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Anchored with turbulence emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has become more stressful with debilitating effects on the well-being of employees. Employees rely on varying means of coping including drug abuse. However, the association between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana is unknown. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana.

In a cross-sectional survey, this study purposively sampled 470 employees from three sectors of the Ghanaian economy (telecommunication, banking and manufacturing). The data was analysed using the multivariate analysis (MANOVA), Pearson’s r test and hierarchical regression.

Analysis of data revealed a positive relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts, indicating that drug abuse is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts. Besides, it was also revealed that banking sector employees have a higher risk of having suicidal thoughts than employees in the telecommunication and manufacturing sectors.

Managers of organisations need to redesign work to embrace the challenging circumstances brought about as a result of COVID-19 and post-COVID implications. The work environment needs to be more supportive to shield employees from the physical and emotional demands of work during and after this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today than ever, investment in the implementation of employee-assisted programmes (EAPs) and employee well-being programmes (EWPs) to equip employees with the needed skills to cope with stressful conditions has been more than justified.

From a broader perspective, this study identifies drug abuse as a key risk factor for suicidal thoughts among employees, thereby highlighting the fact that smoking cessation programs and drug management therapies are an integral part of well-being programmes aimed at establishing equilibrium and gradually creating a wide gap between employees and suicidal thoughts.

This chapter addresses one of the most common and long-standing problems among college students, namely depression, as well as a potential consequence of depression, suicide. A formal definition of depression is presented, and symptoms of depression are discussed. Notably, clinical depression is differentiated from “feeling down” or having “the blues.” Common measures of depression for college students are described, and the current prevalence of depression among college students is explored, along with data pertaining to trends and trajectories. Particular attention is devoted to differences in rates and severity of depression among students of various ethnicities, gender identities, disabilities and sexual orientations. Next, the chapter covers various theories about and studies on the causes and consequences of depression, as well as preventive and remedial efforts that students can engage in to minimize the adverse effects of depression. The chapter concludes with a focus on college student suicide, including its prevalence, predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and prevention and treatment of college student suicide.

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) have overlapping symptom profiles. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an established treatment for self-harm and BPD, but little research has investigated the outcomes of DBT for ASC populations. This exploratory service evaluation aims to investigate the outcomes of a comprehensive DBT programme for adolescents with a diagnosis of emerging BPD and a co-occurring ASC diagnosis as compared to those without an ASC diagnosis.

Differences from the start to end of treatment in the frequency of self-harming behaviours, BPD symptoms, emotion dysregulation, depression, anxiety, the number of A&E attendances and inpatient bed days, education and work status, and treatment non-completion rates were analysed for those with an ASC diagnosis, and compared between those with an ASC diagnosis and those without.

Significant medium to large reductions in self-harming behaviours, BPD symptoms, emotion dysregulation and inpatient bed days were found for those with an ASC diagnosis by the end of treatment. There were no significant differences between those with an ASC and those without in any outcome or in non-completion rates. These findings indicate that DBT may be a useful treatment model for those with an ASC diagnosis, though all results are preliminary and require replication.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to report the outcomes of a comprehensive DBT programme for adolescents with an ASC diagnosis, and to compare the changes in outcomes between those with a diagnosis and those without.

This chapter provides an overview of the current state of college student mental health. It describes the contextual factors affecting college students’ mental health, such as institutional funding devoted to students’ wellbeing; the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences; and sociopolitical realities such as racism, gun violence and anti-Semitism. The sensationalistic and opportunistic portrayal of college student mental health in popular media is explored, as are the positive and negative effects of social media on students’ wellbeing. Finally, the current scene with regard to college student mental health is placed in a historical context to highlight long-standing concerns and changing trends facing today’s college students.

High levels of mental health disorders in students can affect their academic activity. Students should think positively to control the mental health disturbances they experience. This study aims to address the mental health problems of students by increasing their gratitude because gratitude is the key to facing the problems that a person faces. Therefore, the study focuses on finding the influence of gratitude on student mental health disorders.

The subjects in this study were 420 students in Eastern Kalimantan using quantitative methods with gratitude scales GQ-6 and DASS-21. Data collection method with online questionnaires to be analyzed with regression analysis.

The findings of this study empirically show that gratitude has a significant and positive effect on mental health (depression, anxiety, and stress). This shows that gratitude has an important effect on mental health in students. If gratitude is higher, then anxiety and stress decreases significantly. This study aims can serve as a foundation for student mental health improvement programs.

This study was cross-sectional, which makes it impossible to conclude a causal relationship between the variables. Therefore, future research should use more advanced research methods, including longitudinal and experimental studies. Another potential limitation that could bias the results is the fact that the data were based solely on self-reports. Then, the study group included a larger proportion of female students than male students.

This study provides a deeper understanding of the importance of gratitude in maintaining mental health. Gratitude has been shown to have a positive correlation with increased psychological well-being, decreased levels of depression and increased resilience in the face of everyday stress and challenges in college students at private univesity and state university.

This research changes students' mindset to always be grateful by thinking positively during the teaching and learning process at university. Many students complain about the current conditions, especially related to study assignments, differences in the teaching and learning process at school. This study is useful for students to reduce mental health disorders at university.

Cyberbullying is a visible and prominent issue in today’s society. This study aims to identify factors influencing cyberbullying, discover its consequences on society, learn strategies and practices for dealing with cyberbullying and propose a framework to control cyberbullying in an online environment.

A systematic literature review was applied to meet the study’s objectives as the research methodology. A total of 27 peer-reviewed journal papers covering the study’s variables were included to carry out the systematic review.

The findings of the study revealed that social media, advancement of technology, lack of awareness, negative use of technology and smartphones affected cyberbullying in society. The study also showed the psychological disasters of cyberbullying. Prominent psychological dangers of the cyberbullying included emotional, psychiatric, psychosomatic, mental aggression, delinquency, depression, psychological distress, frustration, isolation, violence, unhappiness, suicidal tendencies, inferiority complex, embarrassment, negative emotions, self-harming attitudes and the passions of revenge. It also provided key strategies to stop and control cyberbullying activities. Key strategies included digital literacy, social support, emotional management, strict cyber laws and effective training sessions.

The study has provided a framework to stop and control cyber bullying for social survival. The study has offered significant theoretical, social and practical implications.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are complex disorders characterized by pervasive symptoms of rigidity, emotion dysregulation and social cognitive difficulties. Comorbid ASD and BPD are recognized emerging clinical problem that may be challenging to treat.

The authors present a case study of a young person in the authors’ assessment clinic diagnosed with BPD and ASD who had received standard dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with modest effects. The authors provide ASD-informed recommendations for continued DBT treatment.

The de-identified patient described in this case report met full criteria for ASD and BPD. The patient’s cognitive, behavioral, social and personality functioning are described in detail.

Other practitioners seeking to treat this complex comorbidity may make use of the authors’ treatment recommendations for their patients. The authors underscore the importance of individualized treatment planning and hope the authors’ exemplar will be useful to others.

Several evidence-based treatments exist for ASD and BPD symptom reduction. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no current treatments exist for comorbid ASD and BPD to target emotion dysregulation in individuals with restricted and repetitive interests and behaviors and disturbances in social and communication domains.

This chapter covers two behaviors that greatly affect college students’ mental health and wellbeing: eating and sleeping. The chapter begins with a definition of eating disorders and distinguishes clinically disordered eating from other forms of problematic eating. The chapter describes common eating disorders among college students: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and binge eating disorder. The chapter then discusses measures of problematic eating among college students, including the SCOFF, the Eating Disorder Inventory and the Eating Concerns subscale of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS). Next, the chapter discusses the prevalence of problematic eating among college students. Cultural considerations are described, with particular attention paid to gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Causes of problematic eating among college students are discussed, and the consequences of problematic eating are explored, from shame to medical complications to death. Treatment options are detailed, as are barriers to seeking professional help. The chapter follows a similar structure in covering healthy and problematic sleep behaviors among college students. In particular, the chapter explores measures of sleep quality, the prevalence of problematic sleep among college students, their causes and consequences, as well as strategies for correcting poor sleep and interventions for promoting healthy sleep habits.

The purpose of this study is threefold: Determine recent trends in several mental health problems in the USA, identify risk factors that may be responsible for the trends and evaluate intervention policies to reduce the consequences of these problems.

This study used data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), a nationally representative survey of children under the age of 17 that was conducted between 2016 and 2022. Prevalence rates in the data take into account the probability of selection and nonresponse. Because of the possible correlation in the longitudinal responses in the data, an appropriate extension of the generalized linear models (the marginal models) was used. Marginal models, also known as population-average models, do not require distributional assumptions for the observations, only a regression model for the mean response. The avoidance of distributional assumptions leads to the use of the generalized estimating equations (GEE) method.

The author found that the odds of children and adolescents experiencing mental health problems in the USA changed over a seven-year period, from 2016 to 2022. Anxiety and depression, in particular, have both increased, with anxiety increasing faster than depression; however, behavioral issues and attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disoder (ADD/ADHD) remained stable until 2020 (the start of COVID-19), when they began to rise. This paper also found a link between increased social media use and increased mental health problems, and bullying has a negative impact on the mental health of children and adolescents.

The NSCH, an annual representative survey, was used in this study to assess mental health problems among children and adolescents in the USA. Marginal models, which enable the capture of potential correlations among observations of the same subject, were used in conjunction with the GEE method. This study differs from previous research, which used other surveys, pre-COVID-19 data points and logistic regressions that assumed independence in repeated observations.