US Pediatricians, Psychiatrists Declare Child Mental Health Emergency

Fear, grief, uncertainty, and isolation during the pandemic have triggered a national state of emergency in the mental health of America’s youth, warned the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association. “Young people have endured so much throughout this pandemic and while much of the attention is often placed on its physical health consequences, we cannot overlook the escalating mental health crisis facing our patients,” Lee Savio Beers, MD, president of the AAP, said in a news release from the three groups. Between March and October 2020, the percentage of ED visits for children with mental health emergencies rose by 24% among those aged 5-11 and by 31% among those aged 12-17.