Prevention is the key to live more conscious lives

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.