Pediatric Mental Health

The prevalence of antipsychotic use in children under Medicaid substantially declined from 2008 to 2016, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

There was a “psychiatric boarding crisis” in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, as psychiatric services were not prepared to support the number of youths needing care, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

May marks Mental Health Awareness Month.

According to Benjamin Maxwell, MD, the new division chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, responding to pediatric mental health issues often starts in the pediatrician’s office.

Improving the parental mental health and preschool attendance of disadvantaged children reduced socioeconomic differences in their mental health compared with nondisadvantaged peers, an Australian study found.

Children with ADHD may be more likely to experience hyperactivity behaviors if they have an elevated serum thyroid-stimulating hormone level, according to data published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

Youth suicide rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic Black youths, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

The proportion of teen girls in the United States who reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless increased nearly 60% from 2011 to 2021 to nearly three in five girls, according to data released Monday by the CDC.

Among children and adolescents in Israel, use of psychiatric emergency departments declined sharply during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the year prior, according to a study in BMC Psychiatry.

As the pediatric mental health emergency continues, its effects on children continues to be a focus of research. We compiled a list of pediatric mental health stories published in 2022.