The number of kids in our emergency room has skyrocke
over the last few years. Um You know sometimes almost
50% of the kids in the E. D. Are there for mental
health issues. And mostly the suicidality self injury
may is mental health awareness month. And it arrives as
we learn alarming new findings on this issue. A new CDC
study finds mental health particularly among young
people has declined during the pandemic. Researcher
collected data from high school students and thousands
of schools across the country. Almost half reported
feeling consistently sad or hopeless to the point that
they stopped doing their usual activities, particu
sober finding. Nearly half of L G. B. T. Q. Teens said
they had seriously considered suicide. Let's bring in a
psychiatrist. Dr Daniel Bober doctor. These are some
troubling numbers. What might be driving this? Well the
decline in mental illness actually predated the
pandemic. We were already seeing skyrocketing levels of
suicide depression, anxiety. So this is something that
even happened before the pandemic but was exacerbated
by the pandemic. And we're also seeing a record number
of pediatric emergency room visits for uh suspected
suicides. So this is something that really is a public
health emergency. What are you seeing and hearing from
teens that that you treat that you that you speak with
about these issues? Well I think part of the issue is
there are a lot of factors that are going on before the
pandemic which has caused the mental illness to
decline. And I think part of that is the fact that uh
obesity is at epidemic levels. And so puberty is
happening earlier. Um of course the influence of social
media and I and the factor that I see, that's proba
the most important factor is the lack of communication
within families. If you look at families who had teens
who committed suicide, the number one factor in the
home is the fact that there's poor communication
the parents aren't aware of what the kids are doing,
who they're with, what activities they're engaging in.
So what I say is you have to listen to your teens ev
when they're not speaking, you have to know what
they're involved in and you have to be present. So
let's talk about that more being incumbent upon the
parents to to pick up on these signs of depression.
What should parents be looking for when it comes to
depression, mental health issue or just struggles that
their child may be going through. So look for signs of
isolation, withdrawal sleep changes, weight changes,
hanging out with a different crowd, letting your
hygiene go, keeping secrets, not being involved in
activities that usually gave them pleasure before.
These are all signs that you need to look out for and
where do you recommend parents go when they think
something's up? So the first step would be to go to
their primary care physician and that usually serves as
the gateway to get help. That person can guide you
towards the therapist or a psychiatrist and then there
are resources on the internet, for example SAMHSA or
the substance abuse mental health services
administration at SAMHSA dot com are more resources
that parents can look for. Has the pandemic made
talking about mental health issues less taboo or I'm
even thinking of you know the high profile like
celebrities coming out and speaking about their mental
health struggles um superstar athletes like Naomi Osaka
and Simone Biles who have been very open about their
mental health struggles and have actually taken time
off because of it. I think that's certainly helped b
we definitely are still facing the stigma of mental
illness. You know, for example you go to a party and
you tell someone you have diabetes you're much more
likely to get a sympathetic reaction than if you tell
them that you have depression, depression, me
illness is still seen as a weakness and a basic
character defect. And until we could get that stigma
under control I think it's going to be an uphill battle
but we are definitely going to do our part to remove
that stigma. So the people that are struggling can get
the help they need Dr Daniel Bober, thank you so much
for coming on the show and sharing your insight. We
appreciate it. My pleasure if you or someone you know
is having thoughts of suicide, please call the 24 hour
National Suicide prevention Lifeline. That number 802
738255. You can also text their line at 741741.