Renowned psychologist to talk about coping strategies amid mental health crisis

Educational psychologist Dr. Michele Borba, Ed.D., from California, has been to 19 countries and 49 states. Her conclusion: Stress levels in the United States are among the highest in the world, especially for children.

The best-selling author will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Cameron University’s Theatre, 2702 SW A Avenue, as part of CU’s 12th triennial academic festival dealing with mental health. Borba’s main focus, she said, will be on teaching coping skills to reduce stress and anxiety in children. On Nov. 6, neuroscientist Dr. Nii Addy will then talk about adult mental health as part of Festival XII.

“Before the pandemic, one in five children suffered from a mental health disorder,” Borba said. “Now, it’s one in three. The pandemic didn’t cause it, it amplified it.”

Borba is alarmed by those numbers, calling it a “mental health crisis that’s unprecedented” and a “loneliness epidemic.”

Part of the problem, according to her, is the rise of the so-called “mean world syndrome,” a cognitive bias that leads kids to perceive the world to be more dangerous than it actually is. One reason for that is exposure to graphic violence in images and videos.

“Guns, climate change, they are looking at wars, they are looking at hate, they are looking at natural disasters,” Borba said. “Research is telling us, if you read it in the newspaper, it’s not as graphic. But live images and videos of wars are fascinating for younger children.”

The problem? Children don’t get a sense of proximity, according to Borba, and start getting anxious about what they have seen on their smartphone might happen to them at any point, regardless of the fact that those images were created hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Although it’s never just one factor, Borba said, constant access to media devices such as smartphones or iPads is a huge problem. Borba argued that the American Academy of Pediatrics is warning against letting babies use smartphones.

“Cell phones are part of kids’ lives,” Borba said. “Babies are now looking at cell phones, and there goes the human connection. It’s causing teens’ stress levels to rise, because they are multi-tasking all the time. You think you’re focused, but you’re not. Smart phones cause distraction and sleeplessness, and it’s really impacting our children.”

Touring throughout the country and visiting many schools and colleges has shown Borba a rising need for proper time management skills due to increasing distraction.

“The trends are the same, every university says the same thing, Cameron asked me about it as well,” Borba said, adding that the first semester during freshmen year is the likeliest time when a student might drop out.

Substance abuse doesn’t make things better. According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, drug overdose deaths just for 14- to 18-year-olds increased 20% between 2020 and 2021, with 77% of teen drug overdose deaths being linked to fentanyl. The reason, according to Borba, is that those children have no healthy coping mechanisms to deal with their mental problems. And that’s where Borba sees her opportunity to steer against these worrying trends.

“You can’t change the world, but you can change the way you look at it,” she said. Resilience is necessary in order to deal with stress and other mental problems, and it can be learned and improved.

“Resilience is not one skill, but a combination of skills,” Borba said. “One of those traits is empathy, but empathy has nosedived 40% in the United States.”

Setting digital limits in homes is one approach, but Borba also encourages parents to be “more of a talent scout.” Too many parents, she said, focused too much on their kids’ deficits instead of strength.

Recognizing stress triggers are the first step to reduce stress and potential meltdowns.

“Stress is not 24/7, but certain things can trigger it,” she said. “There’s usually a pattern. And if you don’t know how to cope, the stress continues to build.”

Throughout her career, Borba worked on 14 army bases overseas, and she said that members of the Navy Seals told her how they revamped their training to cope with stress in a healthier way. Recognizing and pointing out stress signs (such as grinding teeth or stronger breaths) before a potential meltdown was of utmost importance, with the seals then using breathing techniques (taking a deep breath, with breathing out lasting twice as long) to calm them down.

“Find what works for you and your kids,” Borba said, naming the example of a 14-year-old who had told her he would be listening to Mozart to help him relax. But things such as prayers, yoga, going for a walk, meditation or reading a book are all examples of healthy coping mechanism.

“The problem is, many kids say they have no time for it,” Borba said. “But you gotta put those 15 minutes into it.” Even two minutes would help, she argued, as long as it’s every day. “You have to keep practicing.”

The biggest mistake, Borba said, is purely copying the strategies instead of figuring out what would work best for the individual. Another mistake: Parents would often tell their kids about the strategies, but Borba recommends not telling, but showing them.

“The ultimate goal is to help the child or student to learn without you,” she said.