U.S. Surgeon General on Youth Mental Health

In news that likely most of you saw (we just want to be 100% certain), U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has issued a public health advisory on the mental health challenges confronting youth, a rare warning, and call to action to address what he called an emerging crisis exacerbated by pandemic hardships. As reported by the LA Times: “Symptoms of depression and anxiety have doubled during the pandemic, according to the advisory, with 25% of youth experiencing depressive symptoms and 20% experiencing anxiety symptoms. In early 2021, emergency department visits in the U.S. for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent girls and 4% higher for adolescent boys compared with the same period in early 2019, according to research cited in the advisory. ‘It would be a tragedy if we beat back one public health crisis only to allow another to grow in its place,’ Murthy said in the document.”

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