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Panic isn’t what you think it is. It’s not an attack at all, and that’s a misleading name for it. It’s you having an internal reaction of fear – your heart rate changes, your muscles tense up, your stomach feels bad, you have scary thoughts of calamities, and so on.

The growing mental health crisis is indisputably affecting our youth. In fact, the pediatric mental health crisis has been called the “top patient safety threat” of 2023.

What happens in PTSD, is that the brain goes into the fight and flight mode and is constantly on alert to protect the person from recurrence of the highly dangerous experience. But the problem is that it cannot come down from that state of heightened arousal, even after leaving the dangerous situation, and coming back to the safe life environment. 

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

Working with Black churches to create a better today and a much better tomorrow in the field (literally) of mental health care for African Americans are three Black leaders in mental health who will present at the 2023 ADAA Conference. ADAA is excited to have Bernadine Waller, PhD, Atasha Jordan, MBA, MD and Kimberly Arnold, MPH, PhD discuss their work, research and findings in a presentation titled Implementing Evidence-Based Mental Health Interventions in Black Churches.

Yet another community is stricken with grief. In addition to those who are experiencing direct loss, such events also take a toll on others, including those who witnessed the shooting, first responders, people who were nearby and those who hear about it through the media.

Studies have shown a correlation with the development of PTSD and avoidance behaviors. In other words, the more one tries not to think about a traumatic event, resists revisiting a traumatic place, and avoids contact with any potential triggers of the traumatic event, the more likely one is to develop PTSD.

Communities of color often have cultures that are rooted in the importance of community and family. Therefore, people of color are used to taking care of others and can find it difficult to prioritize self-care. However, self-care can be a powerful mental health tool for fostering mental well-being.

If your child has seen coverage of such an event, make sure you talk with them about what they think about it and how they think it impacts their life and the world around them.  

The key message for parents to convey after exposure to any type of trauma or violence is to ensure that your child feels safe and loved. This can be challenging given the frequency of these events.  Knowing what your child’s school is doing to address risk is important so that you can talk with your child and give them a safe home context as well. 

People who are not directly exposed to a disaster but who are exposed to the news can also experience distress, anxiety or even PTSD. We have seen this in instances such as 9/11.

A Q&A with ADAA Member Karen Cassiday, PhD, ACT answering community questions on overcoming agoraphobia.