over the past few years a lot of light has been shed on the importance of overall mental health in our youth especially in a post-pandemic world we have seen a huge increase in depression and anxiety amongst adolescents it is our job as caregivers to identify when adolescence have had stressors that are just too difficult to manage for example teens are going through hormonal surges brain development environmental stressors as well as emotional stressors and it is our job to identify when they cannot handle these stressors today we're going to discuss the difference between normal mood disorders and abnormal mood disorders and some of the warning signs of mental health disturbances in our youth on Ask the doctor next send in your questions to questions at allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the ask the do page on our website allhealth tv.com welcome to ask the doctor a show where we encourage you to write in your questions so that I can answer them in real time I'm Dr Scarlet con and today we're going to discuss the warning signs of depression anxiety or mood disorders in adolescence and young children I'm also going to distinguish the difference between normal mood moodiness and abnormal moodiness let's start with a couple of questions our first question comes in now from let's see allhealth tv.com so this question is from Erica Dr constant my daughter is a seven-year-old and has had a number of temper tantrums lately which is not normally like her and she hasn't had any playdays lately I'm wondering if I should take her to her pediatrician or maybe a child psychologist what do you suggest well Erica that's a very good question and you know before you go to the pediatrician or or a psychologist I think the first thing that you want to do is try to establish a timeline with the temper tantrums if you notice that they started getting worse at a certain time have you noticed that they're more frequent or out of character for her normal temper tantrums and it's also important to think about what has um precipitated the tamper Tantrums are there certain things that inevitably will precipitate this or is it is she is she triggered just by any uh mild offense so I think once you start looking into those things and also you want to establish whether or not she has environmental stressors find out what's happening at school are there any problems with her and her friends have there been any recent arguments or fights is anything happening in the classroom that is upsetting her maybe her grades are slipping so I would speak to her teachers and once you start to establish whether or not this is an environmental stressor or something in the home or something that has changed and if all of those things have been ruled out absolutely you'd like to you want to start talking to your pediatrician and if you have a pediatrician that you actually have a relationship with and and knows your family Dynamic and understands what's happening in your life in your child's life you can talk to them about it first and maybe you could even resolve the issues there if of course it's above and beyond the scope of your pediatrician then you would absolutely want to see a psychologist I hope that that answer helps you let's see we have another question well it looks like we have a question from YouTube Anna Sophia and Ruben my husband Ruben and I have some questions about social media and its effects on Teena my teenage son we think he's on on it too much and it's probably not good for him but most of our friends with teenagers just say things like all their friends are doing it they're doing the same exact thing and you know what can you do well you know social media has of course been a very hot topic recently and a controversial one just because we have seen evidence that shows that social media does have a negative effect on the overall mental health of Adolescent and this is because adolescent are still maturing their brains are still developing their hormon hormones are still fluctuating and it's very hard for them to truly interpret the information in a way that is beneficial or positive to them there's so much like that's been shed on the effects of social media that the Surgeon General has actually recently released advisory on social media in adolescence um there are quite a few negative effects that we have seen and I would say for your son you need to make a decision that that you and your husband are comfortable with and if you feel that he is using his phone or his on social media more than he should or what seems to be abnormal then you should absolutely intervene I don't think that anybody should use social media in an excessive amount of time we have our actual personal interactions that are more important you have schoolwork that's important and reading and exercise so of course like anything else this should be in moderation let me discuss what has been listed as some of the negative effects that social media actually has on our adolescent population uh in with social media we have found that there's a lot of cyber bullying that occurs and you are and cyber bullying occurs via the vehicle is social media so via text message or um platforms or videos and it's usually used to intimidate or harass classmates or friends and um and it causes a lot of embarrassment and humil humiliation and I lot I know a lot of adults have mentioned that well bullying has happened forever and it's true everybody has experience bullying at some point in their life but cyber bullying is unique in that it has a um it Le it's it it leaves a mark it stays there you can always look back it doesn't just disappear it's not just one word that's thrown out in person and then just disappears cyber bullying sticks and has a footprint so it is really important to acknowledge that and how impressionable that could be on a young child another uh negative effect is inappropriate content of course you know teens and children will inadvertently run across inappropriate content we cannot protect them from that we could not Shield them in any way shape or form it happens no matter how much protection on the phone you might think you've put they are going to run into it and so we have to be able to deal with the repercussions when our child is exposed to something that they may have been too young to be exposed to number three is uh going to be uh withdra withdrawal from family and friends we've found that for example in your case some kids get so addicted to social media and whichever platform they're using that they actually get addicted to their device and they're spending way too much time addressing watching whatever they're watching on social media rather than interacting with their friends or playing sports or just interacting at home in a normal environment so this obviously has a negative effect on the overall mental health uh number four would be um physical and health issues of course if you're sucked into social media and you're staring at your phone all the time and you're obsessed with what you see and what you perceive to be reality and I say perceive because again these are young children that are still very impressionable and and are perceiving things in a way that we as adults might not perceive them and so they're constantly comparing themselves to what they see whether it's in a positive way or a negative way or they're trying to emulate what they're seeing whichever whichever is happening they are just uh misperceiving reality let's say so number five will be uh negative body image of course these kids see what they their tons of filters new filters come out every month I think and again this is a perception of reality sometimes kids just don't understand that they're looking at somebody through a filter and now they want to be like this person look like this person aspired to be like this person and in turn they tend to have a negative body image number six which is very important important is the social media addiction that I've discussed and once you get addicted this is what becomes the problem as any addiction is that you forget all else that's important and you are consumed with this one very thing which is obviously quite negative and finally and most importantly we don't want to forget the fact that our teens and children are very vulnerable to predators predators are present online it is something that is very concerning they target young children and they target them for the exact same reason that I've mentioned they're young they're impressionable they don't understand they're still learning and it's very easy to just hook them in and and cap and basically Captivate them and engage in conversation or inappropriate conversations or sometimes even worse even getting them to meet in person which is a very very dangerous thing so these are ways that social media hasn't can have negative effects and I'm not saying to completely get rid of social media because I understand as a parent you don't want your child to feel left out you don't want them to be isolated from their friends you do want some level of Engagement that is happening around you don't want them to be the last one or the odd man out but you do have to consider these negative effects and you do have to talk to your child about maybe having limitations on their social media access and really having firm guidelines in your home as to how social media will be used I hope that information was helpful to you let's see if we have another question coming up all right so we have a question from Lamar Dr constant our boy is 14 and he too spends way too much time on his laptop or cell phone he says he's doing work for school but I wasn't born yesterday I know he's on social media till all hours of the night my wife and I want to know the best way to address this and hopefully avoid all inherent drama of dealing with a teenager well I have very bad news I don't think you're going to avoid inherent drama of having a teenager I think that's inevitable but I do advise that if your son is actually spending too much time on his laptop or his device that you set limitations and boundaries and I think that that should be established before they even get their device oftentimes we're so excited to get our children you know devices and toys and things that they want and then when we see that they are just totally sucked in and have no control whatsoever then we try to pull back and or punish or limit and I think that's kind of that's backwards I think what we need to do is when we are giving a device or rewarding them with a device or a laptop we give it with with stipulations we give it with boundaries we have to explain the rules that we have the expectations that we have of its use how often you can use it when you can use it in which situation so that they understand before they even break the rules what the expectations are and there should be a time limit on any device there should be a time where everybody turns off their device and puts it maybe in a safe room or in a kitchen or they turn in their Chargers and give it to you as parents I do think that if they are you know underage and these devices remember we have to remind ourselves that these devices don't belong to your children they belong to you as parents and if you own them you set the rules regarding how they will be used and when they will be used so hopefully you'll be able to get through that with your son without too much drama so the next um qu suggestion I want to make is actually with your social media is aside from creating these boundaries and setting limitations of as parents we should lead by example also so we shouldn't be on our devices and our phones all day and when we come home from work and at the dinner table and in our beds before we fall asleep we should teach our children that we also have a limitation and there are times where we need to just disconnect everybody needs to have a help a healthy time to disconnect and spend time together and I think if we can do that as parents then our children hopefully will follow suit I hope that helps okay let's see if we have any well actually in case you missed it the first time here's another opportunity so that you can find out when where to send your questions in and hopefully if you send them in in time I can answer them during the show send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth goo on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com now we have a question from the all Health TV app and that is from Samantha Samantha asks Dr constant I'm a member of the board of our local PTA and a parent as well I'm hoping that you can provide some strategies that we can share with parents to help support students mental and emotional well-being well that that's a great question Samantha and absolutely I could help provide some strategies for that um so let's start with open communication I think it's very important as caregivers um as parents caregivers providers that we keep an open line of communication between ourselves and our children and what this means is really encouraging our children to express themselves and talk to us and we need to reassure them that we're listening in a non-judgmental way we're going to listen to what they have to say we don't have to correct it or judge it or offer advice right away sometimes they just want to vent and let things out and we might not have a solution and even if we do they might not want to hear our solution so I think that so open communication is a great way for us to allow children to speak freely and uninhibited and know that we're just listening and if later they need advice or would like to discuss advice or options they can always come back to us another really great strategy to use is to have a healthy relationship and with family or teachers or any adult in our child's life we want to Foster those so if your child has a coach that they really like and that they connect with and maybe they're open with their coach or they're open with their teacher or counselor and they might not be as open with you take that take that win Foster that relationship and at least the child is speaking to someone number three is another great strategy is number three coping skills we really want to teach our kids great coping skills um we want to help them develop these effective coping mechanisms for stress such as deep breathing and mindfulness and problem solving strategies sometimes it is innate for us as parents and and and providers to jump in and help solve the problem or fix the problem or explain to them the best way to solve it when really we need to sit back and teach them how to analyze the situation and solve the problem for themselves and you know that's a way way to really teach a great coping skill so that they're prepared in the future for Adverse Events or adverse interactions with other people number four is um to promote physical health for you know we've always known this right we've always had research that's proven this that physical health has a very positive impact on your overall mental health so we really need to encourage our kids to exercise play sports by doing it ourselves we can go on family walks you can do a run with your family join a very small run or a walk for charity anything that promotes just physical activity and show them that this is the way that that you can not only Bond as a family but also have a positive impact on your mental health joining a sport at school is a great way and team sports is just such a wonderful way for kids not only to get physical activity but it's great for camaraderie it's great for having a a coach or a leader or someone a mentor that you can look up to and it's great for you know conflict resolution you you have teammates that you don't want to let down teammates that you're interacting with that you're friends with or that you might even fight with and you have to resolve that fight before your next game so team sports is a really great way to incorporate physical activity and overall mental health I hope that this helps Samantha you know there are a couple of other things such as realistic expectations that you want to set for your child and and of course monitoring screen time you know those are all important ways that you want to Foster you know uh good mental health at home um problem solving skills um healthy Behavior you know and of course always monitoring the warning signs that we see at home so you really want to encourage parents to look out for specific warning signs or or red flags that might be occurring at home that you see and bring them to the Forefront so that you don't miss anything important I hope that helps Samantha so it looks like we have a question from the audience um my baby is 18 month is an 18month old and is biting regularly how can I remove this habit um well this question is actually well this is actually quite normal 18-month-old is normal to bite so in this age group you actually explore and Learn by hand to mouth meaning taking things in your hand grabbing them sticking them in your mouth and also mouthing which is a a term really for biting so putting things in their mouth biting chomping um this is normal behavior it doesn't necessarily mean that the 18 month-old is being malicious or violent it's really um just a way of them interacting and they don't really know yet um the negative effects of biting so it's not a behavior you can truly remove you might want to discourage it by if you're the 18-month old bites you saying ow that hurts and moving away and kind of showing them that it was you have a Nega of response to it that's a good way so that they understand this is something that does not feel good and that's not pleasant um but I certainly would not punish the 18-month-old um I would just constantly try to remind them that it does hurt and then you want to distract them give them a toy 18 months you're still teething so you can give them teething toys and see if they'll want to bite that and if they're doing it out of frustration again toys firm toys such as teething toys are very helpful so that if they are upset they would just grab it and bite on it and um and just kind of get out some of their frustration so you can distract and you can show them that it is negative I hope that this helps so I think we have another question now coming in and it's from Javier my wife and I have a teenage son who seems a little withdrawn lately he and his girlfriend broke up not too long ago and all he does now is stay in his bedroom should we be worried about him well have you that's a great question of course you should always be worried about your child if they seem to be a little more withdrawn than they usually are of course having a breakup at this age is is very hard and it is very normal to have a response where you're sad and withdrawn and and not interested in activities anymore again that your son is Young and he his hormones are fluctuating and you know they they have sadness and sometimes it seems a little more exaggerated than what we would expect but this is normal when you should be concerned is if you find that that your son is not bouncing back and is really actually disengaging from activities that he used to participate in if he's withdrawn and sat in his room but still goes to soccer practice then I wouldn't be so worried but if he starts talking about quitting activities or he stops hanging out with his friends um he decides that he no longer wants to participate in things then I would actually start to get really worried and of course if this is lasting more than 2 or 3 weeks I would certainly be very concerned because it's one thing to be sad and have the blues but to to become depressed and withdrawn is another thing so I would absolutely um look into this you know there are a couple of things that we can discuss as warning signs for a child that is now more depressed than sad and those things are um loss of interest of course so like I mentioned if they have a loss in interest in things that they used to really um love to participate ipate in that I would be concerned also if they if you're seeing that your child has very low energy and you've seen a physician about it and they don't have a medical cause for low energy um and they don't have an organic reason then that is a reason to be concerned also if they um if they are sleeping too much and if they are sleepy throughout the day meaning it seems like they probably have not had enough sleep overnight they might be waking up in the middle of the night not getting back to sleep and then they're tired all day and then they come home from school and then they sleep from you know afternoon to evening those are irregular sleeping patterns and that is something to really be concerned about and I would consider that a red flag um also if you find that your child is having periods of very high elevated energy and activity but and they require much less sleep than usual and they seem like they're just always on and and excited uh then I would consider that a red flag that is not Norm behavior for an adolescent number five is if they're spending much more time alone and avoiding social activities with their friends or family so you know sometimes we joke and we say our kids don't want to hang out with us they don't want to spend time with us they're always in their room but if they're still going and meeting up with their friends or they're going to go outside with their best friend that they can buite in and and they're still willing to go to certain activities that's a little bit more understandable but if they're pulling away from their family and they're pulling away from their friends and they're just um reusing themselves in their bedroom and and really not interacting with anyone then I would definitely speak to your pediatrician or a psychologist about it also you want to make sure that their diet and exercise is within normal range and it's not excessive if you start to find that they're becoming um they're maybe calorie counting omitting food exercising a little more excessively than usual worried about how much they weigh or they're checking calories or they're checking how much they weigh that is very concerning it sounds like they're starting to develop a body image um dysmorph dysmorphia the next thing is of course most important is if they're engaging in self harm and by self harm um there are things such as biting such as cutting burning their skin playing with matches and these are very superficial lesions these are not going to be terrible injuries where you need to go to the hospital or be seen you'll find that they're very um they're frequent they're subtle they're superficial and so sometimes it might even take some time before you notice them but when you do please understand that those are cries for help they might say well I scratched myself here or this was an accident or I didn't mean to burn myself I was playing with a match but if you see a pattern where it's happening consistently again very superficial and very subtle but if it is happening it is a cry for help and finally if they're starting to abuse alcohol smoking drinking vaping uh smoking cigarettes marijuana any Vice really is a sign that your team is Poss will possibly need help and lastly if they have of course most importantly if they're engaging in any type of risky or destructive Behavior with their friends especially if this is new for your child if your child's has not always been this thrill seeking active you know child and now all of the sudden engaging in very risky and um destructive Behavior or they're getting caught doing things that they don't typically do then this is a warning sign this is a sign that either your child is seeking attention is um needs help or is maybe you know going through a phase where they're feeling a little bit anxious or or depressed and that's a very important sign to look out for I hope that this helps and please if you're anybody a child that you know a person that you know or if you even heard that anybody's ever said that they want to take their own life or their life is not worth living or they wish they were not here anymore those are all considered suicidal ideations please understand that you don't have to necessarily say that I want to take my life today if you find that a child would feels that they're better off dead or not existing that's a suicidal ideation and if you need to get help for your teen whether it's something as drastic as suicide or as mild as maybe just feeling really sad or feeling down or or or mild depression you still need to seek help for your teen and by those ways you can call your pediatrician your psychologist you could go online there are many resources that are available for you to get help for your team well that's all we have today for ask the dog thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time send in your questions to questions at allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com