Book Description

Young adults face health challenges that are vastly different from those of previous generations. While their parents benefited from new vaccines, antibiotics, and other medications, today's teens are learning that lifestyle choices also play a central role in health maintenance. The decisions they make and the habits they adopt form the foundation for lifelong wellness. Omnigraphics' Teen Health Series is a specially focused set of volumes within the highly acclaimed Health Reference Series. Each volume deals comprehensively with a topic selected according to the needs and interests of people in middle school and high school. While many young people recognize that physical fitness is important for maintaining a healthy body, the importance of mental fitness for maintaining a healthy mind and emotions is sometimes overlooked. Statistics suggest that nearly one out of every five teens struggles with a mental health concern, and one in ten suffers from a mental disorder severe enough to cause some level of impairment, including poor academic performance, loss of friends, family conflict, faulty body image, and difficulty making decisions. Compounding the problem is that fact that many young people experience a long delay-sometimes decades-between the onset of their symptoms and when they eventually seek treatment. Mental Health Information for Teens, Third Edition offers updated information about maintaining mental wellness and coping with a host of problems that commonly occur during the adolescent years, including self-esteem issues, stress overload, family problems, heartbreak, and grief. It describes the warning signs that may accompany mental health disorders such as depresion, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, phobias, behavioral disorders, personality disorders, psychoses, and schizophrenia. It also discusses the types of treatment most commonly used by mental health professionals. Facts about alternative approaches to mental health care are included, and the book concludes with directories of resources for help and support and suggestions for additional reading. Book jacket.