Mental health crisis among adolescents furthered by COVID-19 pandemic
U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Viviek Murthy, released a Surgeon General’s Advisory on December 7, 2021 underscoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth’s mental health.
This was after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) declared a National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health on October 19, 2021.
Even prior to the pandemic, many children in the U.S. were facing mental health disorders. Dr. Kristen Choi, assistant professor at UCLA School of Nursing, said America has struggled to provide access to mental health care for a very long time.
“1/3 of Americans live in a designated mental health provider shortage area, without access to psychiatrists or therapists and about half of people who have a mental illness don’t receive treatment if they need it,” Choi said.
According to an article from Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2018 and 2019, among children ages 3 to 17, eight percent had an anxiety disorder, four percent had a depressive disorder and nine percent had attention deficit disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of incoming adolescent mental health cases, some as severe as suicide, were related to the pandemic.
“We had kids coming in because they were afraid of getting the virus and in some cases because they were being cyber bullied,” Choi said. “The number one stressor for kids was online school.”
With remote learning and a lack of social support, adolescents continued to experience psychological challenges, such as anxiety and depression.
In addition to a heightened sense of isolation, the pandemic created a new category of stressors that most heavily affected those who were already vulnerable to mental health disorders.
“There were some children who were from families where there was abuse or domestic violence going on,” Choi said. “We also saw many kids who may have been LGBTQ+ and weren’t out to their parents.”
According to a study from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, LGBTQ+ adolescents faced difficulty maintaining health wellness due to being forced to stay at home with unsupportive family members and a lack of socialization that helps with identity.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the mental health challenges of adolescents who had already been diagnosed with mental health disorders.
The study also claims that such challenges may result from isolation, feelings of uncertainty, lack of daily routines, lack of access to health services provided through schools and lack of advanced emotional development.
Despite the increased frequency of mental health issues, the overall mental health service utilization decreased during the fall and the winter of 2020, toward the beginning of the pandemic.
However, Choi said that because a large number of people delayed mental health care during the peak of the pandemic, after the spring, the demand for mental health services was higher than before.
With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 emerging, healthcare providers expect to see the continuation of this mental health spillover.
In hopes to reduce the mental health crisis, AAP, AACAP and CHA outlined a series of recommendations for policymakers to implement.
For the majority of the people in the U.S., the Surgeon General Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health urges recognizing the importance of mental health and empowering youth and their families to recognize, manage and learn from difficult emotions.
“The future wellbeing of our country depends on how we support and invest in the next generation,” Murthy said. “Especially in this moment, as we work to protect the health of Americans in the face of a new variant, we also need to focus on how we can emerge stronger on the other side.”
