Mental health issues are more common in children than adults. According to the National Mental Health Information Center, one in five children and teens has a mental health disorder whereas one in 10 people have a mental health disorder. Mental health is as important as physical health at every age, and mental health and physical health influence each other. Mental health is related to a person's feelings and thoughts and how they react to those feelings and thoughts.
Children's Signs
Symptoms that a young child is suffering from a mental health disorder include feelings of anxiety and excessive worrying, hyperactivity and difficulty following basic rules, regular nightmares, aggression and frequent temper tantrums. These symptoms will be significant enough to interfere with the child's daily activities. For example, the child's parents may be completely overwhelmed every time they try to take the child to do a basic errand due to the child throwing temper tantrums in public on a regular basis. The child may be failing his classes, not paying attention to the teacher's instructions and refusing to complete simple homework assignments.
The child might also seem sad or irritable on a regular basis, stop hanging out with his friends, refuse to do activities that he used to enjoy, such as playing video games, and seem occupied with thoughts of death. Suicidal thoughts are symptoms of mental illness at all age levels and should be taken seriously.
Adolescents' Symptoms
Any teenager might seem to suffer from a mental health issue if she's having a bad day. It's normal for teenagers to be irritable, sad, lonely and angry sometimes. She might have a fight with a friend one day and be best friends again the next day. She might say that she hates her parents when angry and slam her bedroom door. However, it becomes a mental health issue when her mood and behaviors affect her daily functioning. For example, teens who have a drop in their grades, fail classes and avoid their friends might have mental health problems. Behavioral symptoms of teenagers with mental health issues include using drugs and alcohol, participating in reckless behavior, losing or gaining large amounts of weight, setting fires, harming animals and getting in trouble with the law.
Adults' Indicators
Adults share many of the same symptoms of teenagers when it comes to mental health issues. When an adult is suffering with a mental health problem, he probably has issues at work and at home. He might avoid his friends and family members, have extreme highs and lows, constantly worry, get angry on a regular basis and deny obvious problems. Like adolescents, adults sometimes cope with mental health issues by turning to drugs or alcohol. Other symptoms indicating an adult might have a mental health disorder include delusions, hallucinations, confused thinking, unexplained medical issues and significant changes in eating and sleeping habits.
