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Report: Many Mass. teens get no treatment for depression

BOSTON — Massachusetts may be a medical mecca, but a new report suggests there are huge deficiencies when it comes to mental and behavioral health care for children.

The 45-page report, “The Crisis in Children’s Behavioral Health’ was put together by the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. It contains such damning statistics as this: nearly two-thirds of Massachusetts children with severe depression don’t get any behavioral health therapy at all.

The report also finds that teen rates for depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder are higher in Massachusetts than nationally -- though teen suicides are among the lowest in the country.

“As the only free-standing pediatric provider in the region we’ve seen firsthand the impact of under-investment in behavioral health services,” said Amara Anosike, JD, Director of Behavioral Health Advocacy and Policy at Boston Children’s Hospital.

That under-investment has created a crisis situation in some hospital emergency departments, with children needing mental health care essentially winding up as ‘boarders’ because there is nowhere for them to go.

“And they spend hours, days, if not weeks waiting for the right kind of bed to support them,” said Jennifer Knight-Levine, CEO of the SAFE Coalition in Franklin, which supports troubled teens.

Knight-Levine said families dealing with mentally ill children often feel they have no choice but to seek care at a hospital -- because they can’t readily get care in the community.

“Appointments are really hard to come by,” she said. “Oftentimes there are long waiting lists. If you have certain types of insurance, the waitlist could be even longer.”

The report identified other areas of concern besides emergency department boarding. They included: a lack of coordination among agencies, services and providers -- as well as the inadequate availability of crisis services.

To make the situation better, the report discussed tapping into schools and primary care doctor offices for behavioral health screening.

Knight-Levine said there’s no doubt the pandemic put lots of additional strain on the system.

“What we’ve seen consistent year after year, are younger teens actively using alcohol and other substances -- and they have a mental health diagnosis,” she said. “I think that during Covid, teens and children were home for those few years and so their opportunities to socialize really shifted and changed. For years, where kids may have spent time in clubs or groups or sports and with other family members, they really spent time on social media and technology and that has had a big impact on mental health.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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