ABC’s Good Morning America features TeenScreen as a national model
The June 9 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America featured TeenScreen as a national model for screening for teenage depression and mental disorders. The story stemmed from the April release of recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that state all teens age 12-18 should be screened for major depressive disorder. The piece mentioned that one in five adolescents may suffer from depression at some point between the ages of 12 and 18, yet nearly 40 percent of these youth go untreated.
Laurie Flynn, executive director of the TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups, talked about the importance of early detection so that young people can have access to the help they need. Dr. Moira Rynn, deputy director of Columbia University’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, said that screening is a first step for opening a dialogue about mental health between pediatricians, parents and teens. Courtney Jones, a recent high school graduate from Portland, Oregon discussed how TeenScreen helped her and her parents recognize that she needed help for depression.
The piece described the signs of depression, included comments on what parents should consider about screening, and closed with the recommendation that parents who recognize depression symptoms in their child should talk to their primary care physician or family doctor. To view the GMA segment visit:
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