Teens wait average of 100 days for mental health care: Study

Long wait times for youth mental health services are likely to be further harming teen mental health, a study has found, prompting renewed calls for urgent reforms.
 
Published this month, an Australian study involving 375 teenagers aged 13–17 years old found those with anxiety and depression wait an average of 99.6 days to see a treatment provider.
 
It found 85.2% of those surveyed felt their wait times were ‘too long’, and almost 40% reported receiving little to no support while waiting.
 
‘Longer wait times were associated with increased psychological distress, and many adolescents perceived that their mental health worsened during the wait time,’ the study concluded.
 
Lead author Dr Mirjana Subotic-Kerry said this time between young people seeking help but not yet beginning treatment is critical.
 
‘Young people reported that they experienced a high level of psychological distress during this period,’ she said.
 
‘They felt a strong sense of abandonment and a loss of hope.’
 
Dr Subotic-Kerry said around half the young people surveyed suggested the distress they experienced during long wait times could be reduced through improvements in communication from service providers, such as providing information and regular check-ins.
 
Dr Cathy Andronis, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Psychological Medicine, described these findings as ‘sadly normal’, and said the wait times are only getting worse.
 
‘Youth mental health care is dire, despite adolescence being a critical time for mental illness presentation where the need for early intervention is potentially lifesaving,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘We are doing the opposite of what is ethically, socially and economically responsible to ignore young people who can bounce back into healthy lifestyles with timely intervention.’ 
 
The study found that while some teens were able to use healthy coping behaviours during waiting periods, others turned to ‘unhelpful ways of coping’, including increased social withdrawal and risky behaviours.
 
However, Dr Andronis said adolescents are not usually independent financially and ‘simply cannot afford private mental health services’.
 
‘As long as the public psychiatric system is broken, the only other affordable and accessible holistic option for care is in general practice, but without significantly better remunerated long consultations, GPs are also hamstrung in providing care,’ she said.
 
‘GPs are able to manage a lot of this youth mental health challenge, but they are hampered by a system that favours quantity over quality.
 
‘To support GPs to take on this mental health load, which is often professionally rewarding, we need more affordable and accessible mentorship and access to good, subsidised training as well as financial incentives.’
 
In the wake of the study, Dr Andronis said youth mental health care should be given the same resources as what is expected in team-based care in aged care and general physical health care.
 
‘Adding this group to the eligibility list for health assessments would go a long way to providing quality management plans,’ she said.
 
‘The current mental health care plan is not holistic enough to explore the complex needs of young people in the current economy.’
 
The study’s lead researcher Professor Bridianne O’Dea said the findings highlight an urgent need for systemic reform.
 
‘We are now in the midst of a crisis where the demand for youth mental health care has increased rapidly in the past two decades,’ she said
 
‘The first line of treatment is psychological therapy. There is a huge demand for it, and we do not have the number of clinicians required to meet that demand.’
 
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