Adolescent Mental Health

The journey through teenage years and becoming a young adult is a time brimming with growth, reward, change and opportunity. However, it can also bring some big challenges. Young people can find themselves struggling with friendships, parents, belonging, pressure to succeed at school, bullying, new emotions and physical changes. Adolescence is filled with potential stressors, milestones, challenges and achievements. It requires a balance of support and freedom from those who are close.

Being a teen and a young adult is different from that of a child or adult. Mental illnesses such as depression can manifest in ways that are different to adults, for example, depression isn’t just a low mood, but can present as inability to control emotions like pessimism, anger, guilt, irritability and anxiety. In adolescents, depressive symptoms can be:

• Low self-worth
• Change in sleep
• Change in appetite
• Poor emotional management
• Emotions varying with time of day
• Decreased enjoyment in the present moment
• Decreased pain tolerance
• Change in sex drive
• Poor memory and concentration
• Decrease in energy

It can be hard for adolescents to distinguish between the turmoil of going through a period of life with such huge changes (biological, environmental, socially, etc) and what could be, mental illness.

At our clinic, we have a highly trained team of clinicians who have taken the time to understand, learn, and dedicate themselves to supporting young people’s needs.