John: Depression and anxiety
among adolescents was already at
crisis levels before the
pandemic, but it surged amid the
isolation, disruption, and
hardship of covid.
Earlier this month, William
brangham traveled to Oregon to
find out why it ranks as one of
the worst states for youth
mental health illness and what's
being done to help those in
need.
His reporting is part of our new
series early warnings America's
youth mental health crisis.
William, thanks so much for
joining us today.
Why Oregon?
Why did you go to Oregon?
William: Well, there's an
organization called mental
health America, and every year
they put out an annual survey
ranking how states provide care
to mental illness and how severe
the crisis is.
In Oregon, unfortunately, ranks
dead last in the country as far
as young people who are
struggling with their mental
illness and their access to
care.
It's the highest rate of young
people in the country with one
serious depressive episode.
It is the third highest number
of children with substance abuse
disorders and ranks 42nd in the
country for those children with
those depressive episodes not
getting care.
And so there are a bunch of
reasons why this happened.
A recent state audit looked at
several different factors
staffing shortages, poor data,
and just overall lack of beds.
We, in fact, in our reporting,
found that in the entire state
, there are only 40 beds for the
most acute children who need
this kind of care.
And there's also this issue of
Oregon being a rural state.
I mean, there are several major
cities and the majority of
people live in those cities.
But a lot of the state lives in
places where it's hours to care.
And then mental health officials
tell us once they discharge
those people, they're going back
to communities where there may
not be a single psychiatrist in
town to help them.
John: This must put tremendous
burden and pressure on the
families.
What sorts of stories did you
hear?
William: We heard so many
different parents and families
talking about this struggle.
One mother who whose name is
Laura, we didn't end up filming
with her, but she told us a
harrowing story.
She adopted three children from
within her own family.
Each of those children had
suffered terrible, all manner of
abuse.
Her 15 year old daughter one day
said to her, I'm thinking about
killing myself.
I tried to drown myself in the
tub last night.
And so Laura goes on this quest
to instantly try to find care
for her.
And every single doctor and
psychiatrist she called said
almost as a matter of course, we
are months out before we can
take care of you.
And Laura was in a bit of a
panic.
This is a woman who works at a
hospital as an administrator.
She's someone who family members
and friends would call her and
help them troubleshoot health
insurance issues.
And she couldn't even get care.
She described this as feeling
like a murderer had taken her
child.
And every moment of every day
she thought, is my daughter
going to die?
Is she going to not come home
today?
And again, we heard a very
similar set of stories.
She eventually did get care, but
it was a long, hard road.
And she is just one of tens of
thousands of families and
parents.
John: There was a bright spot in
your reporting.
You've found a program that does
show hope.
William: That's right.
This is an organization called
youthline.
And it is a call in line for
teenagers who are in crisis.
But the people who are answering
those phones or texts or chats
are other teenagers themselves.
And the theory behind this is
and there's some evidence
backing this up, is that
teenagers who are struggling are
much more likely to talk to
other teenagers then no offense
to people like you and me.
And the idea being these kids
will answer those calls.
They will answer those chats,
albeit with a good deal of
training in mental health care.
But this this organization has
seen an incredible spike in
growth from a few thousand calls
per year to now tens of
thousands of calls per year. And
so youthline is trying to grow
this model and to diversify
their base of volunteers who are
working for them.
Go into native reservations and
try to make this program go
national in the near future.
John: Thank you very much for
sharing your reporting.
William: My pleasure, John.
Thank you.