Erika Edwards – Aug 16, 2023

Three influential groups of pediatricians and emergency medicine providers are pleading for more support and resources as the number of children and teenagers with mental health concerns overwhelm emergency departments nationwide.

Every year, approximately half a million children with mental or behavioral health conditions are evaluated in emergency departments, according to the AAP. That number increased over the past decade, experts said.

Dr. Willough Jenkins, medical director of emergency and consultation liaison psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, is on the front line of the surge

She said that the number of kids seeking psychiatric emergency care in her ER has grown from approximately 30 a month in recent years to 30 a day.

“The volume is astronomical, and I don’t know that people fully understand how many people are struggling,” said Jenkins, who was not involved with the new policy statement.

Jenkins said that children as young as six are coming in, often talking about suicide.

“This crisis is only getting worse,” she said. “It’s not getting better.”
A nationwide mental health problem

The call for help comes as the number of children and teenagers with mental health problems skyrockets. A February study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, found an “unprecedented level of hopelessness” and suicidal thoughts among the nation’s youth.

“The bulk of these children are coming in with depression, anxiety and trauma,” Jenkins said.

But emergency departments are not set up to handle mental health crises.

Emergency physicians are highly equipped to handle situations that need immediate attention: gunshot wounds, shattered bones, heart attacks. While they may be able to address mental health issues at a basic level, Saidinejad said that emergency staffs typically do not have the resources to manage such long-term cases.

Emergency departments “already have challenges with being understaffed and under-resourced,” Saidinejad said. “Now we’re adding to this a huge element of an increasing number of children — younger and younger, by the way, as young as five — who are coming in with mental health complaints.”

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