Professional

The growing mental health crisis is indisputably affecting our youth. In fact, the pediatric mental health crisis has been called the “top patient safety threat” of 2023.

Check out our ADAA members' new books that offer help for the public and support for professionals.

Sensations of pain and illness in our bodies naturally grab our attention. This attention to pain and illness also naturally evokes emotional responses.

Dr. Widge presented at ADAA’s 2023 conference on how he believes “mental disorders are brain network disorders” and how treatments like Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) are quite possibly the wave of the future for certain mood and anxiety disorders, and particularly those that are treatment-resistant. 

Therapy can vary from patient to patient, clinician to clinician, but two ADAA members who presented at the 2023 Annual Conference believe therapy for SAD and other related disorders can benefit from an additional tool. Their conference session, Me Talk Funny One Day: Teaching Social Skills for Social Anxiety and Other Disorders, not only confirmed that belief but explained it.

Now that telehealth and in-person services are available, what are important factors for clinicians, youth, and families to consider?

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.