Media Advisory/ For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, June 1, 2010

NEW YORK – The American Academy of Pediatrics today released new, extensive recommendations stating that pediatricians should screen children and adolescents for possible mental health problems at every visit.
The guidelines also state that pediatricians should develop a network of mental health professionals in the community to whom they can send patients if they suspect a child or teen is in need of further evaluation and treatment. The recommendations were made in a series of reports published in a supplement to the June issue of the journal Pediatrics (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/supplpage.dtl).

“The American Academy of Pediatrics should be commended for calling on pediatricians to take an active role in assessing a young person’s mental health,” said Laurie Flynn, executive director of the TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University. “With health reform and mental health parity legislation, there is no time like the present to make the mental health of our youth a national priority. We look forward to continuing to work with the AAP and pediatricians nationwide to increase access to mental health checkups for our nation’s young people.”

Dr. Genrich, a pediatrician from Colorado Springs, Colo., seconded Flynn’s remarks, “Teenagers under our care should not be suffering in silence if they have a major depressive disorder or some other disabling condition that could linger for years or even lead to suicide. We as physicians need to be doing more. It can help save lives.”

TeenScreen’s Primary Care program offers free evidence-based mental health questionnaires for use in primary care office settings. The questionnaires help providers evaluate if a teen is suffering from depression, anxiety, or if they are at risk for suicide. Mental health checkup tools and a pocket guide with information on reimbursement and tips for making mental health referrals are available at: http://www.teenscreen.org/programs/primary-care/.

Youth Mental Health Facts:

• 50 percent of all lifetime mental health disorders start by age 14. [National Institute of Mental Health]

• There is a window of opportunity between the first symptoms and the onset of the full-blown diagnosable disorder, when treatment is most effective at reducing the severity of specific illnesses. [National Research Council/Institute of Medicine, 2009]

• Teens are more likely to fill out a written questionnaire honestly than if asked questions directly by a nurse or doctor. [Malone, Szanto, Corbitt, & Mann, 1995]

• 90 percent of teenagers that commit suicide have a treatable mental health disorder at the time of their death. Some 63 percent of those who die by suicide exhibit symptoms for at least one year before their death. [Archives of Gen. Psych, 2006]

** Laurie Flynn, executive director, TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University, and Dr. John Genrich, TeenScreen National Center Physician Advisor are available for comment on the new AAP mental health checkup recommendations today.

The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University’s mission is to expand and improve early detection of mental illness by mainstreaming mental health checkups as a routine procedure in adolescent health care, schools, and other youth-serving settings. The National Center offers youth mental health checkups through two major national efforts, TeenScreen Primary Care and TeenScreen Schools and Communities. Voluntary screening is provided in more than 1,000 sites in 43 states through the National Center’s efforts. From 2009 to date, TeenScreen offered more than three-quarters of a million mental health screens to parents and their teens. The National Center is an affiliate of the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

For more information:
Pat Garrison
GarrisP@childpsych.columbia.edu
1-212-265-4453