Sexual violence and abuse in mental health

GROOM yourselves with care and love to secure our future.
Our basic human mind is simple and needs to be regularly “tuned” and be acceptable to our society’s norms.
We must strive to skill ourselves in overcoming unwanted negative feelings that occasionally puts us on the edge.
Today, our topic seeks to create awareness on our privileged future human assets.
We all feel insecure as we advance in life and we aim to lessen our future liabilities, with hope.

Teenagers and young people
Youth mental health is characterised by coping with study at school or university, working to the best of your ability, and dealing with peer pressure.
Sometimes, mental health problems can affect your feelings, thoughts and actions and create difficulties in many aspects of your life.
Most of the time, these feelings are not very severe, or don’t last long, but it’s still important to ask for help and support early.
Mental health issues are one of the key health problems facing our nation.
They are very common, so you’re not alone.
It’s normal to feel down, tense, angry, stressed or anxious sometimes. These feelings can persist for a long time, or they interfere with your daily life, then they can turn into mental health issues.
While mental health is important at any age, more than 75 per cent of all severe mental illnesses occur before the age of 25.
Issues affecting teenage mental health (13 to 18 years) include: suicide, self-harm, study and educational issues, body image, sexual orientation, sexual activity, pregnancy and homelessness.
Issues affecting our young adult’s mental health (19 to 25) years include: emotional well-being, relationships and dating, self-image, self-esteem, physical health, substance abuse, legal, financial and employment issues.
We shall focus our attention on sexual abuse and violence.
What is sexual abuse?

• Next week’s edition: How do domestic violence and sexual assault intersect?