Understanding Mental Health of Students and Connecting Mindfulness

 Last week in the mindfulness at home blog for families, I talked about social media and metal health. This past weekend while listening to one of my many podcasts which help me find topics for this blog I was again presented with the idea of youth and mental health.

On Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (now on Spotify, if you want to listen), Dr. Harold Koplewicz, psychiatrist and founder of Child Mind Institute, spoke on youth and mental health.

In this podcast Dr. Koplewicz spoke on the 20% increase in youth suicide over the last four year. The yearly number of suicides is 6,120. Dr. Koplewicz spoke on how every news station would jump to talk about an increase like this if it were Covid, but teen suicide is overlooked.

Last week an article came out presenting information regarding social media and youth self-perception and mental health. Social media has created a negative impact on the mental health of our students.

During the pandemic we have been asked to stay home and save lives. Unfortunately, for our youth staying home caused a concern for their mental health and lives.

Dr. Koplewicz in this interview talks about ways to support students with mental health. He talked about identifying feelings (Mood Meter) and calming the Amygdala (Mindfulness). 

It may seem an uphill battle when it comes to mental health. On average parents wait 2-8 years from the onset of symptoms before they seek help from a professional. You feel as if you are left asking what you can really do and how do you teach a whole calls while focusing on the students most in need. It's reported that 1 in 6 children have a diagnosed mental health concern...and about 2/3 of children in need of a diagnosis are currently going untreated.

Once equipped with information we can start to work on how we can best support our students.

As Dr. Koplewicz shared we can use mindfulness to start making a lasting impact.

Gifting our students with mindfulness is one of the best gifts to give. It a gift they can carry with them throughout their lives. 

This week try taking a mindful moment to show students compassion.

Don't forget to take care of yourself. 

I wanted to end this week's post by reminding you to utilize Inner Explorer. If you do some looking at your home page, they have added mindfulness for Educators. Take a few minutes to explore. I have been listening and they are as wonderful as the mindfulness for our students.

Mindful Wisdom

Did you know that you can tie mindfulness into your moral focus?

In a 2016 article, Matthew Brensilver, Ph.D presented research from two psychiatrist out of the University of California San Diego and then linked it to mindfulness. The psychiatrists research was on the Neurobiology of Wisdom. In his article, Brensilver broke down the six components of wisdom and linked each to mindfulness.

The 6 components of Wisdom:

1. Prosocial attitudes and behaviors

2. Emotional Homeostasis

3. Self-Understanding

4. Value Tolerance 

5. Acknowledgement and dealing effectively with uncertainty and ambiguity

6. Social Decision-making

The first tenant of wisdom is prosocial attitudes and behaviors, Brensilver states that mindfulness is defined by prosocial values, such as heartfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is seen as the father of modern mindfulness, states that heartfulness and kindness are woven deep into the fabric of mindfulness. A prosocial value is kindness and Kabat-Zinn states that mindfulness begins and ends with kindness.

As we explore wisdom this month we can link the kindness of mindfulness to wisdom. 

Research again and again presents examples of mindfulness enhancing emotional homeostasis.

Last week we talked about purpose and how a purpose helps us maintain an emotional homeostasis. Purpose can be seen as a kind of mindfulness. Mindfulness at its core is being present in the moment and aware of the moment. When we are present we can create and follow a purpose. Our purpose helps balance us and creates an emotional homeostasis.

When we practice mindfulness we are better able to gain a deeper sense of self-understanding, which is the third part to wisdom. In recent years neuroscientist Michael Posner, and others, have begun to discover that the more mindfulness is practiced the more self-aware we become and we gain a deeper sense of self-understanding.

As I introduce mindfulness to students I explain that mindfulness is; being present in the moment, without judgment. When we are better able to live without judgment toward ourselves we are then better able to build the wisdom skill of value tolerance. Value tolerance is the ability to see, accept, and embrace the ideas of others values.

Uncertainty happens and is out of our control. How we acknowledge it and react to it, is within our control. The wisdom value of handling uncertainty can be supported by the practice of mindfulness. Learning to accept our feelings and situations as they occur helps to gain wisdom regarding what we can and cannot control and how to handle the things we cannot control.

The last part to wisdom is social decision-making. Research shows that our lives are mostly social and thus filled with social decision-making. Studies also show that when we engage in a 5-minute daily mindfulness exercise we increase our self-understand and gain a better ability to understand others. When we are able to understand others and their emotions we are better able to make wise choices regarding interactions with others. Mindfulness increases positive social decision-making. 

If you'd like to read the full article the link is below.

Wisdom and Mindfulness

Starting with a Purpose

 We strive to do better. We set a goal. We accomplish the goal. We are proud. We feel good. 

Now what? 

Psychologist and professor at Cornell, Anthony Burrow, has researched the idea of living with a purpose verses setting goals to achieve. 

When researching purpose, Dr. Burrow asked just a couple of questions: 

1.   Do you FEEL your life has a clear direction?
2.   Do you FEEL your daily activities are engaging or important?

The key is the word FEEL. How do you perceive your life? 

This research isn't telling us not to ever set a goal, instead, it is helping us map out our lives. We need to feel we are driven by a purpose that each day we work toward fulfilling. Goals have obstacles to over come (reflect back on WOOP). A sense of purpose is a compass for general life.

Finding and living out a sense of purpose has been found to create a buffer for life's stressors. Purpose evens out emotional tones. A life of purpose creates a directed life, an aim toward something greater. Purpose has been linked to longevity and likeability.  Purpose predicts health and well-being.

Let's start this school year with a purpose, not a goal. Our purpose gives us a direction for the whole year, something to strive to live out each day. 

“Purpose is a forward-looking directionality, an intention to do something in the world, it’s different than a goal, which can be accomplished. Wanting to be a father is a goal because it is achievable. But to be a great father is more of an intention than an achievement. On some days, one might come closer to the ideal than others, but it is never a completed task.” -Anthony Burrow

Purpose has been found to affect the way we interact with the world around us.

Purpose helps to stave off reactivity to high emotion situations.

Purpose.

Let's stop and ask ourselves the questions regarding purpose in our lives. Let's cultivate a sense of purpose. How do you feel about your direction in life? Are your daily activities engaging?

The greater our sense of purpose, the more we can help our students find theirs.

Use a mindful moment to ask your students to consider their purpose for the day/school year/life. Help them cultivate a purpose. Not a goal to achieve but a focus to strive toward daily.

What is your purpose?

Do you feel a sense of direction in your life?

Are your activities engaging and important (to you)?

Come to work each day with a purpose, not just a goal. Don't come with a goal to simply make it through the day. Strive toward a purpose to educate better today than yesterday. Your sense of purpose will show and your students will be drawn to you. Your purpose will help you keep calm in the times of stress.

Purpose.

Find it. Embrace it. Share it.

Mindfulness is being present in this moment. In this moment, what is your purpose?