There was a troubling article about teenagers and suicide in the March 16, 21021 New York Times by Benedict Carey. The article talked about how so many teens were depressed and even tried suicide because they missed school, their friends, and their normal activities. Several parents were quoted who said they took their sons to hospital emergency rooms and received no help. This is not surprising because that is not where you would go to get help. What was surprising to me was that there seems to be no interaction with the child's doctor or pediatrician. ER doctors are great for accidents, trauma and similar problems, but mental health and the care of kids in despair is not something they are trained to handle.
I cannot imagine any of my parents taking a child to an ER without calling me first. I had a few teen age patients who threatened suicide, but by working with a good psychiatrist and the parents I was able to make a difference. I don't understand why pediatricians or family doctors were not contacted. That makes no sense.
I made a list of what I would do if I were a parent of a child in despair. The first thing I would do is talk to a good psychologist or psychiatrist. Once contact and an appointment was scheduled I would look at what the child was doing all day and work out a plan with him or her about how to keep the despair at bay. Does the child get an exercise, does he or she have any household chores? What about getting the teen involved in something such as cooking, art, music or if there is man or father who can help, what about a project such as woodworking, car repair etc? Certainly a good friend could come to your house with a mask on and the teens could throw a ball around, go for a bike ride, or hit some tennis balls.
A statistic was given in the article that ER visits for anxiety and panic were up by 24% in young children and 31% for teens compared with the previous year.
I believe that a close connection with your family doctor or pediatrician is essential, not visits to the ER for panic or depression. That is not where you will get the help that is needed in most cases.
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