Teens & Technology: What Parents Need To Know

It’s catching. 

Like an STD, it spreads quickly, has an awful burning sensation and stays with you log after you’ve treated. It has occasional flare ups that much like Hester Prynne’s Scarlet Letter, it announces to the world how reckless you were in your youth. The harm it causes differs from person to person, but one thing is true for all who have it: it never goes away and the damage is permanent. It strikes the young and old, from your neighbors, your coworkers or your children. It even happens to celebrities from Vanessa Hudgens and Blake Lively and most recently Anthony Weiner.

What’s this new plague spreading around the world? Sexting: the act of taking sexually provocative picture of yourself and sending them out to people on you contact list. And what sector of the population is more at risk? Children and Teenagers.

Children (yes, children) and teenagers are at a higher risk of partaking in this activity, and of suffering a variety of consequences. From public exposure of (and to) intimate images, to depression, anxiety, and cyberbullying, the consequences are harsh regardless of the age.

Children and adolescents, developmentally speaking, are in the process of growing up physically and mentally. Their brains are also developing and processing the immense amount of stimuli they’re exposed to. Television, radio, Internet, video games, cell phones. They are also beginning to deal with the abstract concept of consequences. This means that while they can figure out what’s the danger behind an action, they have yet to fully process that such action could affect them directly. Some parents often complain about their teens not measuring risks and acting without thinking. In pop psychology we often hear the term “Superman Complex”, which is not far off from reality. “That looks like trouble, but it’s not going to happen to me!” is a common train of thought.

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

At Magis Foundation, we have started celebrating National Children's Mental Health Awareness with Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It is important for parents, family members and teachers to keep track of children's mental health for a healthy development. 


The key to healthy psychological health is awareness and prevention!  


We'll be providing parents, family and caretakers with information from this campaign throughout this week. 

First stop: Children and Violence. 

In 2009, researchers found that more than 60 percent of youth age 17 and younger have been exposed to crime, violence, and abuse either directly or indirectly including witnessing a violent act, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, and dating violence. Nearly 10 percent were injured during the exposure to violence, 10 percent were exposed to maltreatment by caretaker, and 6 percent were a victim of sexual assault.¹

With help from families, providers, and the community, young children can demonstrate resilience when dealing with trauma.

Research has shown that caregivers can buffer the impact of trauma and promote better outcomes for children even under stressful times when the following Strengthening Families Protective Factors² are present:

• Parental resilience
• Social connections
• Knowledge of parenting and child development
• Concrete support in times of need
• Social and emotional competence of children

Trauma Data Source:

1. Finkelhor, D., Hamby, S.L., Kracke, K., Ormrod, R.K., & Turner, H.A. (2009). Children’s Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Study. Juvenile Justice Bulletin.
2. Horton, C. (2003). Protective factors literature review. Early care and education programs and the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Center for the Study of Social Policy.

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Brought to you by The Magis Foundation- Because mental health matters. 

May 6th: Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

By: Thomas Insel at the National Institute of Mental Health*

May is Mental Health Month. This year, we are teaming up with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to celebrate and promote Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day on May 6th.  Relevant information and materials can be accessed on NIMH’s Child and Adolescent Web page.  

Our commitment to bringing the field together to unlock the mysteries of childhood mental illness is based on new paradigms and new scientific approaches.  The time has come to “rethink” mental illness, particularly in young people, beyond the “chemical imbalance” explanation of depression or the “blame and shame” approaches of the past.

Mental disorders are the chronic diseases of young people in our country. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that mental disorders are the number one source of medical disability for people 15-44 years of age in the United States and Canada.ⁱ There are mental disorders that we associate with childhood, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). But 50 percent of patients describe mood and anxiety disorders, generally considered adult illnesses, as having an onset by age 14.ⁱⁱ

We must address mental illnesses, from autism to schizophrenia, as developmental brain disorders with genetic and environmental factors leading to altered circuits and altered behavior.  Today’s state-of-the-art biology, neuroscience, imaging, and genomics are yielding new approaches to understanding mental illnesses, supplementing our psychological explanations.  Understanding the causes and nature of malfunctioning brain circuits in mental disorders may make earlier diagnosis possible.  Interventions could then be tailored to address the underlying causes directly and quickly, changing the trajectory of these illnesses, as we have done in ischemic heart disease and some forms of cancer.  For serious mental illness, this is a new vision for prevention, based on understanding individual risk and developing innovative treatments to preempt disability.

While the onset of mental illness generally occurs early in childhood or adolescence, diagnosis is often delayed for years or even decades. Research focused on recognizing illness symptoms or intervening earlier can help address this problem. For example, the NIMH Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) initiative is attempting to make fundamental changes in the treatment of psychosis presenting in youth. RAISE research teams seek to reduce the likelihood of long-term disability that people with schizophrenia often experience by developing treatment models focused on intervening as soon as possible after the first episode of the disease. Each treatment integrates medication, psychosocial therapies, family involvement, rehabilitation services, and supported employment. These interventions will be tested in real-world treatment settings that can be readily adopted and quickly put into practice should they prove successful.   Also, through the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study or NAPLS project, NIMH hopes clinical care can begin even earlier, by identifying the prodrome of schizophrenia and devising new treatments that preempt the psychotic phase of the illness.

Aggressive and early treatment is also being directed at children who are at risk for ASD. For example, NIMH-funded researchers at the University of California Davis are developing and testing a parent-delivered preventive intervention for infants 6-11 months old who are at high risk of developing ASD because they have an older sibling with the disorder. The intervention will focus on reducing atypical behaviors and developmental delays to help lessen or prevent the disabling symptoms associated with ASD.  As with so many developmental disorders, early intervention is an important strategy for best outcomes. 

A hoped-for result of approaching mental disorders as brain disorders would be to reduce or eliminate the stigma associated with these illnesses. For generations, people with mental illness have experienced discrimination at work or school, and often do not seek diagnosis or treatment for fear of being “found out.” A scientific approach to mental disorders could allow those who struggle with these illnesses to receive full acceptance and the high-quality care they deserve at any age. That would be the true and long-lasting celebration of Mental Health Month.

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ⁱWHO. 2002. The world health report 2002—reducing risks promoting healthy life. WHO. Geneva, Switzerland

ⁱⁱKessler, R.C., et. Al. 2005. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 62:593-602

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*Article by Thomas Insel, at the National Institute of Mental Health. For more information and the original article, please visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2010/may-6th-childrens-mental-health-awareness-day.shtml