the body's and the mind's resilience so that they can better confront whatever health challenges come their way.' And second, he uses the metaphor of medicine, healing the body and mind when sickness does hit. He cites a Mayo Clinic review of hundreds of studies in which a clear pattern emerged: 'people who regularly took part in religious activities were objectively healthier.' Even more evidence has been provided by Miller through her work on MRI scans. 'The high-spiritual brain was healthier and more robust than the low-spiritual brain,' she writes. 'For spiritually aware people across faith traditions, the brain appeared able to protect itself from the long-standing neurological structures of depression.' 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Excessive self-focus is exactly the sort of thing that can be mitigated in spiritual experiences connecting to something larger than ourselves. The everyday behaviors Boardman cites that improve our mental well-being include practicing spirituality, spending time in nature, volunteering, and helping others. A spiritual element, and an emphasis on helping others, have proven essential to the success of Alcoholics Anonymous. In co-founder Bill Wilson's book, Alcoholics Anonymous, published in 1939, he wrote that 'deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there.' Today, many people are hungry for a sense of spirituality. While religious affiliation has been dropping for decades, the spiritual impulse hasn't. A recent U.S. Gallup poll found that 82% consider themselves religious, spiritual, or both. 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Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study
Children, especially girls, who own smartphones before they are 13 years old may have worse mental health outcomes when they're older, a new study suggests. The study, published Sunday in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, analyzed self-reported questionnaire results from more than 100,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. The questionnaire asked respondents about mental health symptoms, such as having aggression, feelings of detachment, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. Those who were given smartphones at an earlier age were associated with worse mental health outcomes for every year of smartphone ownership before the age of 13. Early smartphone ownership was associated with feelings of lower self-image and lower self-worth in both girls and boys. Girls reported lower emotional resilience and lower confidence, while boys reported feeling less calm, less stable and less empathetic. "The younger the child gets a smartphone, the more exposure to all this impacts them psychologically and shapes the way they think and view the world," Tara Thiagarajan, one of the study's authors, told ABC News in an emailed statement. About 48% of young women who had smartphones by 5 or 6 years old reported having severe suicidal thoughts, compared to 28% of females who had smartphones by 13 or older. In young men, 31% of those who had smartphones by 5 or 6 years old reported having severe suicidal thoughts and 20% of males who had smartphones by 13 or older reported having severe suicidal thoughts. Study authors attributed the differences between young women's and young men's mental health symptoms to social media usage. Other factors that seemed to impact mental health outcomes were cyberbullying, poor sleep and poor family relationships. The study's authors recommended restricting smartphone and social media access for kids under 13, promoting digital literacy education and corporate accountability. "Ideally, children should not have a smartphone until age 14, and when they do get a smartphone, parents should take the time to discuss with their children how to interact on the Internet and explain the consequences of doing various things," Thiagarajan added. ABC News' Dr. Tara Narula also said on "Good Morning America" Monday that limiting kids' access to social media appears to be a key step in protecting children and their mental health outcomes. "The longer we can push off allowing our kids to be on social media, we are learning, the better," Narula said. "I think lots of families are getting creative … landlines …. flip phones for kids [are] maybe an option so that they can have access to communicating without all the other things that come with smartphones." The study's findings come amid an effort led by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of "Anxious Generation," to limit kids' smartphone use due to the impact on their mental health. Haidt has proposed setting nationwide "norms" or guidelines, including not giving children a smartphone before high school, no social media before age 16 and establishing schools as phone-free zones. Pediatrician Dr. Natasha Burgert also recommended that parents demonstrate to children how to use smartphones responsibly. "Children watch everything you do -- and that doesn't stop until they leave your house," Burgert told ABC News via email. "Connect authentically and meaningfully for a few minutes every day, and show your children that the humans we live with are more important and worthy of our attention than our phones." The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends families follow the 5 C's of media use, including teaching kids and teens how to be safe online, since content and advertisements may be targeting an older audience.
Boston Globe
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- Boston Globe
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