CDC Report Points To Rising Mental Health Issues Among Children

The Washington Post (5/20, Pugh) reports that according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is being “billed as the first comprehensive look at the mental health status of children in the country,” as many as a fifth of “American youngsters — about 7 million to 12 million, by one estimate — experience a mental health disorder each year.” The report says that the rate is increasing, and that “childhood mental disorders that alter the way children learn, behave and cope with their emotions affect 13 percent to 20 percent of youths under age 18.” The report said that these disorders “cost families and society at large an estimated $247 billion a year in treatment, special education, juvenile justice and decreased productivity.”