'Striking' impact of COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health
ABC News
Hospitals continue to see the impact of the pandemic on mental health emergencies in youth as demand outpaces access, experts say.
Dr. Deborah Levine has been a pediatric emergency medicine physician in the New York City area for over two decades. In recent years, she has observed an increase in the number of mental health emergencies in adolescents -- which only got worse during the pandemic.
"The problem has always been there. The pandemic, we felt it even more so," said Levine, who practices at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital and is an associate professor of clinical pediatrics and emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Last week's surgeon general's advisory on the youth mental health crisis during the pandemic didn't come as a surprise to hospitalists like Levine, who continues to see the impact as demand still outpaces access 21 months later.
"We're seeing it on the ground," Levine said. "We're looking for ways to help ameliorate the crisis and in the meantime, we're actively treating these children who need help."
