How to Help Your Young Adult Care for Their Mental Health
As a parent, there are many things you can easily do to care for your young adult in terms of physical health — but when it comes to mental health, it’s much harder to spot and deal with.
Any person can suffer from mental health problems at any age, but when you’re dealing with a young adult undergoing huge life changes and big decisions, it can run more of a risk to find that you have a teen or young adult dealing with mental health difficulties.
5 Signs Your Young Adult May Be Dealing with Mental Health Problems
If you’ve never suffered from mental health problems yourself or seen it first hand, you may not know what the signs and symptoms are. Symptoms can manifest differently in every person, however, and some people may not get all of them, but here are some common signs your young adult may be struggling:
- They have persistent low moods. They may be weepy, or else always negative.
- They lack motivation. They have no energy to do anything, or you never see them being active or getting involved with anything.
- They aren’t passionate about anything. Your young adult may have suddenly dropped hobbies they used to enjoy or aren’t motivated to start anything new.
- There are physical signs, such as weight changes or bad hygiene practices.
- They’ve become withdrawn. While young people can become a lot more private, you may have noticed they keep to their room, refuse to join family dinners, or else isolate themselves generally.
It’s important not to ignore any of these signs or other indicators, and there are some things you can do as a parent to help support your young adult’s mental health.
Encourage Them to Learn Adult Responsibilities
Young adults can easily become sedentary or unmotivated when they don’t have any responsibilities, especially within the household. While negative mental health can impact the motivation to do things like cooking and cleaning, it’s still important to try and support them, prompt them and teach them.
It may be that your young adult is suffering from low mood or anxiety because of the prospect of becoming more self-sufficient, such as living alone at college. This could also be a symptom of Failure to Launch Syndrome, in which case help is available, such as from Life Adjustment.
Helping your young adult to learn simple things like how to use a washing machine may help to build their confidence.
Speak to Them
While it’s important to not pester or push your young adult into speaking, it’s always important to show them that you’re ready to listen. Ask them what’s troubling them and how you can help, and let them know that they’re not alone.
Plan Activities with Them
If your child isn’t motivated to exercise or go out on their own steam, encourage them by joining them. You can take a walk outside with them, go to the gym with them, or book an event or activity and encourage them to come along.
Remember: you’re never alone as a parent trying to support their child, and there’s always professional help from advisors and doctors available to help in a way you aren’t equipped to.
