Hospitals admit more teenagers for mental illness
As kids grow up, they can expect a few trips to the emergency room for bumps and bruises. But these days, unprecedented numbers of children and adolescents are going to ERs for something more serious: psychiatric problems. The situation is of epidemic proportions.
One day, to the disbelief of family and friends, 18-year-old Stevie Perdue took his life with a handgun in the shadows of the school he had left 18 months earlier.
“I don’t believe my son wanted to die,” says his mother Kathie. “But he had such pain.”
The final, desperate act was inexplicable. “We didn’t see changes,” she explains. “We were stumped.”
Life will never be the same. “There’s wreckage that can never, ever be put back together,” she says.
Kathie says her son was highly intelligent, loving, and caring.
Journaling helps Kathie sort through some of her emotions, an attempt to make some sense of a life wasted. “I look at suicide like a jigsaw puzzle: you just put the pieces on the table and you start putting it together.”
Stevie had been molested by a relative from age 6 to 7, and as a teen, was influenced by heavy metal music, says his mother.
Early teen drug use--reported by friends after his death--might have further lowered him into his hidden depression, she speculates. “He thought the pain of that would kill us,” says Kathie. “I think he felt he was such a failure: not only had he failed himself, he failed his family, and he failed his God.”
Kathie, too, felt like a failure, feeling guilt upon her son’s death. “I thought, what kind of a mother am I to let my son take his life?”
Preliminary findings of a study, conducted at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital in Connecticut suggest a growing number of possibly suicidal or acutely depressed kids are ending up in hospital emergency rooms.
ER visits at Yale-New Haven for youths showing symptoms of possible psychiatric problems are up almost 60 percent in 4 years, compared to a 20 percent increase in admissions for non-psychiatric complaints. The trend could suggest a nationwide trend in the US and future increases.
For hospitals, these new patients have wounds that aren’t healed with stitches. “We see a number of both adults and children or teenagers who are depressed and say they want to hurt themselves,” says Charles Simmons, MD, medical director of the Emergency Department at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California.
“Feeling hopeless and helpless is seen as a very bad thing even to talk about,” he says. “That’s something we have to get past. You have to be able to talk about that openly and honestly.”
Young people today aren’t necessarily more depressed or suicidal. Researchers say teachers, parents, and pediatricians are simply more aware of psychiatric issues and the availability of help.
Kids judged to be in psychiatric crisis are more often today sent to the ER, in part because some physicians, educators, and parents don’t know where else to send them.
Unlike the trend revealed by the survey, Simmons has not seen a rise at his hospital of young patients who have attempted suicide, but is highly concerned nonetheless. “These teenagers, these children, are our future, and as people in emergency departments, we definitely need to be aware of any trend,” says Dr. Simmons.
The doctor points to a campaign by doctors to hand out cards to patients young and old who may become emotionally troubled or know someone who might. The printed card states that a person is hurting inside and needs help. “I do think it’s an innovative program, and I think it can save lives,” he says.
Researchers say hospital emergency departments need a plan to deal with the crush of troubled teens. Increased social work availability in hospitals and training for doctors in psychiatric care are recommended by the study authors.
“For people between the ages of 15 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death,” Simmons says. “The facts are that the rate of teenage suicide in this country is rising.”
Adults should learn the warning signs of depression and suicide, says the doctor. “They need to watch for the signs,” says Simmons.
Pulling away from the family, and giving away prized possessions, should be red flag alerts, says Kathie Perdue, who insists parents need to learn the signs of suicide risk. “I think people are afraid to come out and say, ‘Are you thinking of committing suicide?’ But they should never be.”
Kathie speaks at junior high and high schools, in keeping with her belief that society needs to talk about teen mental health more openly, avoiding the stigmatization of depression and related mental conditions.
“I think it can be prevented, but everyone has to be involved,” says Kathie. “We need to be able to talk about it, to share with people and say, ‘What can we do to stop it?’”
Please help spread the word by sharing this article with your friends.
