The Child Mental Health Gap—More Prevalence, Less Treatment, More Opportunity?

Recently, we've seen a lot of focus in the health and human service field on the child mental health treatment gap. This treatment gap is the result of a few factors.

First, there is an increase in prevalence in mental and developmental issues among children and youth. The rate of adolescents who reported experiencing symptoms of major depressive disorder increased by 52% between 2005 and 2017. Among young adults ages 18 to 25, the rate of those reporting symptoms of major depression increased by 63% from 2009 to 2017 (see Adolescents & Young Adults Have 50%+ Increase In Major . . .