The Children's Mental Health Crisis and Pediatric Mental Health Care Programs: An option for expanded treatment options

Abstract

Over the past 18 months, children's mental health professionals have warned of the building level of crisis among our nations' youth. Recently, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), and Children's Hospital Association (CHA) declared a national emergency in children's mental health, citing the serious toll of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the struggle for racial justice (AAP news, 2021). In the first half of this year, children's hospitals reported a 45% spike in reported cases of self‐injury and suicide among children 5–17 years compared to 2019, per the CHA. An estimated 140,000 children lost a caregiver to the virus as of this summer, per the National Institutes of Health, which translates to one in 500 children. During a recent grand rounds held in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, the speaker noted that the crisis is not limited to the United States, global estimates are that pediatric anxiety and depression have doubled during the past year (Dwyer, 2021). These estimates are not likely to be a surprise to those working with children and adolescents during this particularly challenging time. We have watched with dismay as the level of need has steadily increased to crisis proportions, after months of concern about the effect of isolation, loss, and stress on a nation of children.