May 12, 2023 – New CDC data suggests the mental health crisis amongst teens is improving, with mental health emergency room visits declining significantly year-over-year from 2021 to 2022.
The authors of the report found that “the mental health crisis among youth in the United States continues,” new data showed that weekly emergency department visits fell by 11% by fall 2022.
“Several reasons may account for these findings. Many adolescents have returned to school and community environments similar to those in the pre-pandemic era, which may have increased social engagement, reduced isolation, and improved mental and psychological health for some adolescents,” the CDC authors wrote. “Family or other stressors may also have decreased, leading to fewer adverse childhood experiences, which are strongly associated with adolescent mental and psychological health.”
Earlier this yr, the nation focused on teenage girls when one other CDC report found that in 2021, 57% of women reported feeling “persistently sad or hopeless” and 30% reported seriously considering suicide.
The recent report summarized data for all mental health emergencies. It shows that the general variety of visits for ladies was lower than in 2019. However, for some specific kinds of mental health emergencies, the variety of visits stays high. There were still more weekly emergencies for ladies in 2022 in comparison with 2019 for the next kinds of visits:
- Drug overdoses: 16% higher
- Suicide-related behavior: 14% higher
- Suspected suicide attempts: 19% higher
- Eating disorders: 57% higher
The authors also noted the continued rise in opioid-related overdoses, which rose 10% amongst teenage girls and 41% amongst boys from fall 2021 to 2022.
The data used for the report comes from medical records of roughly 75% of all emergency departments within the United States
If you or someone you understand needs help, call 9-8-8 to get support from the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. You may also visit 988lifeline.org and choose the chat function.