How to Spot Mental Illness in a Teen

Mental illnesses are becoming increasingly common in teens and range from eating disorders and body image issues to post-traumatic stress and depression. Mental disorders can have serious long-term effects, so you must be able to spot the warning signs that your teen is suffering from mental illness.

You should then be able to offer them the support and guidance they need to make a full recovery and improve their health and wellbeing.

With this in mind, here are some useful tips on how to spot mental illness in a teen:

Know when to get help

If you are worried that your teen may be suffering from the symptoms of mental illness, then you should never be afraid to seek professional support. Start by educating yourself on the symptoms of mental health illnesses and reach out to your teen to discuss your concerns. Keep in mind that your teen may be reluctant to discuss their feelings with you at first, or may deny their behaviors i.e. if they are suffering from an eating disorder.

Try to be understanding and avoid coming across as judgemental. Luckily, many treatment options can help your teen recover from mental illness. This often involves a combination of medication and psychotherapy.

For instance, igniteteentreatment.com offers various treatment programs that have been specifically designed to help teens overcome common mental illnesses such as social anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and social media or gaming addiction.

Educate yourself on mental health

The first step is to educate yourself on the common mental health issues found among teens. Many mental illnesses start in adolescence and they can have a huge impact on a teenager’s academic performance, emotions, and social interactions. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, some common mental health disorders in teens include anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD, and eating disorders. If these conditions are spotted early, then there’s a good chance that they can be treated to prevent them from having any long-term or serious consequences.

Learn the early warning signs

Teenagers are halfway between children and adults and they often struggle to find themselves and feel comfortable in their own skin. During the adolescent years, it is normal for teens to present some changes in behaviors. This may involve isolating themselves from family members, lashing out, or experimenting with new activities. However, you must know when teen behavior goes beyond what is normal.

Here are some warning signs that your teen may be suffering from mental illness:

Poor academic performance or skipping school.
Avoiding spending time with friends or doing activities they once enjoyed.
Extreme shifts in moods. They may be extremely happy and excited one minute then sad, fearful, or anxious the next.
Self-harms or has suicidal thoughts.
Unexplained physical symptoms such as frequent headaches or stomach aches.
Engaging in risky behavior such as drug-taking, unprotected sex, binge drinking, or other dangerous activities.
Unexplained weight loss and an obsession with body image, exercise, and healthy eating.

Oct172019

4 Things People Need to Meditate at Home

Everyone experiences some sort of stress; whether it is stress from family members, stress from a spouse or just stress from daily life. Sadly it’s an unavoidable part of life, but there are ways for you to relieve some of the mental pressure you’re feeling on a day to day basis. Meditation is one easy way for people to unwind after a long day, and you don’t even need to leave your home. Let’s take a look at four things you need to start meditating at home today.

Continue reading…

Jul192019

4 Sleep Disorders That Can Be Treated With the Power of Technology

We’ve heard many times that technology is bad for our sleep. We definitely agree that this is sometimes the case. For example, using your laptop or smartphone right before bedtime can affect the quality of sleep because of the blue light emitted by these devices.

Sadly, research shows that around 95% of people use technology within an hour before bed.

However, technology can also help us improve both the quantity and the quality of our sleep. Scientists around the world work tirelessly night and day to develop intelligent technological solutions that can combat common sleep disorders.

Here is a list of the most incredible ones we have found. If you suffer from any of these sleep problems, make sure to test the solutions.

Please include attribution to disturbmenot.co with this graphic.

Mar112019

What is an ESA? Our Experience with CertaPet

FULL DISCLOSURE. That is what this experience was all about. A few months ago, a representative from CertaPet reached out to us to partner with the blog. We receive many requests like this every day, but ignore a lot of them for many reasons. They might be supporting something we don’t or it might not be related to our mission here, which is to help you all find a happy and healthy life. I was intrigued with this one because 1) you know we’re huge animal lovers and 2) my other career is in animal welfare. I talk about Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) every single day. People call me and ask where to get ESA letters, if their landlord can charge them pet rent, what an ESA is, etc. I figured it couldn’t hurt to see if this service was legitimate, since there are so many different ones out there.

Feb122019

Returning to Meditation

I used to be really into meditation. I did it daily. I even taught a class on it back in the day. It was one of my daily habits, but somewhere along the last year, it’s kind of dropped out of sight. There are so many benefits to meditating. It can help clear stress, focus your mind, and generally get a better hold on mental health. I think it strengthens willpower, mental fortitude, and gives me tools to get through high-stress situations. It’s finding a safe rock through violent storms, a moment of quiet in a crowded room. The benefits are endless and can be different for each person. So why did I stop? Life, laziness, lack of priorities. At the very least, I’ve become aware of my failing habit and I’ve set a course to correct it. One of my annual goals is to meditate 4x/week and I’ve been semi doing okay on that goal.

Jan302019

New Year’s Check-In Meditation

In two days, we will have finished January and entered a new month. What does that mean for you? What were your goals for January? What was your intention? Did you set any for the month? For the year? January flew by for Hungry & Fit and to be honest, we didn’t do great with our January goals, but we did alright on annual goals. Life works a little funny that way. It’s always push and pull like the tides. Just because you didn’t accomplish all 20 goals for your month (wow, might be too much?) doesn’t mean you are inherently bad. I want to guide you through a short meditation so that you can check in with yourself and be in tune with how you are and where you’re at.

[Suggested playlist: Tibetan Bowls]

Jul312018

Visualization Meditation (Audio!)

We have finally produced the second meditation in our meditation series! It’s a Hungry & Fit team effort–Fit writes and records the meditations and Hungry edits the video and adds effects. So we finally collaborated and got ‘er done and we’re quite happy with the result! You don’t need to watch the video, you just need to listen to it.

May012018

Alternate Nostril Breathing: An Easy Way Into Meditation

Meditation can seem quite a daunting thing. Sitting still for many long minutes and trying to quiet the mind? Good luck! However, if you break it down piece by piece and just try doing one thing, it can eventually lead you to the real deal. Just trying this breathing technique here or that thought pattern there can ease you into a meditation practice. It doesn’t need to be this scary thing. You don’t need to become someone who sits in the middle of a forest, surviving on meditative breath alone. That’s why, if I’m teaching a meditation class, I like to start with something simple like the alternate nostril breathing (which I’ve blogged about before).

So what is alternate nostril breathing? It’s really rather simple. The technique requires the use of your fingers so that you can breathe through one nostril at a time. Why is it effective? By doing something active with your breath (especially active due to the use of your fingers), your mind has to focus on it. Your mind has a much better chance of focusing if you are doing something active with it. Instead of sitting there, hoping that the buzz of your thoughts will quiet, you are taking your breaths with purpose. So, let’s get started–you only need a handful of minutes.

Apr052018

Good Vibes Meditation

Life is this unruly, un-tamable, do-what-it-wants wild thing. It doesn’t really care how you feel, it does what it wants. Sometimes, it is great. Life is on your side, the birds are singing, you got your flow on, and you smile at the world. And then, well, life is moody, so it changes on you in a flash (whether that’s a death, break-up, job loss, or anything else). Where once the birds that sang to you now crap on you and it’s hard not to raise a fist to the world. We’ve learned (through much failure and struggle) that we can’t control life or what happens to us (to a certain degree), but we can change how we react to the world. I love this quote by Maya Angelou:

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.“

And that’s what we’re here to do today. Maybe life is treating you well, maybe you’re on life’s bad side right now, either way, it helps to spread some good energy. So let’s get going on a good vibes meditation.

Mar022018

Meditate With Your Pets!

Animals are the joys of our lives and our constant companions. Whether they’re a cat, dog, or a snake, they’re usually by our side and present daily in our lives. However, when it comes to things like meditation, they can be a bit of a pest. Either they’re meowing in your ear, nudging your hand for pets, or jumping in your lap, pets can be darned distracting during meditation! You’re trying to find your breath and oomph there goes the cat jumping on your lap or the dog barking. Yeah, we love ’em, but pets can be annoying in situations like these. This meditation is to challenge that. The other day, I did a short meditation early in the morning before Hungry was awake. The animals were either on the couch next to me or somewhere close, hoping it was close to breakfast time. And somewhere between their pining and my peace-seeking, I found a balance and it was really great.

I focused on companionship. The unconditional love you can get from your animals is a powerful thing. When it feels like the whole world is against you and nobody really likes you, you can still get plenty of face licks from your dog. She will sit with you forever and never get tired of you. To me, animals exhibit and teach us true love and also how to love. We can learn a lot from observing them and reflecting on them. So that’s just what I did for this meditation. Even if you don’t have your own pet, think of an animal you love–that will still work for this meditation. This can be a short meditation if you wish it to, but don’t rush it if you can. Enjoy.