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Youth mental health disorders on the rise

St. Joseph News-Press - 1/18/2023

Jan. 18—The number of children visiting clinics for mental health concerns is still rising and local organizations say they are seeing the trend.

A recent study found pediatric mental health emergency department visits across the U.S. have increased by 8% annually between 2015 and 2020. And about 13% of those patients are needing help again within six months.

"In comparison to 2020, we have noticed an increase in more requests for mental health evaluations and follow-up treatment," said Deidre Turner, director of the counseling care center at St. Joseph's Family Guidance Center. "Some of the common symptoms that have been present are anxiety and depression."

The study found that the continuing surge in pediatric mental health department visits is associated with a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and parental depression.

"Since the pandemic, individuals were spending more time isolated and away from family and friends," Turner said. "That has played a factor in a lot of the anxiety symptoms we're seeing due to issues like bullying. Then we also have to consider parental depression which has impacted relationships between child and parent which has caused a need for increased services as well."

Along with seeing an increase in the number of children suffering from mental health disorders, organizations also report kids having various forms of trauma.

"We are seeing so many kids with poly-victimization, which is multiple types of trauma, when they come here," said Melissa Birdsell, executive director at Voices of Courage Child Advocacy Center. "In the past, we may have seen a child for just sexual abuse only and now it's sexual abuse plus the pressures of bullying and other things kids are suffering through."

Birdsell said many factors may lead to mental health issues in children but she also believes that parental and household problems are a growing factor.

"Kids are egocentric, so naturally in their minds when bad things happen it's their fault," she said. "There's often a lot of economic pressures in the home and families who aren't intact and kids can really feel a lot of pressure and guilt from these problems."

The trend of increasing mental health visits in kids can be reduced with the proper care and noticing signs that a child needs help.

"Communication is so important," Turner said. "Talk with your children and notice unfamiliar behaviors or signs they may be showing. Everything in your child needs to be monitored so there's not an increase in the chance of suicide, substance abuse or any self-harm behaviors."

Experts added that there is a growing need for improved access to mental health services so children are receiving the service they need.

"We're working on building our mental health department so we can see more children," Birdsell said. "But the other thing we really want to concentrate on going forward is working with the family as a whole. We know that children heal better in homes where there's healthy relationships so we want to make sure caregivers are creating trust between them and the child."

Jenna Wilson can be reached at jenna.wilson@newspressnow.com.

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