College Writing Project 3 Rough Draft by Juliana Rafferty

Background Information

jfr128_ — 2023-11-16 19:06:27 UTC

Mental health is a psychological and emotional state of ones well being. Being mentally healthy during your childhood is important becuase it is when one is developing healthy social skills and how to cope with different problems.Children who are mentally healthy have a positive quality of life and will be able to function in life. Mental health disorders are expressed as serious changes in the way children learn behave and their emotion. It is important to have healthy mental health because it will affect the rest of your life. If one has mental health,the best way to have a good life is to treat what they have when they are first diagnosed with it. It is important so they grow to learn how to manage it. About half of a lifetime mental health problem starts before the age of 14. Our mental health also effects our physcial well being because how we are feeling mentally will affect the amount of exercise we get. “For example, depression increases the risk for many types of physical health problems, particularly long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease and stroke”(CDC). There are also many mental health disoders like schizophrenia, personality disorders, bipolar disorders, and eating disorders. Some symptoms can be how a child changes how they learn, speaks or act or even how they handle their emotions. Mental health started in 1843 but it was called mental hygiene. “Over 1 in 5 youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness”(CDC). There are different factors that can cause mental illnesse which can be trauma, ongoing medical condition, biological factors in the brain, the feeling of loneliness or isolation. The pandemic did not help with children having a mental health disorder because it caused alot of stress for them.

Key Terms

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 18:59:29 UTC

+Prolonged

-continuing for a long time or longer than usual

+Willingness

-the quality or state of being prepared to do something:readiness

+Implementation

-The Process of putting a decision or plan into effect

+Pervasive

-(Especially of an unwelcome influence or physical effect) spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people. or affecting everything we do

+Somatic Symptoms

-when a person has a significant focus on physical symptoms, such as pain, weakness or shortness of breath to the level that results in major distress and/or problems functioning

+Irratibility

-the feeling of being angry or frustrated. very easily annoyed and impatient over small things.

The Challenge of the Pandemic

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:04:46 UTC

Everyone at the time was preparing for the pandemic but did not expect how long it would last. The pandemic caused many stressors and trauma towards others because of not being able to go out and interact with others as well as the fear of getting the virus. Because the stress of getting the virus was very high for many it caused many stressors.

The Support from Parents/Caregiver

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:08:51 UTC

While growing up, children need guidance to learn how to be on their own and be independent and to learn how to cope with other things as well. They need support from their parent/caregiver and they ultimately learn from them. If they see a situation, a child will automatically look at their parent to see how they react to learn how to react to those situations. Sometimes parents do not provide a good example which will show a child the wrong ways to cope which will increase the child's mental health in a bad way.

Lack Of Mental Health Resources

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:13:34 UTC

During the pandemic, everything shut down and it caused many people to stop getting help because they could not go in person to get help. Sooner than later, many people were able to get help by phone calls and video chats with therapists to call from home and still get the help that they need.

Insurance Companies not being able to Cover for Treatment for Young Children

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:31:49 UTC

in some states, some insurance companies do not cover calls or video chats for therapists. Throughout the pandemic, there were emergency orders issued to make tele-mental health calls reimbursable by insurance companies. In Massachusetts that included both video and phone sessions.

Trauma Affects the Child as well as The Whole Family

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:36:12 UTC

Depending on the traumatic event, sometimes it can affect the whole family and with that, a child will see not only how their parents react but siblings too. As humans, we continue to learn different things and challenges throughout our whole life. But when we are children we are learning the basics of how to live and react to different situations. It is important to grow from mistakes but the pandemic caused many stress emotionally for people. Whether it was a death in the family, to getting the virus. There needs to be an outlet for children because as we are evolving as humans we need to have the right way to live.

Pregnancy during the time affecting not only the women but then affecting their child

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:37:50 UTC

pregnancy during the pandemic seemed stressful for many women because they are worried about getting the virus but the virus would affect not only themselves but their child as well. Because of that stress it put stress on the baby which will not help them.

Articles

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:47:15 UTC

https://www.apa.org/topics/children/mental-health

https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm#:~:text=Mental%20health%20includes%20our%20emotional,others%2C%20and%20make%20healthy%20choices.&text=Mental%20health%20is%20important%20at,childhood%20and%20adolescence%20through%20adulthood .

Questions

jfr128_ — 2023-11-17 19:51:49 UTC

1)How are children developing since going through the pandemic?

2) How can Children overcome the mental health caused from the pandemic?

3) Is the upcoming generations going to be affected by this?

4) How was children affected by the emotional challenges that the pandemic has caused?