Millions of American Teens Suffer From Serious Mental Illnesses!

The Surgeon General has reported that twenty percent of our country’s children under the age of 18 have mental illnesses, and between six and nine million of those children have a serious emotional disturbance. Each year, hundreds of thousands of these children and adolescents are confined to inpatient psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, therapeutic foster homes, treatment academies, and behavioral boot camps. Despite those extraordinary numbers, many of our children are not receiving optimal treatment for their mental health issues. While in some cases, children may very appropriately be referred to, and treated within, inpatient psychiatric facilities, one must question the benefit of many of these out-of-home placements. What kind of treatment are our children receiving? Is there an intensive therapeutic experience that truly meets their needs and addresses their problems? You may be shocked and surprised to learn what really goes on behind the locked doors of an adolescent psychiatric facility. You will find an eye-opening and alarming look into the lives of a group of teens whose families have entrusted them to the care of a psychiatric hospital. You will be encouraged to learn of the dedication and hard work of individuals who work with our children, despite the many challenges of their chosen profession. You will be convinced that our nation must rally to provide a mental health care system that truly works. And you will agree that our children deserve a chance to reach their goals and live to their greatest potential. Their future must not be forgotten.

The author has worked in the mental health field for more than twenty years and has worked with children and adolescents in Connecticut, Alaska, and Virginia. She holds an associate’s degree in nursing, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and has done graduate work in child welfare. A member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses, she resides in Virginia.