MANKATO \u2014 Perhaps your child used to love school, but now they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Or they once spoke frequently about their friends, but lately the topic hasn\u2019t come up.<\/p>\n
Or maybe they\u2019re weighed down by comparing themselves to others on social media.<\/p>\n
These \u201clittle things,\u201d as Nash Surdy said, might be cause for alarm.<\/p>\n
A licensed therapist, co-owner of mental health counseling clinic Mending Roots in Mankato and clinical supervisor there, Surdy urges parents to seek mental health care for their child in the early stages rather than waiting until the problem presents as an emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s better to go in when you\u2019re noticing a little bit of it because if it\u2019s debilitating, it\u2019s going to be a longer, bigger process,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t push that off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anxiety rates among children in the region are on the rise. Surdy said as many as 50% of the kids he works with are struggling with the mental illness.<\/p>\n
Nationally, the rates are even more alarming. As noted in a recent article in The New York Times, doctor\u2019s visits for children\u2019s anxiety rose by more than 250% over 10 years, according to a study of nearly 2 million children.<\/p>\n
Back at home, Sarah Sifers, a psychologist in the pediatrics department of Mankato Clinic Children\u2019s Health Center, agreed that the number of kids experiencing anxiety is increasing in the Mankato region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see many young people struggling with anxiety today and it\u2019s due to a lot of factors,\u201d she said. \u201cPressures from school and activities, the impact of social media, less connection with extended family, events in the world around them. So many of our pediatricians are seeing more kids with anxiety and many of those kids are making their way to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trend comes as no surprise, Surdy and Sifers agree.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of factors playing into the increase,\u201d Sifers said. \u201cWe are also making a point of screening children for mental health concerns. That\u2019s something the primary care providers at Mankato Clinic do a really good job of so that children aren\u2019t slipping through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compared to his childhood during the \u201890s, when life was more carefree for kids, Surdy said today\u2019s youth are faced with challenges their \u201890s peers never experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more things to be exposed to and be worried about,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t remember knowing what was going on with the news when I was a kid but now I have 10-year-olds coming in and asking about world events. It doesn\u2019t surprise me that these (mental illnesses) are on the rise because they have more on their plate as far as knowing what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Social media is another newer tempest for kids today. Some kids who struggle with mental illness may be dialed into their social media accounts rather than engaging in other, healthier activities, Sifers said. And they might also be experiencing cyber bullying when online.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe research suggests that increased social media use can be associated with an increase in mental health concerns,\u201d she said. \u201cOn the flip side, it can be a way for youth to build supportive social connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
She too encourages parents to get a head start on seeking help for struggling kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that one of the key pieces is going in to seek healthcare right away,\u201d Sifers said. \u201cOftentimes, when things are in the earlier stages, we can help kids get on a good path with just a few visits. So you don\u2019t have to wait until things are really rough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANKATO \u2014 Perhaps your child used to love school, but now they don\u2019t. Or they once spoke frequently…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":823138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[36],"tags":[128315,1736,7663,4471,7667,2454,7931,246,210,1141,7664,7668,7672,27611,14910,57077,517,1742,25763,7673,1737,1739,9159,27615,67,132,68,11108],"class_list":["post-823137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-abnormal-psychology","tag-anxiety","tag-behavioural-sciences","tag-child","tag-childhood","tag-cognition","tag-disability","tag-family","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-human-development","tag-human-diseases-and-disorders","tag-human-life-stages","tag-interpersonal-relationships","tag-mental-disorder","tag-mental-disorders","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-professional","tag-pediatrics","tag-psychological-concepts","tag-psychology","tag-psychotherapy","tag-social-issues","tag-social-psychology","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-youth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116640620106034627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}