Children’s mental health, screen time, and 988

By Melanie Dallas, LPC

I have had a long career in the behavioral health field and I wasn’t always a CEO. In fact, long before moving into administration and leadership, I worked for many years as a mental health clinician, getting my start working on a crisis stabilization unit, work that could be challenging but which I also loved.

Most of my clinical work focused on children and adolescents. It was always obvious to me that the sooner a child struggling with a mental health condition, trauma or emotional disturbance received help, the better his or her mental health would be moving into adulthood. As we come to the end of May and Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to share a couple recent developments about children’s mental health that I found particularly noteworthy.

First, the week before Memorial Day, the US Surgeon General issued an advisory, a warning actually, about the harms of screen time and which focused on protecting children and adolescents. While we may all be familiar with the potential harms of social media, this advisory starts at a more basic level, looking at the sheer number of hours a typical adolescent spends in front of a screen – whether a smart phone, tablet, computer, game system or television.

The report found that too much screen time may be linked to a range of problems, and can negatively impact physical and metabolic health, educational outcomes, cognitive and emotional development, and, yes, mental health. In particular, citing a study in JAMA Pediatrics, the advisory says that greater screen use has been associated with higher depression, behavioral problems, self-injury, substance use, and lower self-perception, particularly with high levels of social media use. Those are serious concerns.

The advisory also provides many steps parents and caregivers can take to help limit their children’s screen time, and to ensure that the time they do spend engaged with screen media is more positive. With the start of summer vacation upon us, now may be the perfect time to set some boundaries and rules about screen usage.

The other recent news I found interesting relates to 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It may be hard to believe that it has been nearly three years since 988 launched, and it has made a real difference in the lives of thousands of people in Georgia and the US, including young people.

A recent e-bulletin from Georgia 988 reported some startling facts: 11% of Georgia middle and high school students have seriously thought about suicide, while 6% have made an attempt during the previous year. Among those same young people, 17% have considered self-harm. While the e-bulletin doesn’t link these stats to any specific cause, these numbers are a sad commentary on the thoughts and feelings of too many of our young people today.

But there is good news here too. According to a JAMA study published in April, the availability of 988 has resulted in 4,400 fewer suicide deaths among individuals ages 15 to 23, an 11% decrease, in the first year-and-a half of 988 operations.

Although there may be other contributing factors – suicide is thankfully down in the US overall – more than one study has found that people ages 13 to 17 are among the most frequent users of 988. And while we all might wish that thoughts of self-harm were something no young person should struggle with, it is perhaps heartening that they are seeking help.

Children’s mental health is complex, but we have learned a great deal about how the physical, emotional and mental changes of adolescence can and do affect young people. But despite these challenges, we owe it to our children, to young people everywhere, to ensure they have a safe and supportive community in which to grow, and access to the help they need when they need it.

Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.