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Adolescent Mental Health? There’s a ‘Vaccine’ for That
青少年心理健康?对此有一种“疫苗”
Ask any teenager if they would like to talk about mindfulness and mood thermometers with their peers a dozen times in one school year, and most would decline the opportunity. But ask them instead if they would like a vaccine to ward off the worst mental health impacts of the past year and a half, and most would raise their hands without thinking. Adolescence is a critical time for mental health, and most teens have an intimate relationship with stress. Before the pandemic, one out of every five U.S. teens developed a mental disorder, with half of all mental disorders occurring by age 14 and three quarters by the mid-20s.
问一问任何一个青少年,他们是否愿意在一个学年里与同龄人谈论十几次正念和情绪温度计,大多数人都会拒绝这个机会。而如果问他们是否想要一种疫苗来抵御过去一年半中最糟糕的心理健康影响,大多数人会不假思索地举起他们的手。青春期是心理健康的关键时期,大多数青少年都与压力有着密切的关系。在新冠大流行之前,每五个美国人中就有一个青少年患上了精神障碍,其中一半的精神障碍发生在14岁之前,四分之三发生在25岁之前。
The good news is that, for youth, schools are an effective setting for preventing mental health problems. School-based interventions that enhance students’ capacity to regulate their emotions in healthy ways, such as reframing a problem positively, have proven effective at preventing or reducing mental health problems.
好消息是,对年轻人来说,学校是预防心理健康问题的有效场所。以学校为基础的干预措施提高了学生以健康的方式调节情绪的能力,如积极地重新规划问题,这已被证明在预防或减少心理健康问题方面是有效的。
Our research offers one example: our team delivered a 12-session group prevention program called RAP (Relax, be Aware and do a Personal rating) Club to eighth graders in 29 Baltimore City public schools. Most schools served marginalized communities where poverty limits family prospects and youth are exposed to high rates of violence and other trauma. RAP Club included mindfulness practices, such as breathing breaks with a “mood thermometer,” to teach students nonjudgmental awareness of feelings and thoughts. Role-playing gave youth tools to promote positive communications.
我们的研究提供了一个例子:我们的团队实施了一项名为RAP(放松、觉知并进行个人评级)的12期集体预防计划,面向的是巴尔的摩市29所公立学校的八年级学生。大多数学校为处在边缘化的社区服务,在这些社区,贫穷限制了家庭前景,年轻人遭受暴力和其他创伤的比率很高。RAP俱乐部包括正念练习,如使用“情绪温度计”进行呼吸练习,来教导学生对情感和思想的非判断性觉知。角色扮演为年轻人提供了促进积极交流的工具。