A few days ago, Patrick McGorry, an international leader in adolescent and youth psychiatry, expressed his concern on Twitter following an article published in The Irish Times in which different mental health professionals stated that, despite awareness campaigns, Rates of moderate and severe mental disturbance, self-harm, and suicidal ideation among young people are increasing.
McGorry assured that this is happening all over the world and wondered why the response that exists in relation to it is so scarce.
Adolescence and the transition to adulthood is a dynamic and developmentally sensitive period.
People between the ages of 10 and 24 make up a quarter of the world's population.
Poor mental health represents the main threat to the health, well-being and productivity of these people, since 50% of mental disorders appear during adolescence and 75% if we extend this stage to 25 years of age.
Mental health disturbances during the period from puberty to adulthood disrupt a number of relevant life milestones: identity and relationship formation, educational and professional achievement, economic independence, and the achievement of autonomy.
Likewise, during the transition from childhood to adolescence, the prevalence of major depressive disorder increases, which causes a significant deterioration in social, occupational and educational functioning, and in quality of life.
Low long-term social indicators are also a consequence of adolescent depression, as there is a higher risk of dropping out of secondary school and unemployment.
Adolescents who suffer from depression are 2.5 times more likely to continue suffering from it and to develop it in adulthood than those who do not.
There are indications that adolescents would face an increase in vulnerability and need for care, a trend that increased with the Covid-19 pandemic.
This represents a challenge for public health, which not only requires a deep understanding of the forms of prevention, but also an urgent reform in care strategies, with the consequent investment in being able to offer an adequate and evidence-based response.
Adolescents have low levels of accessibility to quality mental health care.
Early diagnosis is required in order to establish timely treatment, however, young people and their families often navigate a system that is unable to provide it.
Existing devices for this must be rethought, respecting the cultural and developmental profiles of this population, recognizing the existence of complex biopsychosocial problems, with the ability to record symptomatic patterns and frequent comorbidities at these ages.
Care services have to be accessible, inserted in the community, without prejudice or stigmatization, with an inclusive profile for family and friends.
January 13 is World Day to Fight Depression.
If we think of the adolescent population, I would strive not to think in terms of struggle but rather the initiation of actions aimed at developing adequate devices for their attention.
It is no longer a question of insisting on the recognition of the problem but of acting so as not to continue asking ourselves: “Why so little response?”.
Fabián Triskier is a psychiatrist in the Child and Adolescent Department of INECO
