The Therapy Gap

Stefanie Hoffman
Jul 10, 2017 · 3 min read

One of the reasons that I am so passionate about mental illness advocacy is because I have a mentally ill daughter. As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, she started showing signs of mental illness early on — around 12 or 13. And likely before that too, although I didn’t know what it looked like.

Even when she was on the verge of adolescence, I began to suspect she might be mentally ill, but, like many parents, I also thought that her behavior could also be attributed to teenage angst and fluctuating hormones — hardly atypical at that age. I also thought that she might have started experiencing depression and severe mood swings induced by traumatizing events in her early childhood.

While those things were likely a factor, and probably triggers at some level, I wasn’t seeing the entire picture of her mental health. In fact, I didn’t even know what the big picture was. But I sure as heck didn’t even consider that she might have been born with an organic mental illness, which likely would have emerged whether she experienced any negative triggers or not.

Of course, if I had at the time seen statistics on the number of children who suffered from mental illness, I probably would have thought differently. According to statistics attributed to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five teens ages 13–18 has a serious mental health condition.

Contrary to widespread belief that mental illnesses develop in adulthood, most actually begin to appear when the person is young. Among those with severe mental illnesses, 50 percent experience symptoms by the age of 14, while 75 percent begin experiences symptoms by the age of 24.

For me, these facts and numbers are in direct contrast to what I experienced with my daughter. When I begn to vocalize that she might have a mental illness when I first noticed signs, I was told by several in the therapy community that she was too young to diagnose. That they couldn’t possibly diagnose her before the age of 18. That fluctuating hormones and a biological need to assert independence impaired accurate diagnosis in teens. But yet, at least 20 percent are diagnosed. And those numbers may even be low.

So with a preponderance of kids experiencing mental illness, it would stand to reason that there would be correlating preventative mental healthcare facilities and resources. After all, mentally ill children often grow into mentally ill adults. And like cancer, it makes sense to identify and treat it early for the best chances of recovery.

But not so much. There’s actually a major gap between the time when children are diagnosed, or first see symptoms, and when the get help. Statistics from NAMI and NIMH show that it takes on average eight to 10 years for a person to receive any kind of treatment after they first see early signs of mental illness.

And the consequences of this gap can be devastating. Around 50 percent of students with a mental illness ages 14 and older don’t finish high school. At least 70 percent of youth in state and local juvenile justice systems have a mental health condition, according to NAMI. Meanwhile, suicide is the second leading cause of death in youth ages 15–24, and third leading cause of death in children ages 10–14, according to the American Association on Suicidology.

As a society we’ve become adept at addressing a problem only after it’s become undeniable. But by then, it’s way too late. What will be infinitely more difficult will be to shift our mindset and take a proactive stance. Focusing on preventative treatments or catching a child’s emerging pathology might be more challenging and time consuming in the beginning. But, like anything else, mental illness doesn’t get any easier to treat the longer you let it go.

Anything But That: Parenting the Mentally Ill Child

mother, mental health advocate and writer, raising awareness about teen mental illness with the aim of ending stigma and silence

Stefanie Hoffman

Written by

Mother, mental health advocate and writer, raising awareness about teen mental illness with the aim of ending stigma and silence

Anything But That: Parenting the Mentally Ill Child

mother, mental health advocate and writer, raising awareness about teen mental illness with the aim of ending stigma and silence

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