Soul Sustenance: Girls and Mental Health

 In her book, Heal Your Daughter: How Lifestyle Psychiatry Can Save Her from Depression, Cutting, and Suicidal Thoughts, Dr. Cheryl L. Green, M.D., a lifestyle psychiatrist based in Southern California, presents a new paradigm for helping teenage girls with depression.

I had a chance to interview her to learn more.

Why did you write this book?

I wrote the book to answer the question that so many of the parents of my teen patients asked: "I want to help her, but I don't know how."

What factors are leading to a mental health crisis?

We don't know definitively what factors are leading to the mental health crisis, but there are several candidates: the social isolation triggered by the recent lockdown, when the schools closed, the increase in reliance on social media for social contact, increases in school failure, since it is harder to learn something like math over a screen than in person, increases in drug use, especially cannabis wax vape pen, among girls in recent years, the deaths of loved ones, especially grandparents. during the pandemic, increases in bullying and cyberbullying, and many other factors.

What are some factors that are unique to teen girls when it comes to mental health challenges?

There aren't any completely unique factors related to female teen mental health. But among natal females, there are: more depression, more cutting, more suicidal thoughts, and more suicide attempts. These differences are documented in the CDC's recent report, Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2011-2021. (The report did not consider whether the natal females identified as females or males; it considered all natal females as females.)

Dr. Cheryl L. Green is a lifestyle psychiatrist based in Southern California. She works part time at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and part time in her own private practice based in the greater Los Angeles area. She holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B.), Princeton University (Ph.D.) and Stanford University School of Medicine (M.D.). She is board certified in Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Lifestyle Medicine. Her passion is inspiring others to achieve vibrant physical and mental health. She can be found online on her website, www.CherylLGreenMD.com.