Mental Health Problems Among Children of Age Group 11-17 Years has Doubled

According to Mental Health of Children and Adolescents survey, the number of children seeking help for mental health problems has doubled since 1998.The survey was done in over 6,300 eligible households participants including 3,000 young people aged four to 17. It found the rates of depression in 11-17 year olds nearly doubled (4.7 percent to 7.7 percent) when the young people filled out the survey themselves, as opposed to their parents.

Youth mental health foundation Headspace CEO, Chris Tanti said, “Though many of the statistics in the report are alarming, it will hopefully urge parents to become more vigilant about noticing changes in their child’s mood or behavior.”

“Parents are key in helping young people to get support, particularly mothers of young men, so knowing the signs and symptoms something might be wrong and then how to get help is vital,” said Mr Tanti.

“The mental health system needs to be further simplified to make it as easy and seamless as possible for young people and their parents to get the type of help they need. One of the ways of doing this is making sure services are well advertised, accessible and delivered face-to-face, online and in schools,” he said.

"Given the overwhelming amount of services being provided by school counselors, Headspace will continue our work in schools to ensure our services are even better integrated and that teachers have the tools they need to identify students at risk. There is also a clear need for children under 12 years old to have access to a comprehensive primary care mental health service,” he added.


The study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia .

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Source-Medindia