Amid the ongoing mental health crisis among America’s youth, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation earlier this year that physicians begin screening children as young as 8 for anxiety. R. Meredith Elkins, an instructor in psychology in Harvard Medical School’s Psychiatry Department and co-director of McLean Hospital’s McLean Anxiety Mastery Program, which treats children ages 6 to 19, said enhanced screening will allow kids access to proven, effective treatments, while ignoring it can cause the condition to worsen and lead to other mental health ills. She also notes that a complicating factor in this problem, as well as the nation’s overall dilemma, is the current shortage of youth mental health care providers. Interview was edited for clarity and length.
Building ‘bravery muscles’ to fight rising youth anxiety
Amid the ongoing mental health crisis among America's youth, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation earlier this year that physicians begin screening children as young as 8 for anxiety. R. Meredith Elkins, an instructor in psychology in Harvard Medical School's Psychiatry Department and co-director of McLean Hospital's McLean Anxiety Mastery Program, which treats children ages 6 to 19, said enhanced screening will allow kids access to proven, effective treatments, while ignoring it can cause the condition to worsen and lead to other mental health ills. She also notes that a complicating factor in this problem, as well as the nation's overall dilemma, is the current shortage of youth mental health care providers. Interview was edited for clarity and length.