Guangming Daily reporter Yan Xiaoyan
For some time, teenagers’ mental health problems have attracted much attention. The topic of "Mom stopped taking antidepressants for her daughter and replaced them with vitamins" triggered a continuous discussion among netizens: "Why don’t parents pay attention to their children’s emotional changes?" "Why are many children unhappy now?" Previously, the Hu Xinyu incident triggered profound reflection from all walks of life.
"Depression, each of us will have in our lives, but what are the specific symptoms of depression, how to detect it, which requires professional identification. In this regard, our ordinary people’s cognition is lacking. " Mao Min, a psychological teacher at Beijing Jingshan School, told reporters.
What should we do for children? How to hear the children’s cry for help and reduce the occurrence of tragedies? The reporter interviewed relevant experts to find the answer together.
Psychological teachers of Hongtang Experimental School in Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province put sand tables with students in the psychological counseling room. Xinhua news agency
Cognition of distress signals — —
"Depression" is often mentioned, but the public is not familiar with its performance.
"Early detection, early warning and early intervention." This is an important thing for many psychologists. Treating mental health problems, timely detection, timely intervention and non-intervention, the consequences are obviously different.
According to the relevant documents, all high schools and institutions of higher learning have set up psychological counseling (consultation) rooms and mental health education courses, equipped with mental health education teachers; Incorporate depression screening into the content of students’ health examination, establish students’ mental health files and evaluate students’ mental health status. The word "depression" is often mentioned by everyone, but the public is not fully familiar with the related knowledge of depression and mental health.
As a parent or teacher, what performance should we focus on? Front-line psychological educators usually pay more attention to students when they have the following "signals":
Academic signal: sudden or continuous decline in academic performance; Inattention in class; Often do not hand in homework or hand it in late; Excessive demands on teachers’ time and attention; The content of homework (composition) is abnormal; Internet or mobile phone addiction, unable to study and live normally.
Physiological signals: obvious changes in appearance, such as sudden weight loss, untidy clothes, and lack of attention to personal hygiene; Abnormal diet and sleep; Easy to fatigue; Absent-minded in doing things; Vague and illogical speech; Acting strangely and divorced from reality; Have hallucinations or delusions.
Psychological signal: family problems, interpersonal setbacks or adjustment difficulties are being encountered; Self-exposure of personal bad mood or mental crisis; The reaction to the event is not normal compared with others; Too much crying or too much panic; Irritable; Language violence; Unusually indifferent; The group around the student expressed their concern.
Security risk signal: unprovoked anger or hostility; Physical violence; Hint or directly threaten others; Homework and test papers express a strong sense of hopelessness, anger, worthlessness, isolation, despair, self-injury and suicidal thoughts or behaviors; Stalking or harassing others.
"Of course, there will be psychological evaluation, but the evaluation is only a reference, and it is still necessary to make a comprehensive judgment according to the actual situation of the child. School psychological teachers have no right to diagnose psychological problems, which require the intervention of professional doctors. " According to Mao Min, there are several prone periods of mental health problems, such as entering higher school, the eve of graduation, before and after exams, and when students have major life events while growing up.
Not long ago, the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Social Science Literature Publishing House jointly published the third blue book on mental health in China, in which the special report "Investigation Report on Adolescents’ Mental Health in 2022" was reported, and more than 30,000 primary and secondary school students aged 10-16 in 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) were investigated. The results show that about 14.8% adolescents have different degrees of depression risk, among which 4.0% adolescents belong to the risk group of severe depression and 10.8% adolescents belong to the risk group of mild depression.
"Both teachers and our parents should be vigilant. Don’t think that these mental diseases or depression and anxiety are far away from us. Each of us may suffer from these diseases. Even if we don’t reach the level of the disease, we may be troubled by these negative emotions. This point still needs attention and vigilance. " Liu Yanru, a clinical psychotherapist in huilongguan hospital, Beijing, said.
"Some children have suicidal thoughts and even put them into action, but they are still afraid to ask others for help." Liu Yanru believes that "children don’t make a sound, which requires our parents and teachers to consciously take the initiative to pay attention to these children, see if they behave differently from others, or are obviously different from his original personality, and ask them what happened. If we can’t solve it, we can ask professionals for help. "
Hanshan county Tongzha School organized students to carry out activities of "experiencing interesting games and caring for mental health". Ou Zongtao photo/bright picture
Cognition of mental illness — —
Mental illness can be treated, and there is no need to avoid medical treatment.
"Seven or eight-year-old children say that they are in a bad mood and unhappy, and they want to find a psychologist. Some parents will think that children are joking, and they are full of food and drink every day, which is like depression. " Liu Huaqing, chief physician of huilongguan hospital Children’s Psychology Department, feels that parents can’t recognize it, and casually deny that they may have inadvertently overlooked that the child is in pain.
In the daily outpatient service, Liu Huaqing clearly felt that there were more adolescent patients coming to see a doctor than before. He reminded parents to learn about depression, not to criticize or blame, but to accept and understand their children’s pain.
What psychological problems do children usually have in campus psychological counseling?
Mao Min introduced that in the primary school stage, the first and second grade students mainly adapt to the problem. General adaptation problems are divided into two categories: one is that students’ own development level is not enough to cope with primary school learning. There are grade one and grade two students who have attention deficit and are diagnosed by the hospital as ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia, etc. problem children; One is that they have not developed good rules and habits, and their self-care ability is relatively weak. In the middle and senior grades of primary school, students encounter more and more interpersonal problems. "In junior high school, it is emotional management, interpersonal communication, internet use and academic problems. In the eighth and ninth grades, facing the senior high school entrance examination, academic problems are more prominent. In the high school stage, the common problems of students are academic anxiety, self-cognition and interpersonal communication. These problems are often intertwined and affect each other. " Mao Min added.
"When students have serious psychological problems and need parents’ cooperation, they are sometimes hindered." Mao Min bluntly said that in real life, some parents are worried that if a child goes to see a psychologist, the classmates will have an opinion on him and will it affect his communication with classmates. At the same time, will children feel abnormal, thus bearing great psychological pressure. There are also some parents who have many practical difficulties in seeking psychotherapy, such as what kind of institution or hospital to choose, as well as the cost and time, which also makes it impossible for individual parents to seek professional help in time and smoothly.
As a psychological teacher, he can usually provide psychological counseling for students with general developmental problems. For students with serious psychological problems, parents are advised to take their children to the hospital in time for diagnosis and treatment. In this way, children can get timely help and recover as soon as possible. Mao Min told reporters that benefiting from the linkage mechanism of medical education, Dongcheng District Education Committee and Anding Hospital Adolescent Mental Health Center, where Beijing Jingshan School is located, implemented medical education linkage to provide a green channel for students’ mental health.
"It is also difficult for some parents to accept that their children are sick, especially mental illness, which seems to be a disgraceful thing. Parents are deeply frustrated when their children are ill. " Liu Yanru told reporters, "Some people still discriminate against mental illness and are stigmatized. We need to do some popular science to let more people know that even if there is such a disease, it can be treated, and there is no need to avoid medical treatment. "
In the Central School of Xiema Town, Baokang County, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, mental health tutors play music for students to relax. Tao Yang photo/bright picture
Understand growth and observe carefully — —
Give children more love and companionship with a more scientific educational concept.
Liu Huaqing bluntly said that in today’s rich material life, although children don’t worry about eating and drinking, they are facing greater competitive pressure for further studies, and their living environment may be more complicated than that of their parents in childhood. At the same time, many young parents are not fully prepared, and they still continue their parents’ views on educational concepts. As a result, "problem" teenagers surfaced.
Tang Qianyun is a psychological teacher in Qiyang No.1 Middle School in Hunan Province. There is a standardized psychological counseling center in her school. At least two teachers are on duty every day, and they accept students’ recess appointments and telephone appointments at a fixed duty time.
"In response to students’ various psychological puzzles, psychological teachers generally take psychological classes as the basis, and let students learn how to adjust in the classroom. If a few students can’t solve them, they will make an appointment for psychological counseling. In the counseling center, psychological teachers guide students to see problems and find strength from themselves to solve them. Mental diseases beyond their ability will communicate with students and parents in time, and it is recommended to refer them to professional hospitals for detailed examination and treatment. " Tang Qianyun said, "However, from what I have learned from my peers in other grass-roots schools, the teaching staff and school-running conditions of grass-roots rural schools are still limited, and full-time psychological teachers will be transferred to Chinese mathematics courses; Some school leaders do not pay attention to mental health education, which leads to the gradual marginalization of psychological education. "
As parents, what should we pay attention to in the process of raising children?
"Parents really need to reflect. They should not unilaterally ask their children to be excellent, but also always convey to their children an idea that parents love them no matter what their children are. If children encounter difficulties, they can always come to their parents for help; If the parents can’t solve it, let’s find a way to let the children feel that this home is a harbor. " Liu Yanru believes.
"Parents should have a positive growth mode of thinking. Parents should use more scientific parenting methods to give their children enough love, companionship and support, pay attention to their emotional changes in time, be good at discovering the advantages of their children, and encourage them to actively explore and try their own areas of interest. Healthy psychology is not overprotected, but tempered by exploration and trial. " Mao Min thinks.
