
Prevention is the key to live more conscious lives
The World Health
Organization (WHO) declares that 3% of the children population suffer from
depression, which corresponds to between 10 and 15 % of the child psychiatric
consultations. Studies show that child depression occurs at an ever earlier
age.
We should acknowledge that
depression is not just a temporary state, neither a condition that will
disappear by itself without being treated appropriately. The timely diagnosis and treatment during childhood are
fundamental because it is proved that depression can occur in much more serious
forms at a later age. It is possible that there are periods of time when the
child feels better but if it doesn’t receive the needed help, the periods of
feeling at the bottom could occur at any time and in more serious forms.
There is a major
depression which is one of the main risk factors for suicide among teenagers.
According to WHO every day 1.2 million teenagers around the world die due to
reasons which could have been prevented. Because of that, suicide and
auto-aggression are the third death reason among adolescent in 2015. Although
WHO doesn’t offer data by regions, it describes suicide as a first reason for
death among the adolescent in Europe. For this reason WHO and its supporters
recommend immediate measures for the health of the adolescent in order to prevent many death cases.
Every year between 3600
and 3700 people commit suicide in Spain which corresponds to 10 death cases per
day, 2.5 in every hour. The experts warn that the suicidal attempts is twice as
high as this number. The death cases as a result of suicide are 80 times more
than those caused by parricides and twice as much as the victims of car
accidents. We are observing how different organisations are fighting for the
female equality and rights. There are also campaigns organised to prevent death
on the road and they give positive results, while the suicidal cases are on the
rise. It is necessary to break the silence and to make efforts to work on
prevention and on the health of our children and adolescent.
THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SUICIDE
DO NOT REALLY WANT TO DIE. THEY WANT TO STOP SUFFERING.
According to the experts,
the prenatal and the first three years are the most important for the
development of the child and its brain. Around the fourth week of the pregnancy
the brain of the embryo starts forming and it forms at a great speed neurones
and connections between them. These are important processes for the maturity
and they depend on the prenatal stimuli and the quality of the mother’s
nutrition. In this period occur also the first reflexes.
During the first year,
the basis of the emotional intelligence is being laid. Through the relationship
with its parents the child learns to react to the cues in a certain way. For
this reason, love and attention are of crucial importance. Physical or
psychological development lag, violence, and aggression cause serious and
permanent consequences for the child and they impact the brain structures and
functions. In the cases of maltreated children the inheritable factors could contribute to the development of
characteristics like protectiveness of others or inability to adapt.
While the child and the
adolescent develop through new experiences, the brain constantly makes new
neuronal connections which define the quality of the short-term and long-term
memory, of the learning ability, and the development of emotions. They define
the functions and the activity of the brain. It is important to take into
account that childhood is an exclusive period to teach the brain to learn, or
not to learn. For this reason the connections which are not formed in this
period most probably will never be formed.
The personality is formed
after the third until the twentieth year, although the character could change
throughout our life. Teenage hood is a crucial stage of the evolution of the individual
and it shouldn’t be so problematic or painful when the adolescent has a solid
and strong base of emotional education. Otherwise the existential emptiness
provokes the adolescent to seek pleasurable experiences through which they risk
their health and wellbeing.
We are facing a
vulnerable generation with few psychological resources to react to traumatic situations. They don’t cope adequately with stressful
events, such as separation, loss of close people, conflicts with family and
friends, legal, financial, and work-related issues. We also should not
underestimate the pressure which social factors put on people, such as the
beauty standards, the lack of moral values, the crisis situation in the country and the world, the
insufficient opportunities on the job market, or the broken due to financial
reasons families.
The children and the
youth have a very easy access to the social networks, to the lives of others,
and to hide their identity behind a screen, and for this reason the cyber
bullying and violence in general turn into an uncontrolled epidemic.