New Website for Training Institute for Mental Health-- and article on Inner City Teens

The wonderful organization I do volunteer work for, the Training Institute for Mental Health, has a new website

http://www.timh.org/

In regards to what we have been discussing about the problems and aspirations of young people who are not necessarily white or middle class or educated, here is an article I did sometime back for the TIMH Newsletter 

Psychological Risk Factors for Low Income, Inner City Teens

During and after World War II, the City of New York realized it was facing severe new challenges in behavior and the emotional state of  high school students. Some people felt this would lessen once the War was over, and to some extent it did, but then population shifts throughout the City meant that whole new waves of teens from different backgrounds were coming into the system to offer new and sometimes unexpected challenges.

Perhaps one the first real signs that people were aware of the shift that was taking place came with the enormous success of movies like “The Blackboard Jungle” in the early 1950’s, where a well intentioned high school teacher finds out just how hard it really is to help his troubled students, given the complexity and depth of the problems the have and the harsh conditions they face.

New York City kept adding Guidance Counselors to its Master School Plan at about that time, and it was also realized for the first time how many psychological factors were involved.

Lots of studies have been done on inner city teens, --in such areas as depression and suicide, substance abuse, and then the notorious spread of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Back in  the 1990’s, Columbia University conducted an intense academic study of low income inner city teens.

Needless to say, all the problems reported in it are still there and in some areas of the City, much worse.

Statistics and Overview of Columbia Study

To estimate the prevalence of involvement in sexual, assaultive, and suicidal behaviors and to quantify the relative importance of demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral risk factors for those behaviors, a survey was administered in the spring of 1992 to a sample of 3,738 predominantly Hispanic and African-American students attending four junior high schools in an economically disadvantaged, medically underserved New York City school district. The mean age of participants was 13.5 years; 73.7% were Dominican, 6.9% were other Hispanic, and 10.4% were black.

Results

Thirty-one percent of males and 7% of females reported involvement in sexual intercourse, 27% of males and 8% of females reported involvement in assaultive behavior, and 10% of males and 19% of females reported suicide intentions/attempts. The primary risk factor for sexual intercourse was a belief that involvement in intercourse was common and acceptable among peers. The primary risk factor for assaultive behavior was adverse social circumstances. The primary risk factor for suicide intentions/ attempts was symptoms of depression. The risk for involvement in each of the three investigated risk behaviors was substantially increased by involvement in the other two behaviors.

These findings underscored the urgent need for comprehensive sex and violence prevention programs targeted at urban minority junior high school students and suggest factors that may identify students at highest risk.

More Recent Studies- Latino teens in particular

In the last several years, the City has had to cut back on its budget for guidance counselors and special help programs for  low income inner city teens. Recognizing this, the Training Institute for Mental Health started its own program with a “target school “ in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill ( which has plenty of disadvantaged students, even though it is hardly in one of the worst areas of Brooklyn).

In 2012, University studies in South Florida investigated the depression and suicide rates among Latino teens (since the Latino population is surging in the United States now and has it own special problems, they decided to see what was going on now). ( NOTE: Of course, not all Latino teens are in low income inner city areas, but you can easily imagine that the problems there are of course worse than the averages reported here).

Latinos represent the largest “minority” group in the United States, and yet are an extremely diverse population, including people from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America (5, 30). One can identify as another race and Hispanic (3, 4), and indeed terms “Latino” and Hispanic” are often used interchangeably, as they are by the U.S. Census Bureau (5, 30). Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth of Hispanic descent, although it is important to note that 11% of Latina females attempted suicide at least once within a year before taking the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System [YRBSS] (3). The percent of Latina females attempting suicide (11.1%) is higher than most other female racial groups: Black (10.4%), White (6.5%), and Asian (3.7%) and over twice as high as compared

to their Latino male peers (5%). Although the Latina female percentage for non fatal suicide attempts is lower than females of multiple races (13.7%), it’s higher than the U.S. average (8.1%). Additionally, 40% of Latina females reported feeling sad or hopeless within the last year (3). Unlike many other ethnic groups Latino youth are at an increased risk of dying by suicide than Latinos overall (4, 30). Latinos represent the largest “minority” group in the United States, and yet are an extremely diverse population, including people from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America (5, 30). One can identify as another race and Hispanic (3, 4), and indeed terms “Latino” and Hispanic” are often used interchangeably, as they are by the U.S. Census Bureau (5, 30). Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth of Hispanic descent, although it is important to note that 11% of Latina females attempted suicide at least once within a year before taking the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System [YRBSS] (3). The percent of Latina females attempting suicide (11.1%) is higher than most other female racial groups: Black (10.4%), White (6.5%), and Asian (3.7%) and over twice as high as compared

to their Latino male peers (5%). Although the Latina female percentage for non fatal suicide attempts is lower than females of multiple races (13.7%), it’s higher than the U.S. average (8.1%). Additionally, 40% of Latina females reported feeling sad or hopeless within the last year (3). Unlike many other ethnic groups Latino youth are at an increased risk of dying by suicide than Latinos overall (4, 30).

Yoga Used to Help Troubled Teens

So far, and perhaps not surprisingly, most of the attempts to use yoga to help troubled teens have been in the State of California.  It has also been tried other places too, though, now with greater frequency.

Here are the findings of a report from a California group’s study that was focused primarily on African American teens all over the country, but whose findings are probably just as valid for other groups:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, 22% of children in the U.S. are being raised at high poverty levels. In areas of severe poverty, children lack basic necessities like regular wholesome meals and appropriate clothing. More often than not, these children experience early exposure to violence, death, drug use, and abuse, all of which can have long-term effects on a child’s psyche, resulting in displays of violent and/or aggressive behavior, poor impulse control, and lack of self-esteem. 

Juvenile justice centers in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland all have instituted yoga/meditation-based programs for their residents. By blending the five principles of yoga - meditation, relaxation, proper breathing, proper diet, and exercise, residents learn techniques that cultivate deep controlled breathing, how to release tension, and provide the ability to enter into a meditative state. Teens are given a chance to tune into their innermost being, and in turn, they are increasingly mindful of themselves and others. Exposure to yoga and its various components provides a means for these teens to cope with the daily pressures of life.

The movement to expose troubled youth to the peace, tranquility, and mental wellness associated with yoga has been tremendously successful. The Mind & Body Awareness Project, in Alameda County, California, has stood as a testament to the change yoga can effectuate in the life of struggling teenagers. Co-founder Noah Levine has stated that the young people are able to find a much-needed affirmation of self-worth and confidence, as well as real tools that help them avoid acting on violent impulses. For some of the participants, their time in the program is their first experience of encouragement, fulfillment, and self-love. In an interview with Yoga Journal, one of the participants of the Mind & Body Awareness Project stated, “My anger and other people just don't mix," he says. "So I breathe and count to get bad thoughts out of my head. My eyes are more open now, and I realize what is important.” Without question, yoga is providing the tools to help young men and women make lasting fundamental changes in their actions and lives overall.

How Effective is Yoga in Combination with combination with more traditional therapy?

Many people have investigated combining yoga with traditional psychological approaches to people’s problems. A report from 2011 states:

Both yoga and psychotherapy have many benefits on the emotional well-being of individuals. The practices can be combined for greater benefits than either on its own because as tension is released from the body, it becomes easier to open up for psychotherapy treatment. Other benefits include a greater ability to relax, an ability to see the self more clearly, and a different way of organizing thought patterns. Yoga and psychotherapy provide greater freedom in the ability to heal from past thoughts, memories, and emotional wounds that can remain with people for a long time if left unchallenged. 

Certain types of yoga can be done in a very gentle way to cultivate tenderness and vulnerability in the person practicing it. Kundalini and hatha styles of yoga are often used in yoga and psychotherapy because the emphasis is on breath work and the energy centers of the body, rather than moving quickly to get fit.

 Breathing slowly and meditatively while moving through yoga poses provides the benefit of relaxation in the individual practicing it. This is helpful when yoga and psychotherapy are done together because many people get nervous when faced with looking into themselves on a deeper level than normal. If an individual is relaxed from performing yoga, he or she becomes more willing to talk about issues that otherwise would not be addressed. 

When yoga is practiced prior to, or during, psychotherapy, the individual is able to gain deeper clarity through gaining awareness of the body. Since the body and mind are connected, when energy is released from the body in an intentional way, the individual is able to connect with the emotions felt in the present moment. If the psychotherapist is trained in counseling and yoga, he or she can take advantage of this present moment awareness to bring out insights in his or her client. This can lead to epiphanies within an individual regarding the reason he or she is undergoing psychotherapy.

Many people have negative patterns running through their minds a lot of the time, and yoga helps to stop those kinds of thoughts and replace them with gentleness, even if the emotions being experienced are negative. It is common for people to block the experience of emotions because they can be painful and scary. Once an individual is brought into a safe and gentle space because of yoga and psychotherapy, he or she can experience the emotions and allow them to heal.