Significant Rise in Youth Mental Health Emergencies in Second COVID Pandemic Year

Research from Harvard Medical School has identified a marked increase in mental health emergency visits by American youth during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study stresses the immediate need for enhanced mental health support and policy reforms, noting the heightened vulnerability of adolescent girls to serious mental health issues, including self-harm and suicide attempts.

This upward trend was predominantly influenced by an increase in emergency visits by girls, leading to extended wait times for inpatient care.

In the pandemic’s second year, there was a notable escalation in young Americans seeking emergency hospital treatment for mental health emergencies, according to a study conducted by the Department of Health Care Policy, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, and published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Growing Mental Health Crises Among Youth

As concerns mount over a youth mental health crisis, this study provides crucial information about the acute use of medical services by young individuals grappling with mental health challenges like self-harm and suicide attempts.

The researchers emphasize the urgent necessity for policy changes to augment mental health resources across various care spectrums, including emergency, inpatient pediatric mental health facilities, primary care, and preventive measures.

“As a society, we need to intensify our efforts to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of our youth,” stated Haiden Huskamp, Henry J. Kaiser Professor of Health Care Policy at HMS.

Exacerbation of Mental Health Issues by the Pandemic

Various reports have highlighted how the stress and isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have worsened what US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy describes as an adolescent mental health crisis.

This trend predates the pandemic, with studies indicating a 57 percent increase in the youth suicide rate in the decade prior to the pandemic compared to the previous decade. The mental health care system has long been under strain due to increasing mental illness in youth and a persistent shortage of providers, the researchers noted.

The pandemic has brought these long-standing issues into sharper focus, they added. The combined stressors of COVID-19 have severely impacted the mental health of an entire generation of young people, straining an already overwhelmed mental health care system.

“One alarming discovery was the significant rise in adolescents enduring extended emergency room waits before admission to appropriate treatment facilities,” Huskamp mentioned.

Disturbing Trends in Adolescent Mental Health Services

The study examined private health insurance claims from March 2019 to February 2022 for over 4 million individuals aged 5 to 17. It compared emergency department visits for mental health conditions before the pandemic (March 2019 to February 2020) and during the pandemic’s second year (March 2021 to February 2022).

There was a 7 percent increase in mental health-related emergency department visits among youth during the pandemic’s second year. This overall rise was primarily driven by a 22 percent increase in visits by adolescent girls during this period compared to the pre-pandemic year.

“One surprising and worrying finding was the spike in ED visits predominantly by girls for issues like suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm,” said first author Lindsay Overhage, an HMS MD/PhD student focusing on mental health policy. “It’s imperative that we take all necessary steps to prevent and treat these severe conditions.”

Moreover, the likelihood of hospital admission following an ED visit for mental health issues rose by 8 percent in the pandemic’s second year compared to the previous year. The number of young individuals waiting over two days for inpatient psychiatric service admission from the ED surged by 76 percent.

Essential Strategies to Tackle the Youth Mental Health Crisis

The study underscores the critical need to identify and alleviate the root causes of the sharp increase in depression, anxiety, self-harm, and other severe mental health issues among youth to prevent suffering. The researchers emphasize that understanding why girls are more adversely affected than boys is a part of these efforts.

The study also calls for swift action to enhance both inpatient and outpatient child psychiatry capacity, thereby offering essential care to youths in crisis and easing the burden on the acute mental health care system. Suggested solutions include improving inpatient capacity, increasing the availability of mental health providers, combating provider burnout, and supporting primary and emergency care clinicians providing mental health care.

Promising Therapeutic Options

For currently affected children, the researchers note promising treatments available in emergency departments, in-person, or via telemedicine. These therapies could reduce hospitalization needs or at least allow patients to start effective treatment while awaiting inpatient program admission.

For further details on this study, refer to Unseen Impact of COVID Pandemic: Youth Mental Health Emergencies on the Rise.

Reference: “Trends in Acute Care Use for Mental Health Conditions Among Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic” by Lindsay Overhage, Ruth Hailu, Alisa B. Busch, Ateev Mehrotra, Kenneth A. Michelson, Haiden A. Huskamp, 12 July 2023, JAMA Psychiatry.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Youth Mental Health Crisis

More about Youth Mental Health Crisis

• Harvard Medical School Study on Youth Mental Health
• JAMA Psychiatry: Trends in Acute Care for Mental Health Conditions
• COVID-19 and Adolescent Mental Health Crisis
• Addressing Youth Mental Health Emergency Trends
• Insights into Emergency Healthcare for Adolescents During Pandemic
• Preventing Mental Health Crises Among Youth Post-Pandemic