Mental Health for All Children
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THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

 

 

The Mental Health Crisis

Alarming Findings and Appalling Statistics

Why We Need Your Help!

The following is a sample of some of the disturbing trends that indicate we are in a state of crisis when it comes to the mental health of our young people.

  • According to the Office of the Surgeon General, 1 in every 10 children under the age of 18 suffers from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment. (Kids on the Couch, Dean Schabner, www.abcnews.go.com, July 31, 2003)

  • Regarding children debilitated by depression, overwhelmed by anxiety, desperately seeking joy from some source, Joseph Woolston, Chief of Child Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital said this: "If this were an infectious disease, we would call this an epidemic". (The Kids Are Hurting, Andrew Julien, www.ctnow.com, December 15, 2002)

  • A growing crowd of child psychiatrists, school psychologists and educators across the nation fear that many children are suffering from emotional and behavioral illnesses because of a toxic combination: unrelenting pressure in their lives and crumbling bonds in their families. (Parents Turn Up the Heat, Andrew Julien, www.ctnow.com, December 15, 2002)

  • One of the most extensive analyses of the issue, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, found that nearly one in five children suffers from some sort of emotional or behavioral illness, nearly triple the level of 20 years ago. (The Kids Are Hurting, Andrew Julien, www.ctnow.com, December 15, 2002)

  • A study in Washington State found that more children are hospitalized for a psychiatric illness than for any other single reason. (The Kids Are Hurting, Andrew Julien, www.ctnow.com, December 15, 2002)

  • The 1999 massacre at Columbine High was a painful illustration of how far children who feel victimized and excluded are willing to go. (A Culture of Cruelty, Andrew Julian, www.ctnow.com, December 17, 2003)

  • Children are bombarded by a slew of images, some violent, some sexual, some overtly materialistic. (A Culture of Cruelty, Andrew Julian, www.ctnow.com, December 17, 2003)

  • The Surgeon General's National Action Agenda in 2000 detailed a "public crisis in children's mental healthcare." Compounding the problem is the fact that today's children "are sicker, younger," says Richard Sarles, professor of child psychiatry at the University of Maryland and the president of The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Why? No one knows for certain. (The Demons of Childhood: Young Brains Break. Then Comes The Broken Care System. U.S News and World Report, November 11, 2002)

  • Child psychiatrists typically end up on the bottom of the pay scale compared with other specialists. The result is a massive maldistribution of services, with especially limited options for troubled children in rural or low-income areas. For example, there is less than one child psychiatrist per 100,000 young people in Mississippi, while there are nearly 20 per 100,000 in Massachusetts. Nebraska reported that it has barely enough mental health specialists to help children who are suicidal or in crisis. (The Demons of Childhood: Young Brains Break. Then Comes The Broken Care System. U.S News and World Report, November 11, 2002)

  • The shortage of child psychiatrists is so bad that in states like Maine, there are only 25 psychiatrists available on an outpatient basis to treat 42,000 children with emotional and behavioral problems. (Child Psychiatrists: Few and Far Between, Barbara Walsh, www.portland.com/news, August 18, 2003)

  • Insurers have lobbied hard against equal treatment for mental disorders. Many parents are stunned to learn that their insurance will not cover psychiatric medical care for what is clearly a seriously ill child. "If a child had cancer we would be infuriated if parents were made to beg for care," says child psychiatrist Harding. (The Demons of Childhood: Young Brains Break. Then Comes The Broken Care System. U.S News and World Report, November 11, 2002)

  • Two-thirds of children with mental health problems do not get the help they need. (Campaign Directors' Annual Conference Binder, Children's, "Know the Facts")

  • The rate of depression among adolescents is closer to that of depression in adults, and may be as high as one in eight. (Campaign Directors' Annual Conference Binder, Children's, "Know the Facts")

  • An estimated eight percent of high school students suffer from clinical depression. About 20 percent of students report having seriously considered suicide in the past year. (Hardwired to Connect, Dartmouth Medical School. July 14, 2003)

  • Each year an additional 520,000 youth require medical services for a suicide attempt. (TeenScreen Program, Columbia University, September, 2003)

  • The age of anxiety has created a crisis in college counseling centers. Fifteen years ago, the University of Chicago's counseling center delivered 6,000 hours of counseling; last year, it delivered 11,000. Columbia University in New York has seen a 40 percent increase in counseling hours since 1994 and MIT a 50 percent increase since 1995, with nearly a 70 percent rise in student psychiatric hospitalizations. (Psychotherapy Network: Overburdened College Counseling Centers, September/October 2003)

  • Until 1994, relationship problems were the most common presenting problem. Since 1994, it's been stress and anxiety. While the percentage of substance abuse, eating disorders and legal problems has remained steady, depression has doubled, suicidal feelings tripled and sexual assaults quadrupled. (Psychotherapy Network: Overburdened College Counseling Centers, September/October 2003)

  • The problem is a deficit of connectedness. Consider a fascinating new report arguing the scientific evidence for the importance of "authoritative communities" - groups, religious or secular, devoted to transmitting a model of the moral life. The report is from 33 research scientists, children's doctors and mental health and youth service professionals on a commission jointly sponsored by the Dartmouth Medical School, the Institute for American Values and the YMCA of the USA. "The idea," says Allan N. Schore of the UCLA School of Medicine, "is that we are born to form attachments, that our brains are physically wired to develop in tandem with another's, through emotional communication, beginning before words are spoken." (Disconnected Youth, George Wills, Washington Post, September 21, 2003)