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ADAA’s 2025 conference in Las Vegas (April 3 – 5) will focus on youth mental health, which is currently a global crisis. Drs. Fitzgerald and Forbes, this year's conference co-chairs, are dedicated to and passionate about youth mental health. Read the blog to learn more about our 2025 conference topic.

When anxiety disrupts a child’s everyday life, the first thing most parents focus on is finding a good therapist for their child or teen to work with. Once parents secure that coveted afternoon slot with an anxiety specialist, they breathe a huge sigh of relief.

What happens in PTSD, is that the brain goes into the fight and flight mode and is constantly on alert to protect the person from recurrence of the highly dangerous experience. But the problem is that it cannot come down from that state of heightened arousal, even after leaving the dangerous situation, and coming back to the safe life environment. 

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a significant factor in the deterioration of mental health in children, but the long-term effects of COVID-19 on children's mental health has yet to be seen.