The Trump administration's executive order calls for an assessment of “the prevalence and threat posed by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, [and] stimulants.” (Image credit: Annadokaz via Getty Images)
Our teenagers are in a difficult situation.
News headlines are alarming about youth mental health, and the statistics are alarming. In 2023, 40 percent of high school seniors surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported experiencing persistent feelings of hopelessness or sadness in the past year. Nine percent had attempted suicide.
It's partly due to the COVID pandemic. It's partly due to the influence of social media. It's also due to bullying, pressure to succeed academically, and the need to fit in. Being a teenager in the U.S. is tough.
So perhaps it’s heartening to see President Donald Trump address mental health in a recent executive order (EO) aimed at addressing chronic health problems in children. The order came shortly after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed director of the Department of Health and Human Services.
But the directive, which creates a commission chaired by RFK Jr. to “Make America Healthy Again,” contains language that expresses the doubts he and Trump have sought to sow about established science. That includes suggestions that research funded by the National Institutes of Health and other agencies is not the “gold standard,” as well as claims that doctors overprescribe drugs for conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression, and that “medication-induced illness” may be part of the problem of chronic disease in children. Perhaps most troubling is the language the administration uses to describe prescription drugs for mood and behavioral disorders as a “threat.”
This language creates stigma for families choosing prescription drugs for their struggling children. It undermines the authority of health care professionals. And it opens the door to legitimizing unproven, under-researched treatments.
A new era of quackery is coming. Has no one thought of the children?
More than half of U.S. teens visited a doctor for mental health issues in 2021 and 2022, according to the CDC. About 14 percent of teens reported taking medication to manage their emotions or to help with focus and behavior. However, 20 percent said they had unmet mental health needs.
The Affordable Care Act, and before it the federal parity law, gave many Americans, including perhaps the parents of these teens, equal rights to mental health coverage. In theory, insurance companies cannot deny mental health coverage, charge excessive amounts for coverage that includes mental health, or set limits on the amount of mental health coverage a plan will allow.
But even if you have insurance, depending on your location, finding mental health care for children can be extremely difficult. Many providers, whether primary care physicians or psychiatrists, do not accept insurance or do not work with certain plans. This includes Medicaid as well as large commercial insurance plans. Many primary care physicians, including pediatricians, have limitations on what aspects of mental health care they can comfortably provide, including medications. In rural areas of the United States, there are hundreds of counties without a single child psychiatrist.
Then there’s the public education system, which mandates appropriate education for all children and also acts as a mental health resource. For many children in the U.S., services first become available when a teacher, aide, counselor, or other professional says, “Hey, I think this kid needs help,” or when a child exhibits troubling behavior. This is admirable and necessary—by one estimate, about 70 percent of the mental health services children receive are provided in school.
However, some states are now suing the federal government to recognize Section 504, which provides educational accommodations for these children and other children with disabilities.
Sourse: www.livescience.com
