In what conditions an individual lives in or grew up affects their mental health. If a child is surrounded by positivity while growing up then it is highly likable that he will have a stable mental health while growing up. The environment that an individual lives and works in forms part of the wider context of their lives, which is vital to think about when treating any of the child’s mental issues. There are various environmental factors that affect a child’s mental health, the major ones are Physical and Social.
Physical factors that affects a Child’s Mental Health
Physical factors have a prolonged impact on a child’s mental health, from the time of growing up and facing the challenges to incorporating those challenges in their daily life.
- Sleep Deprivation: Nowadays, as everything has become digitized, lot of people have become addicted to the use of the internet, especially children. It is recommended that children should get 8 hrs of sleep, but in reality, this is not happening. Children are becoming deprived of sleep, causing mental health problems such as, sleep disorders, aggression issues.
- Environmental Pollution: Due to increase in population, the rate of pollution has also increased, affecting a child's mental health along with physical health, thus growing up around dirty air, quadruples a child’s possibility of developing mental health issues such as depression later in life.
- Extreme Weather Conditions: Climate change can also cause mental health issues in one's life, especially to children as they are exposed to so many factors in the initial stage only.
Social factors that affects Child’s Mental Health
Social factors have a direct effect on a child’s mental health and can trigger their mental health disorders like anxiety and panic disorders.
- Stigma: Major issues faced by individuals, especially children, are stigmatized for some or the other things that have an adverse effect on their mental health.
- Abuse: Abuse can be physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse, thus, experiencing it every day is harmful essentially for a child’s mental health.
- Poverty: It attacks mental health in a very dangerous way. It could be considered as one of the important causal factors for childhood disorders.
- Lack of social support: Getting social support from families or caregivers, is important for children, lack of it might harm the mental health of children. So, as parents they must get the proper amount of support.
- Toxic relationships: Relationships play an important role in everyone’s life. Good relationships will lead to positive health, on the other hand, toxic or negative relationships lead to poor health.
Conclusion
One of the major causes of Mental Health Disorders is Environmental factors that are diverse in nature. Keeping in mind those factors, one needs to take proper care of their mental health. We at Solh Wellness; work to provide people with proactive mental health solutions before their situation worsens. To proactively support your mental health, try out several techniques and make self-care a priority in your daily life. Download the Solh Wellness App to start experiencing the transformation.
