New York, Sept. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Child Mind Institute today released the 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report, a new analysis of why the critical period of brain development during adolescence creates a high-risk period for impulsive behaviors – including experimentation with drugs and alcohol — and the onset of mental health and substance use disorders. The report calls for an expert panel to study and develop effective mental health education for teens that will help them maximize the potential of this exciting period, avoid risks and make healthy choices. The Institute is assembling a group that will include respected educators, advocates, mental health experts and researchers to undertake this effort to identify concrete goals for mental health education curricula and propose common sense, effective solutions. Encouraging an understanding of adolescent mental health is essential to overcoming barriers that prevent most teens from getting help.
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the latest published research and data about adolescent brain development and its connection to anxiety, depression, substance abuse, suicide and self-injury. The adolescent brain develops until at least age 25, with 75% of lifetime mental health disorders appearing before age 24. The emotional circuits of the brain are less inhibited in adolescence, contributing to depression and anxiety. Nearly one-third of teens will have an anxiety disorder — yet 80% will go untreated. 5,000 adolescents in the US die by suicide every year. Suicide is the leading cause of death worldwide in girls age 15-19.
“Brain changes during adolescence play a central role in making this an intense period, influencing behaviors and decisions that can have life-long implications,” said Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute. “By better understanding what’s happening with the teenage brain and sharing that information with teens and their parents, we can empower them to make good choices. We need to have honest and open conversations with teens about mental health and make them partners in taking care of themselves. Those conversations have to happen at home and in our schools.”
Other topics the report examines include:
- Gender Differences: While anxiety and depression rates are on the rise over all, a significant gender disparity means girls are being affected at a higher rate than boys.
- Adolescent girls are more than twice as likely to experience depression as boys, 15.9% vs 7.7%.
- ADHD: Teens with ADHD, linked to impulsive behavior that can result in dangerous risk-taking, can cope with the disorder and experience fewer lasting negative effects when they receive appropriate support and intervention. Research indicates that the development of ADHD in teens stems, at least in part, from the slow development of brain systems that inhibit impulsive behavior.
- Youth with ADHD are 4 times more likely to develop a substance use disorder.
- Suicide and Self-Injury: The first year of suicidal thinking presents the highest risk and the most important target for intervention. According to the report, “reducing the incidence of teen suicide requires understanding the progression of adolescent mental health disorders, and identifying young people at risk of suicidal thoughts and actions who are already engaged with the mental health system.”
- 63.1% of adolescents transition from ideation to plan within first year of onset of ideation; 86.1% transition from ideation to attempt within a year.
- Psychosis and Intervention: Late adolescence and early adulthood are the peak years for the onset of psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Interventions that include both medication and other services, when provided within two years of the first psychotic episode, are effective – they reduce the risk of recurring episodes by 50%.
- 52% of those with a fist episode psychosis make a full or partial functional recovery with early intervention, vs. just 15% receiving typical treatment.
- Social Media: Teenagers and young adults are the most intense users of social media, but its benefits can be outweighed by a negative impact on self-esteem and satisfaction with their lives. Research also points to links to an increase in anxiety and other mental health problems, as well as another potential danger – sleep debt.
- Heavy users of social media increase their risk of depression by 27 percent.
- Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Teens are more like to experiment with and abuse drugs, and ultimately become dependent on them. And teenaged drug use is associated with earlier onset of mental health disorders, including psychosis, among those already at risk.
- Daily use of marijuana doubles risk of onset of a psychotic disorder {NEED CITATION]
- The Treatment Gap: While early interventions for anxiety, depression, ADHD and psychotic disorders are often extremely effective, the rates of adolescents who never get treatment, or who fail to stick with their treatment, are alarming.
- Individuals with major mood disorders have a non-adherence rate of 50%
- Engagement and Attitudes: Interventions targeting teen education, outlook and attitudes towards treatment can dramatically improve outcomes and treatment-seeking behavior. The report highlights successful mental health programs in Canada and Washington State
- The Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide (The Guide), a Canadian a school-based mental health literacy program, saw a 32% increase in student mental health knowledge and 68% improvement in mental health attitudes when implemented in Washington State.
The 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report is available for download at: https://childmind.org/2017report
About the 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report
The Child Mind Institute’s annual Children’s Mental Health Report brings together thought-provoking, incisive and practical information on child and adolescent mental health care, based on reliable studies and emerging research. Each year the Report takes on a new focus, from the prevalence of mental health disorders to their effects in school to the science of the developing brain. Our goal is to spark conversations from kitchen tables to the halls of Congress, putting the focus on understanding problems and promoting effective solutions. Among the noted experts who reviewed the 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report prior to publication are: Frances E. Jensen, MD, FACP, Perelman School of Medicine at UPenn; Tomáš Paus, MD, PhD, University of Toronto and Child Mind Institute; Stan Kutcher, MD, FRCPC, Dalhousie University; Judy Cameron, PhD, University of Pittsburgh; Bennett Leventhal, MD, University of California, San Francisco; and Stephen Hinshaw, PhD, University of California, Berkeley.
About the Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute is an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. Our teams work every day to deliver the highest standards of care, advance the science of the developing brain, and empower parents, professionals and policymakers to support children when and where they need it most. Together with our supporters, we’re helping children reach their full potential in school and in life. We share all of our resources freely and do not accept any funding from the pharmaceutical industry. Learn more at childmind.org.
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CONTACT:
Haleigh Breest
Child Mind Institute
[email protected] / 646.625.4341
Adam Pockriss
Rubenstein
[email protected] / 212.843.8286
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e0cb8f67-2f05-486e-9bdd-35e59a7fb99f
CONTACT: Haleigh Breest Child Mind Institute 6466254341 [email protected]