Hello,
I am a social worker for public school programs for emotionally disturbed youth. I was very interested to read what your web site said about programs designed to educate and screen high school youth about mental illness. I have been thinking that our community would really benefit from such a program and am interested to know if you know more about the programs available and if they have been successful?

I know that the incidence of depression in teens is quite high and that the percentage getting treatment is low. I have also found that, in my work, parents know little about depression and signs that their children may be having difficulty.

I look forward to your response.

Judy

Answer:

The direct and indirect costs to society of depression are staggering. Any search on the Internet immediately brings up reports about incidence, relationship to missed work or school, and relationship to other serious issues such as substance abuse and physical illness. Stress is known to affect the immune system and therefore, cause increased risk of illness. At the same time, depression is usually treatable. The actual cost of treatment for depression is far less than the cost incurred by untreated depression.

This is particularly true for teenagers. If you look at any web site that discusses mental illness in teens, particularly depression, you will find that the statistics are that one out of four teenagers at any given time will screen positive for mental illness and one out of eight for significant depression. The incidence that a teen will have depression some time in their adolescence is higher, felt to be at least one out of four. Suicide, while relatively uncommon, is the third leading cause of death in teens and may contribute to other forms of death and disability, such as drunk driving.

Over the past few years, I have been working to get the Teen Screen program in high schools in my local community. The advantage of this particular program is that it incorporates specific referral for treatment and follow up after referral. The scope of the program has been expanded to being possible to use in physician’s offices and health centers.

In our community, one of the local high school students, a daughter of a psychiatrist, had established a “Teen Mental Health Board”. This group was composed of several students at each of our local high schools. Often the students were in the “leadership groups” at their schools. Several of the students had suffered from significant depression themselves and wanted to educate others. When originally started, their intent was to sponsor the SOS, Signs of Suicide, program into their schools. See link below.

This group of teens showed the movie and held discussions in the high schools. Sometimes students talked with the other students about their own bouts of depression or suicide attempts. Then but then group expanded to include parents, a representative of the local suicide prevention group, school administration and community mental health representatives. At least two or three students from each of the local public and most of the local private high schools attended meetings.

The Department of Pediatric Psychiatry at a local university had a grant for implementing the teen screen program. The psychiatrist responsible for the program was invited to the teen mental health board meeting held monthly at a local private home. The decision to attempt implementation of the program was made. The students presented the program to the high school board and the psychiatrist spoke briefly about her experiences in implementing the program at a few private high schools in a nearby city.

The students’ presentation was very professional, well received won strong community and school administrative support. Descriptions of the program were published in local newspapers. The student head of the Teen Mental Health Board won a major community service award, which added to the publicity and the support.

Currently, a “pilot” teen screen program is scheduled in April in all the sophomore Physical Education classes in one of the high schools. Following that, a local community mental health agency is hoped to take over administration of the program and facilitate fund raising to have it brought to the rest of the public high schools in the fall. Several private high schools and some in abutting communities have expressed interest in similar projects.

The data collected by Columbia University, where Teen Screen originated, shows that the program brings adolescents into treatment that would otherwise not have been identified. In addition, students like meeting with mental health professionals and learning about mental illness. Our “Teen Mental Health Board” has become noticeably more sophisticated about mental illness over the past year.

Please feel free to contact me should you wish further information.

Kay S. Browne MD
Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrician

Websites:

http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/programfulldetails.asp?PROGRAM_ID=66

http://www.teenscreen.org/