This year's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have attracted much attention on the issue of adolescent mental health. The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held a special consultation meeting for the education sector with the theme of "paying attention to the mental health of adolescents and protecting their growth."
Huai Jinpeng, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Education, said at the consultation meeting that the Ministry of Education will adhere to a scientific attitude to grasp the main contradictions of adolescent mental health problems, work with committee members to solve key and difficult problems, and gradually improve the ability to deal with students' mental health problems. .
In recent years, the mental health problems of primary, secondary and university students in our country have attracted more and more attention from governments at all levels and all walks of life.
In April 2023, 17 departments including the Ministry of Education jointly issued the "Special Action Plan to Comprehensively Strengthen and Improve Student Mental Health in the New Era (2023-2025)"; in November of the same year, the Ministry of Education established the National Student Mental Health Advisory Committee , aiming to conduct in-depth scientific research, solve new problems, summarize new experiences, and explore new laws in response to the new situations and new problems faced by adolescent mental health work under the new situation.
"Students' mental health issues have been elevated to the level of national strategy, but there is still a long way to go from the implementation of the spirit of the document to the achievement of visible results, which is related to many factors." Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Deputy Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Pan Biling, Chairman, Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee for the Advancement of Democracy and President of Xiangtan University, said.
How far is it from top-level design to real improvement in adolescent mental health?
What other key nodes are there?
Are there any practical and practical tips?
Reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily interviewed many representatives, authoritative experts, front-line teachers and related practitioners to discuss how to open up key nodes and find practical solutions.
"Critical Period": Adolescent children encounter "crippling" parents
"From the perspective of age groups, the middle and upper grades of primary school to the first grade of high school are the period when teenagers are prone to psychological problems." Shangguan Jinxue, a psychological counselor at Nanjing 12355 Youth Service Desk, said that this period happens to be puberty, and children will usher in In a new period of schooling, when switching to a new school, they face more adaptation and greater academic pressure. The superposition of multiple factors can easily lead to the emergence of psychological problems among teenagers.
As we all know, adolescence is a period when a person's physical and mental changes are most rapid and obvious. These rapid changes can cause adolescents to have problems such as distress, low self-esteem, uneasiness and even anxiety.
What should not be ignored is that most parents of adolescent children are around 40 years old. They are the backbone of the family, both in their careers and in their families. They have great responsibilities and pressures.
Some young people who have just entered the workplace deride themselves as "crippling youths." In fact, in a sense, parents of adolescent children are also in a psychological "crispy" period, and any "turbulence" in their career and family may be possible. Make them anxious.
When a child's adolescence meets the "crippling" period of his or her parents, it often becomes the trigger for adolescent psychological problems.
Shangguan Jinxue introduced a typical case.
Hong Yu (pseudonym) is a junior high school student who suddenly refused to go to school before the high school entrance examination. After seeking medical treatment, he was diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder. “It can be seen that Hong Yu has deep conflicts with his mother and has had fierce conflicts. "Shangguan Jinxue said that when Hong Yu's mother came for consultation, there were obvious scratches on her face.
But what is even more worrying is that during the consultation, Shangguan Jinxue found that Hong Yu’s mother also had obvious anxiety.
Hong Yu’s mother comes from a family with many children: she is the best among her brothers and sisters, and has become a company executive through her own efforts; her younger sister has mediocre studies and average work; and her younger brother has never had a stable job and has completely matured in the past few years. "Gnawing the old people".
Hong Yu’s mother came to a conclusion from her own growth experience: she must study hard so that she can become the “prepared person” at critical moments and seize opportunities to have a better future.
The conclusion is correct, but it changes when combined with anxiety.
In order not to make the same mistake again, Hong Yu's mother strictly controlled Hong Yu's studies, keeping an eye on what time he got up every day, what time he went to school, and what time he did his homework after school.
Later, Hong Yu got a mobile phone, and his mother became even more cautious. She repeatedly warned and urged her before going to bed every night, and even knocked on the door of Hong Yu's room every ten minutes, asking, "Baby, are you asleep?" "Baby, are you?" Bring me your phone"...
It was rebellious at first, but gradually turned into anxiety. Even if it was a small test, Hong Yu's mother's instructions would appear in his mind, and he would start to warn himself: "I must do well in the test this time." "This is a critical moment." "If I don't do well in the exam, I won't be able to do anything in the future."
Under the pressure of "critical moments", Hong Yu found that he was anxious and nervous about everything he did. The more nervous he was, the worse he could do it. Later, he began to fear going to school every Sunday when he returned to school.
Parents’ anxiety not only transmits anxiety to their children, but also aggravates their children’s anxiety.
As Xu Ling, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, deputy chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Democratic National Construction Association, and vice president of Guangdong Technical Normal University, said: "Many parents' education methods are simple and crude, their educational goals are quick and quick, and parents' anxiety transmission has also led to parent-child conflicts and parent-child conflicts. The escalation of conflicts may even lead to vicious incidents."
Some psychologists say that when people have psychological problems, they will engage in "self-attack" phenomena such as self-denial and self-injury. While venting negative emotions to those around them, they themselves also become the target of harm.
Hong Yu told Shangguan Jinxue that in fact, those nights when he heard his mother knocking on the door, he was already very tired and wanted to sleep. But the more he listened to his mother's urging, the less he slept. He would lie in bed and play with his mobile phone. Sometimes, I would stay up until four or five in the morning. "I was so sleepy that I fell asleep holding my phone for a while."
"Deeply digging into cases of problems or crises among college students will reveal that they have mental health problems of one kind or another, most of which are closely related to family relationships," Pan Biling said.
When a child is sick, in addition to treating the child, the parents must also be treated. Some experts even believe that treating the parents is more important.
Pan Biling suggested that we should strengthen the popularization and promotion of parent psychological education classes and parent psychological growth training camps, effectively help parents improve their awareness of mental health, correctly deal with various problems in children's growth, understand children, believe in children, accept children, and accompany children , build a healthy family "soil" for the healthy growth of teenagers, and provide more high-quality support and nourishment for children's growth.
Some experts also said that while parents are concerned about their children's psychological problems, they should also pay attention to their own mental health, which requires the joint efforts of the whole society.
As Lu Lin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Peking University Sixth Hospital, suggested at the first plenary meeting of the National Student Mental Health Advisory Committee held not long ago, it is necessary to raise the awareness of parents, teachers and society through various forms of popular science propaganda. All walks of life pay more attention to children's psychological problems, improve the mental health literacy of the people, and create an atmosphere in which the whole society pays attention to children's mental health.
“Basic Disk”: Opening up the “last mile” of student mental health work
For the vast majority of primary and secondary school students and their families, schools are the most trustworthy professional places, and teachers are also the most trustworthy professionals.
However, currently, many schools still have problems in preventing, identifying and early intervening students' mental health problems.
A teacher told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that in normal colleges, psychology is a basic subject, but special education is rarely involved in the studies. Therefore, many students sometimes fail to work as teachers after taking up teaching jobs. It will feel very strenuous.
"Children's psychological problems are sometimes hidden. For example, when we see children not paying attention to lectures and procrastinating on homework, we cannot quickly realize that the child's behavior is behind his or her dislike of learning," the teacher said.
Lu Yongli, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and principal of Beijing No. 2 Experimental Primary School, introduced another problem in the professional growth of teachers: now teachers’ individual growth experience is generally relatively simple, “from school gate to school gate”, but after joining the job, they face the class group The diverse families and diverse growth experiences behind students and groups of students, "the singularity of teachers' growth experiences and the diversity of education targets constitute the contradiction of 'insufficient preparation'".
Lu Yongli said that this also affects the professional ability of teachers.
Dong Qi, director of the Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University, said at the first plenary meeting of the National Student Mental Health Advisory Committee held not long ago, “Relevant survey results show that ‘the professional training of psychological teachers "Insufficient" and "lack of professional psychological teachers" are two common problems plaguing mental health work."
"The number of bachelor's and master's students in psychology is still insufficient, and the quality needs to be further improved. We still need talents with practical ability and the ability to carry out clinical psychological intervention." Xu Ling said, for this reason, she suggested that it be common in medical and educational colleges. Offer majors in psychiatry, medical psychology, or clinical psychology.
Dong Qi also suggested that universities, especially normal colleges, should strengthen the construction of master's and doctoral programs in mental health applications, increase doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology, and increase targeted quotas according to the needs of different regions, so as to vigorously cultivate applied talents who are urgently needed on the front line. Talent.
"We need to get through the 'last mile' of students' mental health work," Dong Qi said. Improving teachers' mental health education capabilities can better build an "immune wall" for students' mental health.
“Special medicine”: exercise enough, sleep well, and be social
When many parents are not fully prepared and the team of professional psychological teachers is still under construction, what else can we do?
Experts gave a dose of "special medicine".
"Eating well and dressing well are the standards that many parents believe in raising their children well. During the consultation, I found that those teenagers who have adequate sleep, a certain intensity of sports and social activities have stronger emotional regulation abilities and adaptability. , and are less likely to have psychological problems." Shangguan Jinxue said that if parents and teachers can ensure that children have enough sleep, exercise and social interaction from an early age, they can provide psychological support to teenagers to a certain extent. Health builds a powerful protective net.
Many front-line teachers also hold similar views.
"In the past, when boys entered high school, they liked running and playing football on the playground. Nowadays, more boys are addicted to mobile phones and games. Therefore, I feel that more boys around me have psychological problems than girls." said the high school teacher.
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, Pan Biling said that high school is a special stage of growth, and the mental health of both boys and girls may fluctuate, but there are some gender characteristics and differences in the way boys and girls express their emotions, such as Girls' verbalization function and willingness to communicate and share with people around them are generally stronger than boys. Boys are relatively more likely to hide their emotions in a repressed way, avoid expression and communication, or on the contrary, use direct attacks and conflicts to express emotions. Express emotions. In this way, the cumulative effect of negative emotions due to excessive accumulation of emotions, as well as interpersonal conflicts or excessive remarks, will easily give us more negative impressions.
"But no matter what the reason is, scientific research at home and abroad shows that exercise can effectively enhance the physical health of teenagers and promote their mental health." Pan Biling said.
Wang Xiaochun, dean of the School of Psychology at Shanghai Sport University, gave a professional explanation at the first plenary meeting of the National Student Mental Health Advisory Committee. Physical exercise can help individuals release stress and reduce negative emotions such as anxiety and depression.
Exercise can release "happy hormones" such as endorphins, which can effectively improve your mood.
Physical exercise can also improve individual self-confidence and self-esteem, and cultivate teamwork awareness and social skills.
On this basis, Lu Yongli proposed that the challenge of children's sports should be appropriately improved.
When Lu Yongli was interviewed by a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, she showed the reporter a video on her mobile phone. In the video, a 7-year-old boy was running while using difficult movements to flexibly avoid high walls and Ropes and other obstacles.
“Isn’t this spirit of not being afraid of danger and daring to challenge the psychological quality that the top innovative talents we want to cultivate should possess?”
When children are able to conquer one obstacle after another, their self-confidence increases, and this self-confidence and the courage to challenge difficulties will also be transferred to the children's handling of academic and life difficulties, a positive and benign A cycle slowly formed.
"In our school, physical education is the 'first subject', and we have been conducting follow-up surveys on graduates in the past few years." Lu Yongli said.
Many children still maintain the habit of exercising in middle school, and exercise has become an effective way for them to relieve stress.
"A child who is already in the third year of high school must run a few laps on the playground after every evening self-study to get rid of stress and anxiety before going home. Moreover, children are more accepting of themselves and do not deny themselves easily. This kind of Self-consistency greatly reduces the possibility of psychological problems,” she said.
When exercising, communication and collaboration are inevitable; when exercising, eating well and sleeping well are no longer difficult.
What experts call a "miracle drug" is working.
Of course, there are many types of sports, and the intensity of different sports varies. There are also individual differences in students' physical fitness. Experts remind that this "specific medicine" should also be "prescribed to the right medicine" for different students on a scientific basis.
Children cannot wait for their growth, and the mental health problems of teenagers are even more urgent. Parents, schools, and experts should all take active actions to find practical ways in practice to solve the "heart" problems of teenagers as soon as possible.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Fan Weichen Zhang Qian Yang Jie Source: China Youth Daily