Research Reveals Invisible Crisis of Children’s Mental Health

July 19, 2021

One in eight children has a mental disorder that causes symptoms and disabilities and needs treatment, but even in high-income countries, most of these children do not have access to services to treat them. .. Evidence-based mental health..

Mental disorders that begin in childhood and adolescence can significantly impair well-being and development.

Despite the social and economic consequences of not addressing these obstacles, such as long-term medical costs, judicial costs, and loss of human potential, providing mental health services to children is expensive, even Even so, they are lagging behind in providing services to their physical health. -Income country.

To better understand the burden of mental illness in children and their treatment, the author analyzed data from 14 studies published between 2003 and 2020 in 11 countries. The countries were the United States (4 studies) and Australia, Canada, Chile and Denmark. , United Kingdom, Israel, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Taiwan (1 study each).

The study included 61,545 children under the age of 18, and analysis showed that the overall prevalence of childhood mental illness was 12.7%.

The most common psychiatric disorders are anxiety (5.2%), attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (3.7%), oppositional defiant disorder (eg, controversial behavior) (3.3%), substance use disorder (3%). Example: Problematic use of alcohol or cannabis). ) (2.3%), behavioral disorders (1.3%) and depression (1.3%).

“Relatedly, only 44.2% of children with mental illness received some service for these conditions,” the author says. “In contrast, most of these countries offer powerful services for children’s physical health problems such as cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases.”

These deficiencies exist despite considerable research evidence of effective interventions to prevent and treat childhood mental illness.

They say their findings reveal “an invisible crisis in children’s mental health.” “We have portrayed a high prevalence of mental illness in children, coupled with unacceptable service shortages in high-income countries to the extent that they violate children’s rights.”

High-income countries “can afford to do better,” they added. “In many countries, children’s mental health budgets need to be significantly increased.” They said, “Given the documented increase in children’s mental health needs since COVID-19, this is especially urgent. There is a need that is expected to continue. “

The authors focus on some limitations of their treatise, especially variations of the methods used in the studies involved, such as methods for assessing diagnostic approaches and use of services. Nonetheless, all studies reported data on children who had disabilities as a result of mental illness as well as symptoms, highlighting the need for treatment.

“We believe that our reviews will help policy makers better understand the mental health needs of children in high-income countries,” they say. “In particular, policy makers can use our prevalence numbers as benchmarks. Calculate the number of people who need treatment at any time within a particular population or jurisdiction, and actually use the numbers you need for mental health services. Compare with the number you are receiving. “

They point out that families may seek service for children who are experiencing distress that does not meet diagnostic criteria. That is, prevalence data may underestimate the need for services.

The authors add that studies assessing service use primarily collected contact data, resulting in limited data on the types, durations, and intensities of treatment interventions that helped service planning. They emphasized that it is also important for policy makers to ensure effective service, whether preventive or curative.