“What we’re really wanting to take a look at is how patients are doing three months and six months out after they receive these initial services and see if there’s a clinically significant difference among the different treatment options that are available to the teens who are experiencing suicidal thoughts,” says Jennifer Combs, senior research clinical coordinator and study project manager.
To the surprise of some, the actual overall number of suicides in 2020 was 3% lower than in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. However, the numbers varied by age groups. Despite the overall decline, suicide rates increased 13% among young men ages 10 to 14 and 5% among those 25 to 34.
Data from 2021 is not yet available. Researchers are watching closely to determine how suicide and suicide ideation trends may shift as the pandemic drags on.
JUST THE BEGINNING
The full extent of the pandemic’s impact on child mental health cannot be known until the pandemic actually ends. For now, the main objectives have been to use technology to extend otherwise limited resources, to raise awareness of the soaring demand for mental health support, and to capture the data needed to assure that lessons can be learned.
“Children and adolescents were experiencing increasing mental health challenges before COVID-19, particularly depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, and the pandemic has greatly exacerbated children’s mental health difficulties,” Stark says. “Further, the pandemic has proceeded in parallel with national attention to and reckoning with structural racism, and the mental health crisis has disproportionately impacted children from communities of color.”
The concern is so pressing that on Dec. 7, 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory to highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis.
Looking ahead, Stark says research priorities coming out of the pandemic include identifying subpopulations at highest risk, identifying resilience factors that may be useful to promote, building and evaluating school and community based interventions to connect more youth in need to evidence-based care, and establishing expectations for telehealth and other new models of care.
On the research side, many behind-the-scenes improvements are needed to achieve these tasks, Stark says. Currently, many systems collect data separately and communicate with each other poorly. Regulatory challenges pose challenges for effective use of telemedicine. And the entire system needs more mental and behavioral health providers, especially from underrepresented populations.
“We are fortunate to have a broad continuum of services and providers that is likely unmatched in the United States,” Stark says. “Unfortunately, we also recognize that it often is not enough. We continue to see unmet needs in the community for children and their families seeking out additional services.”