Psychological and mental health are important components of health, and the mental health of children and adolescents particularly affects the hearts of every family.
Incorporate mental health work into the scope of comprehensive deepening reform and comprehensive social governance; Strengthen the construction of children's social and psychological service system; Carrying out three special promotion actions, emphasizing early intervention... On the 9th, the reporter learned from a press conference of the National Health Commission that relevant departments and all sectors of society are working together to actively address the mental health problems of children and adolescents, and safeguard their beautiful future.
Comprehensive implementation of policies to enhance children's ability to promote mental health
"The key to the mental health work of children and adolescents is to adhere to prevention as the mainstay and group prevention and control." Li Dachuan, Deputy Director of the Medical Affairs Department of the National Health Commission, said that this requires attention from various departments, industries, and even the whole society. It is very important to integrate this work into the social service system, public health service system, and social security system to promote coordinated efforts.
Issuing the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Mental Health Services, making clear arrangements for improving the mental health of children and adolescents; The central government arranges special funds to support pilot projects for the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders and the promotion of mental health among children and adolescents; The Special Action Plan for Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving the Mental Health Work of Students in the New Era (2023-2025) clarifies the work responsibilities of government departments at all levels and includes student mental health work in the evaluation of provincial people's governments in fulfilling their educational responsibilities... It is reported that the National Health Commission, together with relevant departments, has carried out a series of work in recent years to promote children's mental health.
Liu Peijun, Deputy Director and First level Inspector of the Department of Sports, Health and Art Education of the Ministry of Education, stated that promoting physical and mental health should be taken as the basic prerequisite for the comprehensive development of students, integrated into various aspects of education, teaching, management and services, as well as various environments in families, schools, and society, to create good conditions for the physical and mental health development of students.
Early intervention focuses on multiple factors affecting children's mental health
Zheng Yi, Chief Expert of Children's Psychiatry at Beijing Anding Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University, stated that children and adolescents are in a period of rapid psychological development, and multiple internal and external factors such as biology, psychology, society, and environment can have an impact on their mental health.
Experts explain that the internal causes of mental health problems in children and adolescents mainly include cognitive, emotional, and behavioral biases that may occur during the psychological development process, such as cognitive distortion, emotional instability, poor resilience, and insufficient psychological resilience; External factors mainly include pressure caused by related environments such as family, school, and society, such as parental education methods and early education adaptation.
"If mental health problems cannot be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, they may have a lifelong impact." Zheng Yi said that early intervention is crucial, and it is recommended that parents pay attention to subtle changes in their children's emotions and behaviors in daily life, such as changes in sleep habits, eating problems, etc., and learn to identify whether their children are experiencing psychological disorders, normal psychological development, and changes during adolescence. Severe cases should be evaluated correctly by doctors as soon as possible.
Home school collaboration to create a good growth ecosystem
Currently, schools, families, and various sectors of society are paying increasing attention to the mental health of children and adolescents. Among the multiple stakeholders involved in caring for the mental health of children and adolescents, the closest ones to them are teachers and parents.
"The school pays close attention to and cares for students, making them 'at home', and the family is good at educating children, making them 'at home'. Liu Peijun said that in terms of the school, teachers and staff of various subjects should take on the responsibility of student mental health work, and create harmonious teacher-student and classmate relationships.". At the same time, the family is also a special campus, and parents can actively cooperate with the school to do a good job in educating their children's mental health, establish correct views on tutoring, parenting, and success, and master the methods and skills of psychological health education for children and adolescents.
Li Dachuan stated that many parts of the country continue to actively carry out work, providing guarantee measures for promoting children's mental health in resource allocation, financial investment, and talent cultivation. Next, the National Health Commission will continue to increase its efforts and improve relevant assessment and promotion mechanisms.
