Teen anxiety and addictive behaviors on the rise

Posted Oct. 1, 2021

By Ethan Donahue

Staff Editor

Since quarantine began, youth worldwide have been reporting higher rates of stress, anxiety, depression, and addiction, yet many aren’t receiving the necessary help.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that from April through October of last year, the proportion of children between the ages of 5 and 11 who visited an emergency department because of a mental health crisis climbed 24% compared to the same period in 2019. Among 12 to 17-year-olds, this figure was 31%.

“The issue is that there can be a very long delay,” said Sara Gorman, the research and knowledge director for the JED Foundation, a national nonprofit that works with high schools and colleges on student mental health issues. “It can be that someone reacts to an event that happened a year or two or 10 years ago with a kind of trauma-related response or depression or suicide. We obviously won’t know what the full impact of this is for many years, which is one of the reasons why schools need to be prepared to deal with this in a very comprehensive and long-term way.”

Vibrant Emotional Health, the company that operates the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, also runs a Disaster Distress Helpline. The company said calls to the hotline increased by 338% in March 2020 as states began issuing isolation guidelines and the pandemic became a national emergency.

A Boston University survey administered online to nearly 33,000 college students during the fall 2020 semester through the Healthy Minds Network reveals that the prevalence of depression and anxiety in young people has continued to increase, and is now at its highest levels. This is believed to be due to mounting stress factors related to the coronavirus pandemic, political unrest, and systemic racism and inequality. 83% of students reported that their mental health negatively impacted their academic performance, and ⅔ of college students said they were struggling with feelings of loneliness and isolation.

"Half of students in fall 2020 screened positive for depression and/or anxiety," said Sarah Ketchen Lipson, a Boston University mental health researcher and a co-principal investigator of the nationwide survey published on February 11, 2021.

With schools shifting back to in-person learning many students are feeling overwhelmed and at a loss of control. Students that thrived during distance learning are having to leave their personal schedules and students that had issues with distance learning are having to regain their drive for academic success.

"Faculty need to be flexible with deadlines and remind students that their talent is not solely demonstrated by their ability to get a top grade during one challenging semester," Lipson says.

With a rise in the prevalence of mental health issues comes increased difficulty in receiving necessary help. While helplines have seen a sharp spike in usage, the number of therapists hasn’t seen the same spike. There are a limited number of working therapists, both for online and in-person therapy, and a continually rising number of people attempting to make appointments.

“I’ve never had so many referrals than in the last six months…normally it’s two or three a month and now it’s maybe two a week,” said Celeste Birkhofer, a licensed clinical psychologist at Stanford Medical School who works with children’s mental health issues. “I’m booked. I try to help send them to other colleagues and they’re booked, too. It’s challenging, especially challenging for a family that’s feeling like they’re in a bit of a crisis.”

Many schools are acknowledging that some students have been stuck in abusive environments while others have been dealing with the fear of themselves or loved ones becoming sick and are attempting to provide the necessary help. Financial hardships, especially those in single-income households, have become more extreme for many families. Many districts are hoping that being physically present at school for the 2021-2022 school year will help students feel more secure and enable students to more easily reach out for help. Unfortunately, students nationwide are reporting concerns about COVID exposure, bullying, and school shootings, a rise in social anxiety, and being overwhelmed by their sudden reimmersion in school.

The federal COVID-19 relief package signed into law on March 11, 2021, includes grants to support youth suicide prevention and child trauma interventions, but it does not provide direct funding to schools for student mental health. This results in schools being unprepared, underfunded, and understaffed when it comes to dealing with mental health issues throughout the student body. Nation-wide, according to the CDC, 7.4% of youth, aged 3-17, have been diagnosed with behavior problems, 7.1% have diagnosed anxiety, and 3.2% have diagnosed depression.

According to Mental Health America, Oregon is ranked 41st in youth mental health data, making it one of the states with the lowest youth data. 17.57%, or 52,000 Oregon youths, have reported having at least one major depressive episode in the past year, and 13.1%, 37,000, have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Of those who had major depressive episodes, 53.9%, 30,000, didn’t receive mental health services, and 37.9%, 14,000, received consistent services. 4.65%, 14,000, of overall youth have experienced substance abuse disorder.

Some nationwide free mental health resources include The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line, both of whom offer 24/7 free and confidential support. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255, while the Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor.

An on-campus option for students is the Student Health Center, which provides help to students both with and without insurance, with no out-of-pocket costs. Call 503-988-3554 to schedule a visit.