Teen mental health problems

Just because a teenager gets a little nervous in interacting socially, or in a social meeting does not necessarily mean that he/she is suffering from a social phobia.

Many teens are self conscious or shy on occasions, and this is quite normal for anybody, and the shyness or feeling of slight fear does not interfere in any way with their everyday lives.

For a sufferer from the social anxiety disorder however, it does interfere with everyday functioning, and often can lead to acute distress.

Some Symptoms of Social Phobia in Teens. (Psychological).

a)      There can be a great fear of being continually watched by unknown people, or even being judged by them.

Tags: Social Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Socially

Autism is a condition which affects the ability of the teenager to communicate and deal with normal social situations, also difficulties are encountered with emotional control.

During the teen age, or the age of puberty the youngster is having a difficult enough time, coping with the change of growing into an adult, like hormonal changes, unstable  or mixed up emotions, seeking a personal identity, so the onset of autism can be a very stressful situation for the young teen to deal with.

There are different levels of autism, one which seemingly is not so apparent and another more severe form which causes great difficulty for the teenager.

Tags: Autism, High-Functioning Autistic Teen, Puberty, Teenager

Teenagers affected by schizophrenia will show major changes in personality and thinking patterns, sometimes these can last for long periods, but other sufferers can have less severe changes, which last for shorter periods of time. But with this kind of illness strangely enough, the teen can experience and show times of normal behavior and thinking, before lapsing into schizophrenic behavior again.

Symptoms of Teen Schizophrenia.

n  The teenager may suffer from Hallucinations which involve the hearing voices giving the teen instructions or criticizing him/her. The senses of feel and touch can also be affected and to the teen these voices and sensations are very real!

Tags: Disordered Thinking, Medical Treatment, Support Therapy

The onset of the first episode of the illness known as schizophrenia usually occurs when the person is a teenager or a young adult. It can start late in life but this is uncommon, and the onset can happen suddenly, but usually, before full blown schizophrenia occurs, there will be changes noticed in the personality of the person.

There has been no single cause of the illness positively identified, but there seems to be a number of factors which either make a teen more prone to schizophrenia, or to trigger off an episode of the illness.

Some Causes of Teen Schizophrenia.

Tags: Biochemistry Factors, Cause, Schizophrenia, Teenager

The best method of treatment for social or anxiety disorder or social phobia will obviously vary from teen to teen, and while it may seem that nothing can be done about the disorder, there are, in fact, many things which can be done.

Social phobia is treatable if the correct kind of help is sought, and can be overcome, especially if the sufferer shows determination, and develops a positive mental attitude to assist the recommended treatment, and so return to having, and enjoying, a normal social life.

If a teen has been recommended for therapy or medical treatment for the phobia, there are a few things which the teen can do to assist in the recovery process.

Tags: Social Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Treatment

Personality disorder in the teenager can be, and often is expressed as social conduct disorder.

According to the Diagnostic Statistics Manual of Mental disorders (DSM-IV) social conduct disorder is defined as being serious misbehavior against people, animals and property.

This teen personality disorder is a persistent pattern of misbehavior against the basic rights of other people and a flagrant disregard of the values and rules of normal society and can be seen as—

Misconduct and Aggression to People and Animals.

n  The teen is often involved in the bullying, intimidation or showing threatening behavior to other people or animals.

n  He/she (more often he!!) will frequently cause physical fights against others using weapons of violence, like bricks, broken bottles knives or guns.

Tags: Personality Disorder, Social Conduct Disorder, Teenager

The lesser known teen personality disorder known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), seemingly is on the increase. The disorder which is of a learned behavior nature, usually starts in the teen years.

Teenagers who suffer from personal low esteem begin to create fantasies about themselves, to believe in their own self importance, and grandiose themselves. In general they are in love with themselves, and it is of interest to noe, that the name Narcissus originate from a Greek mythological young man who fell in love with himself whilst seeing his image in a pond.

It is estimated that about 1% of the teenage population have NPD.

Tags: Learned Factors, Pathological Signs, Teen Narcissism

Teenage depression can exhibit far more many negative effects on the teens personality than just the expressions of extreme sadness and melancholia. Unhealthy attitudes of rebelliousness and hostility may develop in the youngster, which are just the teens way of trying to cope with the many inner conflicts being suffered.

If the depressive condition is allowed to go untreated there are many ways in which such an unhealthy attitude may be shown—

Some Effects of Untreated Teen Depression.

Running away From Home. The threat of running away or actually running away from home is really the teen crying out for help. He/she does not know what to do and may think in desperation that a different environment will put everything to right.

Tags: Hostility, Melancholia, Sadness, Teenage Depression

The personality of a teenager is reflected by his/her inner feelings, thoughts and behavior on a personal level, but personality is also identified by the way a person is seen by others.

In society there are set rules and values which are accepted as being the normal standard, and any behavior which steps outside the boundaries of these values persistently, is viewed as anti-social behavior and is thought to be either a personality or mental disorder being suffered by the perpetrator who breaks these social values.

Within any teenager, personality or mental disorder is not an illness as such since it has little effect on the intellectual or perceptual functions of the teen and he/she is both knowledgeable and aware of such anti-social behavior patterns. There are many kinds of such disorders which affect a teens social responsibility.

Tags: Behavior, Mental Disorder, Personality, Society