WebMd Health Discovered Podcast On Youth Mental Health Crisis

 Let's start talking about our youth with the glass half full. 

Cigarette smoking is at a 25-year low among high school students. The rate of juvenile detention has dropped by a third in the last 20 years. Teen pregnancy is down 75 percent in the last 30 years. Violent crime among teens has dropped by 18 percent in the last 30 years.

Now, let's look at that same glass, except it's half empty. From 2011 to 2022, over half a million teen lives (539,810) were lost to suicide, with 2022 showing the highest number of deaths on record. Within this period, the adjusted suicide rate increased by 16 percent.

The National Center For Drug Abuse Statistics revealed that drug use among eight-graders from 2016-2020 went up by 61 percent.

 Recent studies indicate that approximately one in five teens between ages twelve and eighteen suffer from at least one diagnosable mental health disorder. A study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 2019 indicates the teen mental health crisis continues to grow.

 Globally, one in seven 10-to 19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13 percent of the global burden of disease in this age group.

Depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among the 5-29 year-old age range.

Clearly, we have a mental health crisis among our youth, not only in the United States, but also around the globe. 

 Ahead of Mental Health Month in May, Dr. Neha Pathak hosted Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes, Ed.D., LPC, MCHES, and Rahul Rangan, MBBS of Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, on WebMD Health Discovered Podcast. 

In this episode, host Dr. Neha Pathak speaks to Dr. Fernandes and Dr. Rangan about the ways peer-to-peer support can benefit today’s youth, the vital mental health resources needed in schools, and the impact of Born This Way Foundation’s Be There Certificate and their Channel Kindness program on building a kinder and braver world.

Highlights in the episode include: 

• 5:05: How do we reach young people in their mental health journey?
• “We learned that the majority of [young people] report connecting with friends as a strategy to support them during difficult times… We know that school climate, we know that peer support, we also know a sense of belonging, specifically inside the school, is so critical. It’s just so important. The reality though, is thinking beyond the school setting, because we also know that young people spend a lot of time online. So when we think about how to respond to the needs of young people and how to acknowledge that they’re spending a lot of time online, we have to think about free accessible resources and tools and strategies that they can access in those areas.” – Dr. Fernandes
• 10:49: Why do we need to discuss mental health in schools?
• “I believe we need to incorporate mental health because it’s been on the back burner for a very long time right now. People do not talk about it — It’s a silent epidemic actually. So I feel that what happens is you need to integrate this with your course learning… It empowers students to feel safe. It gives them an open and honest environment to have a conversation about their health.” – Dr. Rangan
• 12:08: What are some of the skills that you are teaching children through Born This Way Foundation’s Be There Certificate? 
• “There are five golden rules: Say what you see, show you care, hear them out, know your role, and connect to help. The Be There Certificate provides an actionable framework, teaching young people how to recognize when someone may be struggling.” – Dr. Fernandes
• 14:17: Why is it important to have youth involved in mental health research?
• “[Youth-led participatory action research] kind of challenges the notion that young people are too naive or too inexperienced to contribute meaningfully to research. Where actually in reality, youth often have very unique perspectives that aren’t normally considered in traditional research settings. By involving the youth in the research process, it empowers them and it allows us to gain valuable insight to cater to them, especially the issues that affect them directly.” – Dr. Rangan

 

I'm also recommending two recent episodes of the podcast that have special relevance to younger people.

• The Path to Restorative Sleep: Insomnia Insights from a Sleep Expert
• Dr. Neha Pathak spoke to Michael Breus, PhD, DABSM, clinical psychologist and diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, about the common reasons for sleep disruption, the role our chronotypes play in insomnia, the ways we can track our sleep cycle, what we should be asking our doctors when it comes to sleep, and a five-step plan we all can use on the path to more restorative sleep.
• A Guide to Colorectal Cancer: Screening, Prevention, and Early Detection
• Dr. Neha Pathak speaks with Jaydeep Bhat, MD, MPH, gastroenterologist, and physician lead for resource stewardship at The Southeast Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, about what puts someone at a higher risk for colorectal cancer, the various screening tests available, questions we should ask our primary care doctors, and small and actionable lifestyle changes we can make to reduce our risk.

 The podcast's host, Neha Pathak, MD, FACP, DipABLM, is lead medical editor at WebMD and is board certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. She's on the medical team responsible for ensuring the accuracy of health information on WebMD and reports on topics related to lifestyle and environmental impacts on health. 

Pathak is a graduate of Harvard University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She completed her certificate in climate change and health communication from Yale School of Public Health.

Most of all, she's an excellent podcast host, as well as an excellent physician.

Check out the WebMD Health Discovered Podcast.