Depression Surpasses Asthma as Top Disability Problem amongst U.S. and Canadian Teens
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 11:00
in Health & Medicine
The recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, perpetrated by 20 year-old Adam Lanza , has intensified the discussion about how mental health is handled and documented in the US. Officials have not provided information about Lanza’s motivation and state of mind, and many are rightfully quick to point out that it is wrong to equate mental illness with the fatal sociopathic actions of a small group of individuals. The conversation about access to mental health care should, however, take into account new data showing an increasing contribution of mental and behavioral disorders to deterioration in the health-related quality of life among teenagers in the US and Canada over the last two decades, and increases elsewhere around the globe. [More]