Community Development Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Social Work

Introduction to Community Development

For generations now, the prevalence of mental health problems has presented itself as a conundrum because of the stigma or lack of awareness attached to it. In the 21^st century, young adults and proper functioning adults here only wondering about their mental health when their productivity is being remarked upon. The dialogue has started but it is important to understand and study the earliest signs that pointed to towards disruption of mental wellbeing. Research says that almost 60 percent of the teen population and the youth are at a much higher risk of developing mental health problems that have the potential to escalate to something even higher in their adult years. The psychological, sociological and behavioural effects of unavoidable changes are not always linear and can impact the mental health of growing adult adversely.

From generalized anxiety, suicide ideation to depression all rooting from social or academics stress or even body dysmorphia can be debilitating. It is said that the female teenager is more prone to these mental health problems. The permanent destabilization that occurs at that age can be extremely unsettling for certain sects of the population the effects of which can affect them all their lives. The symptom might first show up during the teenage years but can end up having an effect on the adult lives in the form of failure in professional or personal life and losing opportunities due zero diagnosis and awareness. Through this literature review we are going to refer to various articles and essays to analyse this aspect of studying the conditions that eventually lead to mental health problem in teenagers and young adults.

Research Question

What are the conditions that add up to the mental well-being problems among the youth within the age group of 15-25?

Abstract on Community Development

The increased level of interest in the understanding of mental health issues is a sign of progress. As studies show the increasing rate of mental health issues in teenagers of today, the efforts to understand what it entails and what has caused this should also be made compulsively. From social media to environmental factor, abusive homes to substance abuse social alienation to chronic health problem, there is a whole gamut of issues that have cause significant amount of stress of youngsters and their lack of experience or exposure makes them extremely vulnerable to these problems.

They lack the emotional aptitude or the mental fortitude to understand the dexterity required to deal with such things. The pressure weighs in on them and forces them to sink further. The biggest problem in this area is the absolute stigma associated with mental health issues. This prevents the you ger generation from asking for help while grappling with the anxiety of not knowing the answers. from asking for help. Increasing dependency on virtual gratification. The lack of attention and care due to heavily urbanised lifestyle, lack of introspection, or no access to proper facilities can make this situation even more detrimental.

In this this project we analyse the scope of social media and virtual dependency for stimulation as a cause for mental health problems. The essay studies the factors that contribute to how these factors lead to ideation of suicide and self-harm among teenagers who do not know any better. The essay tries to explore the relationship between the effects of technology and the impact it has on one’s mental health. From nutritional habit to dietary and sleeping pattern all the other constituents have also been carefully scrutinised. Through this literature review we will build more on the same and understand the scope of all these factors on mental health.

Literature Review of Community Development

One of the first studies that were analysed predicted how primary prevention in case of mental health problems can prevent them from further developing into metal health disorder in adulthood (Costello, 2016) it spoke of how time is actually what leads to the worsening of mental health conditions as children lack proper systems of care and support that they mandatorily require. When these systems of support and attention collapse lack of supervision can lead to confusion and extreme alienation that prevents them from reaching out for help. If detected at an early age, primary intervention can actually be helpful. Exposure over a period of time to stimuli that is more detrimental to a person’s ability to cope needs to be verified by the system of support at a young age. Secondary prevention implies targeted intervention that will help practitioners understand the scope and extent of problems. This could prevent the development of nascent mental health problems into disorders in adulthood.

Beliefs and perception about mental health (Choudhury, 2016) studied how these problems are actually viewed by our society and how this can actually help us understand why individual do not ask for help the alarming rate at which more and more people are developing mental health disorders and depression. The level of stigma is not reducing. This is because of the cultural context that has been provided to us for years about the conversation around a person’s mental health. This study spoke about how individuals recognize their mental health problems, their perceptions are either limited or expanded by their immediate culture’s context and perceptions about the condition.

Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing- A systematic narrative review (Best,2014) revealed how intertwined the lives of teenagers today and social media have become. Their social media reality is the veneer they use to decide who they are and every shred of authenticity has been shred to bits and pieces. From their privacy to their relationship ideals everything has been impacted and this has in fact rewired their minds into thinking that superficial goals and standards and ideals set online should be their reference point and anything les s than that will only lead to feeling of inadequacy, social inferiority, loneliness and even depression. The increasing dependency on technology without any clear though process is extremely harmful for young impressionable minds (Berryman, 2018)

Conclusion on Community Development

The literature review emphasizes on the particular studies that systematically point towards the co-relation between various factors and the mental health of young adults especially teenagers. Primary prevention that is led by awareness and empathy is the only way to ensure that mental health that lead to cognitive degradation in an individual and make them incapable of functioning in societal, cultural and emotional context do not occur. It important to realize the subjectivity if the situation and the necessity of having more than loving – encouraging systems of support in one’s formative years.

References for Community Development

Costello, E. J. (2016). Early detection and prevention of mental health problems: developmental epidemiology and systems of support. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 45(6), 710-717.

Choudhry, F. R., Mani, V., Ming, L. C., & Khan, T. M. (2016). Beliefs and perception about mental health issues: a meta-synthesis. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 12, 2807.

Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41, 27-36.

Berryman, C., Ferguson, C. J., & Negy, C. (2018). Social media use and mental health among young adults. Psychiatric quarterly, 89(2), 307-314.

Bond, G. R., Drake, R. E., & Campbell, K. (2016). Effectiveness of individual placement and support supported employment for young adults. Early intervention in psychiatry, 10(4), 300-307.

Insel, T. R. (2018). Digital phenotyping: a global tool for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 17(3), 276.

Naslund, J. A., Marsch, L. A., McHugo, G. J., & Bartels, S. J. (2015). Emerging mHealth and eHealth interventions for serious mental illness: a review of the literature. Journal of mental health, 24(5), 321-332.

Mandelli, L., Petrelli, C., & Serretti, A. (2015). The role of specific early trauma in adult depression: a meta-analysis of published literature. Childhood trauma and adult depression. European psychiatry, 30(6), 665-680.

Yesufu-Udechuku, A., Harrison, B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Young, N., Woodhams, P., Shiers, D., ... & Kendall, T. (2015). Interventions to improve the experience of caring for people with severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 206(4), 268-274.

Aburn, G., Gott, M., & Hoare, K. (2016). What is resilience? An integrative review of the empirical literature. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(5), 980-1000. 

Marshall, E., Claes, L., Bouman, W. P., Witcomb, G. L., & Arcelus, J. (2016). Non-suicidal self-injury and suicidality in trans people: a systematic review of the literature. International review of psychiatry, 28(1), 58-69. 

Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Araya, R., Marsch, L. A., Unützer, J., Patel, V., & Bartels, S. J. (2017). Digital technology for treating and preventing mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries: a narrative review of the literature. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(6), 486-500.

Semrau, M., Evans-Lacko, S., Koschorke, M., Ashenafi, L., & Thornicroft, G. (2015). Stigma and discrimination related to mental illness in low-and middle-income countries. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 24(5), 382-394.

Frasquilho, D., Matos, M. G., Salonna, F., Guerreiro, D., Storti, C. C., Gaspar, T., & Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M. (2015). Mental health outcomes in times of economic recession: a systematic literature review. BMC public health, 16(1), 1-40.

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