One in five US children are coping with mental health problems | al ...

The CDC did its first study on the mental health of children ages 3-17 and found that 20 percent of US children are dealing with more on their plate than just their vegetables.

"Millions of children in the U.S. have mental disorders that affect their overall health and present challenges for their loved ones. In addition, the financial costs of childhood mental disorders are at least an estimated $247 billion each year," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC.?

"We are working to both increase our understanding of these disorders, and help scale up programs and strategies to promote children's mental health so that our children grow to lead productive, healthy lives," Frieden said.

The mental health disorders commonly cited were ADHD, austism spectrum disorders, behavior disorders, mood and anxiety disorders and substance abuse problems.

ADHD is most prevalent, affecting 7 percent of US children, according to the report.?

The report gathered data with the help of several health agencies from 2005 to 2011 to learn how many children were diagnosed with mental health disorders during that time period.

Depression is becoming a larger issue. In 2010, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among American children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Almost 2 million American adolescents between 12 and 17 admitted that for more than half of the previous month, they routinely had felt sad, angry, disconnected, stressed out, unloved or possibly willing to hurt themselves -- or others, according to the LA Times.?

Researchers believe the causes may stem from environmental factors such as poverty, family environments and other changes to their personal lives.?

The CDC data can be found in its entirety, here.

Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2013/05/one_in_five_us_children_are_co.html

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