Adolescent Psychiatry

GENERAL OVERVIEW The prevalence of mental health issues among adolescents, along with the need to build capacity, underscores the reality that adolescent mental health is a key burden of disease issue for the 21st century. This issue of Adolescent Psychiatry presents an overview of the status of adolescent mental health promotion from an international context including considerations for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as high-income countries (HICs). The articles in this special issue present examples of current mental health promotion for adolescents across nations. They consider strategies to address unmet needs and build capacity with regard to global adolescent mental health. A range of methods are presented to address global considerations in adolescent mental health. These include empirical studies, literature reviews, regional case studies, and intervention models. We highlight the role of stigma and a lack of structured systems to support child and adolescent mental health (CAMH). Seven articles make up this special issue (including this introduction). After this first editorial article, building mental health literacy (MHL) is presented as one strategy to build capacity and address gaps in mental health services for adolescents (Article 2); then, the status of adolescent mental health services from a Latin American context are presented (Article 3). From there, a research article presents results of an intervention study with adolescents from an under-resourced community in Northern England (Article 4); and a theory of change regarding the important role of family/school partnerships on proximal and distal outcomes is considered in Article 5. The next article uses an intercept recruitment strategy to examine the experience of bias-motivated victimization among adolescents (Article 6); and the important role of training professionals in adolescent prevention science is reviewed in the final article (Article 7). These articles underscore the critically important theme of adolescent mental health promotion, and advantages of global collaboration in advancing this agenda. OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUE Following this introductory article, the second article in this special issue presents an overview of the status of adolescent mental health from a global perspective. The article, Mental health literacy: A strategy for global adolescent mental health promotion, discusses the prevalence of adolescent mental health issues and gaps in service capacity. The experiences of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as high-income countries (HICs) are presented. The role of stigma in service delivery, access, and utilization for adolescents is considered. Mental health literacy (MHL) is presented as a strategic way to build mental health capacity for adolescents. The third article in this special issue considers adolescent mental health within a Latin American context. The article, Community psychiatry in a Latin American context: Perú as a case example, focuses on the status of community psychiatry in Latin America as it relates to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Recent developments in community health centers in Perú are presented. Authors discuss the importance of community mental health center policies and programs to support the well-being of Latin American adolescents. The fourth article in this special issue considers the efficacy of a pilot intervention study conducted with youth in an economically challenged community in Northern England. The article, Exploration of psychological well-being, resilience, ethnic identity, and meaningful events among a group of youth in Northern England: An autobiographical narrative intervention pilot study, examines the use of an autobiographical narrative approach within the context of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Results of an 8-week autobiographical intervention suggest that the intervention may promote positive mental health outcomes among adolescents with limited economic resources. The fifth article in this special issue considers building adolescent mental health capacity through partnerships between families and educational institutions. The article, Moving towards meaningful and significant family partnerships in education, begins with a description of developmental transitions from childhood to adolescence. It then talks about how family/school relationships may vary depending upon developmental stage. The important role of family/school partnerships is discussed. Best practices for facilitating school/home connections are presented. The 6th article, Bias-motivated victimization of immigrant students in schools: Incidence, impact, and intervention, explores whether immigrant-origin students report greater bias-motivated victimization in comparison to their non-immigrant origin peers. The study found that approximately 60% of youth in the entire sample experienced bias-victimization in their lifetime. This rate was basically consistent across immigrant-origin and nonimmigrant-origin participants. Among participants who reported a minimum of one lifetime event of bias-victimization, immigrant-origin youth reported a greater likelihood of experiencing victimization related to their peers’ perceptions of their country of origin or immigrant status, in comparison to nonimmigrant-origin youth participants. The final article in this special issue, Preventing child and adolescent mental illness – We got this, presents international prevalence data for child and adolescent mental health issues. The article discusses how mental health and substance abuse remain the two main contributors to the global burden of disease and connects this reality to the adolescent experience. Prevention practices in the psychiatry field are presented. Such practices differentiate between health promotion/disease prevention and standard mental health care. The article presents various interventions that are used in different countries to illustrate preventive mental health interventions for adolescents from diverse country contexts. Research targeted to reflect the adolescent experience, evidence-based interventions that address adolescent mental health, and MHL efforts that address community needs can inform policy makers from diverse LMIC and HIC nations about specific areas to be addressed under the general umbrella of adolescent mental health. Such specificity, within the context of a cross-sectoral approach, is thought to be the impetus necessary to promote momentum that is connected to tailored, community-based interventions. This special issue of Adolescent Psychiatry seeks to address these gaps in the literature.