Surgeon General Advises Fast Action to Resolve Youth Mental Health Crisis

February 8, 2022 by Tom Ramstack
<strong>Surgeon General Advises Fast Action to Resolve Youth Mental Health Crisis</strong>
Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States. (Photo courtesy U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general repeated his call to action Tuesday to resolve a mental health crisis among American young people that has deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told a Senate panel that more mental health resources need to be brought into schools and telehealth expanded.

“We need to make sure that care is delivered at the right place at the right time,” Murthy said.

His testimony to the Senate Finance Committee follows a rare U.S. surgeon general’s public health advisory in December that reported a sharp increase in depression and anxiety among young people.

It showed that between 2007 and 2018, suicide rates among 10- to 24-year-olds rose 57%. As the pandemic bit in with hurt and isolation, the surgeon general’s report estimated there were more than 6,600 suicides among the same age group in 2020. 

At the same time, emergency department visits from suicide attempts by early 2021 were up 51% for adolescent girls and 4% for adolescent boys compared with the same period in 2019.

The surgeon general’s report coincided with a warning from three pediatric health organizations weeks earlier that they were seeing “dramatic increases in emergency department visits for all mental health emergencies, including suspected suicide attempts.”

The joint statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association said, “As health professionals dedicated to the care of children and adolescents, we have witnessed soaring rates of mental health challenges among children, adolescents and their families over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating the situation that existed prior to the pandemic.”

Contributing to the problem is the loss of life from COVID-19 for about 161,000 parents or caregivers of children.

“The obstacles this generation face are unprecedented,” Murthy told the Senate Finance Committee.

Part of the problem is a lack of qualified mental health professionals who could work at schools or other facilities for children, he said.

He suggested broader use of telehealth that would allow psychologists in a single clinic to meet with patients at great distances. Telehealth refers to distributing health services through telecommunications, most commonly streaming video over the internet or telephone calls. 

Telehealth already has expanded greatly during the pandemic to help health care personnel avoid potentially contagious contact with patients.

Other youth mental health problems predated the pandemic, often tied to social media, Murthy said. It contributes to feelings among young people that they are “not good-looking enough, not popular enough, not smart enough,” he said.

Murthy acknowledged more government funding was needed but did not recommend a source for it.

So far, most of the recent funding to address mental health challenges is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act that Congress approved last year.

The American Rescue Plan is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus program to speed up the nation’s recovery from the pandemic and from ongoing recession. It included $12 billion for mental health and substance abuse care that was put into Medicaid home- and community-based services.

The money is being distributed through state mental health programs.

Additional mental health funding is envisioned in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act. It has passed the House but stalled in the Senate, where any amounts for mental health could be revised or eliminated.

Even Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee who oppose the Build Back Better Act agreed Tuesday that a mental health crisis for young people needs to be handled promptly.

“From school closures to lockdowns and other COVID-related restrictions, the pandemic has intensified feelings of social isolation, helplessness and anxiety,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. “Since the pandemic began, we have witnessed alarming spikes in suicide attempts and suicidal ideation among teenagers, along with a staggering rise in drug overdose deaths.”

He called on other members of the Finance Committee for a bipartisan effort to craft legislation to alleviate the problem.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, agreed a new youth mental health strategy is necessary.

“Our country is in danger of losing much of a generation if mental health care remains business as usual,” Wyden said.

Referring to statistics on suicides and other youth mental health crises, he said, “These numbers, they just take your breath away.”

Tom can be reached at [email protected]

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