This article on NBC news, More kids are showing up in ERs (Emergency Rooms) with mental health crises, reports large increases across the country.
Dr. Anna Abrams, a pediatrician and researcher at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, finds the numbers both shocking and disheartening.
In the 5-year period from 2012 to 2016, when looking at ER mental health admissions in 45 children’s hospitals, they found the following increases:
- 48 % in white children
- 64% in non-Hispanic black children
- 77% increase in Hispanic children
with about a 55 % increase overall.
Dr. Abrams and her colleagues presented these findings at the American Academy of Pediatrics conference in earlier this month.
Other than the very large increases, there is something else to be concerned about: the researchers say they aren’t sure why we are seeing these increases, speculating it “could be due to the scarcity of mental health professionals who can help children” and “People are also talking more openly about depression, anxiety and other common mental health problems and that may make parents feel more comfortable about seeking help for their children.”
While these are very valid reasons, we really do need to be incorporating nutritional psychiatry (a term coined in 2015) and functional medicine (Dr. Mark Hyman is one of the leaders in functional medicine) into these discussions, studies and conferences. Other than poor diets and nutritional deficiencies we need to be considering stress, exposure to toxins, poor gut health and increasing Wifi exposure, to name a few.
If we look at diet alone, there is so much recent research supporting the connection between diet and mental health. Here are two of many new studies:
- Is there an association between diet and depression in children and adolescents? A systematic review
Despite some contradictory results, overall there was support for an association between healthy dietary patterns or consumption of a high-quality diet and lower levels of depression or better mental health. Similarly, there was a relationship between unhealthy diet and consumption of low-quality diet and depression or poor mental health.
These data suggest that Iranian adolescent females eating a pro-inflammatory diet…had greater odds of having at least moderate depressive symptoms.
And here are just a few other factors to consider:
- Integrative Medicine Approach to Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety – in this case study gluten removal was a big factor
- GABA for children: ADHD, focus issues, irritability, anxiety and tantrums With this pre-teen young girl, her mom reports that “She’s almost like different child. GABA has truly changed our life.“
How do we get this nutritional psychiatry research and case studies into the hands of those who can change actually policy and the way mental health is addressed? I believe it has to be a grass-roots effort from the bottom up and I have these suggestions:
- share this blog and the research with your doctor and/or allied health practitioner
- reach out to study authors, journalists and legislators and share research and success stories like the above, and your own personal results
- if you’re a practitioner, write blogs like this sharing the good results you see with your clients and patients – with researchers, journalists and legislators
- share in forums and on social media, and with your neighbors, friends and family
- comment on blogs like this – with success stories in your family or with clients – so more people get to see what really is working
Every little bit helps! I’d love to hear your ideas too.
Right on point with this information. Nutrition matters mental health included. We are too many generations down the line with processed food, toxins, removed from nature, etc. with a lowered IQ and at some point we will not be able to dig ourselves out of this hole.
You continue to give us hope that things can get turned around. Thanks!
Cindy
Thanks for contributing to the discussion! And yes hope is powerful! Do you have a success story to share – either about yourself or a family member?
I am a clinician and work in emergency psychiatry in Canada and have seen a dramatic increase in youth coming to ER for suicide and depression. I am also just finishing a masters in holistic medicine with a focus on nutrition and other functional approaches to promote mental health. However, I can still only offer “medications (and / or therapy)” at work as nutrition for mental health is still primarily viewed as “non-contributory / unrelated” factor (sad, but true) in the eyes of the allopathic system and I would be viewed as providing non-evidence based information (even though there is emerging evidence on the subject). Any suggestions as to how to overcome this dilemma would be more than welcomed…
Everything you can and cannot do has a political decision behind it. We must find the time and energy to move the political compass so people can find true healing instead of a pill bottle dead end.
Once you learn how to heal it is difficult to keep that to your self. You may have to embark on a journey outside of allopathic medicine. Risk and reward everyone must find their tolerance to determine their path.
God bless you as an emerging healer there are many who will stand with you working to push the allopathic box or render it obsolete.
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for your excellent reply and support.
Yes – I am planning on going in my own direction as well outside of allopathic medicine. However, I will continue to “push” the holistic approach as much as I can within the allopathic arena and you have given me more good food for thought. Hopefully, I will be that small “spark” in my small city that may ignite further change. Interestingly, I just had a pediatrician approach me a few days ago and asked if I had any nutritional ideas for ADHD as he claimed he wants to start with this approach first now instead of instantly resorting to medications – so in retrospect I guess this change is indeed happening. Thank you and God bless!
Shane
Cindy
Thanks for your words of encouragement! I wholeheartedly agree – there are many of us standing with emerging healers and clinicians like Shane!
Shane
Thanks for sharing! It’s wonderful to hear you’re just finishing a “masters in holistic medicine with a focus on nutrition and other functional approaches to promote mental health” – you have such an opportunity to make an impact. The ADHD pediatrician asking your advice is just the start and change is already happening! Continue to be that spark!
As far as your dilemma here are some ideas:
1) Could you informally talk about the importance of diet, ask about breakfast and make a few simple suggestions for parents?
2) What about sharing a favorite blog or book or podcast/online summit just to get parents thinking differently?
3) Maybe team up with a local nutritionist, health coach or functional medicine doctor/practitioner (like the pediatrician) and share their information with the parents?
4) Try to get your colleagues on board by sharing research-based evidence; possibly starting a nutritional psychiatry group of like-minded clinicians at the hospital; invite them to a local Functional Forum meetup (find one in your area here https://meetup.functionalforum.com/ or start one if there isn’t one in your area)
I’d love to learn more from you: how big an increase you are seeing, what ages, boys vs girls and what do you suspect is contributing to the increase? Are many of the youth already on medications when they come in and could this be a factor too – due to side-effects and drug-induced nutrient depletions? Which medications are typically prescribed and how often is therapy recommended?
Thanks for your reply Trudy!
I do informally talk about diet, the huge importance of it for mental health, and give out various holistic web-sites/resources i.e. yours, as applicable to client’s and their parents to “plant the seed” as much as possible. I do find that many are so entrenched with the idea that a “pill” is the only answer for their depression / anxiety / ADHD, etc. that it is really hard to get many out of this mind-set; however, more and more are asking for other alternatives. As for other health care-professionals with the same holistic mind-set as me – I am the only one in my area at this point – with potentially the exception of the pediatrician I mentioned; however, I will consider this a starting point! I also have given holistic mental health in-services to the staff I work with; however, turn-out is limited at this point as well. However, I am so passionate about holistic mental health that I will continue to persevere!
In regards to the increase in youth in ER – I could anecdotally say about an 80% increase over the last 4 years? To put it into context I used to see perhaps 1 youth per month around 4 years ago; however, during my block of four shifts about a month ago – I believe I saw 5 youth. Typical ages are 13-18 with a mix of both males and females. Since I work in emergency mental health I typically see adjustment reactions (perceived stressor(s) resulting in depressed mood and suicidal thoughts) or (major) depression with suicidal thoughts and concomitant anxiety. However, many youth I have assessed have told me they have also been diagnosed with a variety of other disorders i.e. ADD / ADHD. A number of them are already on medications i.e. antidepressants such as Prozac or Zoloft, ADHD drugs such as Ritalin / Concerta, or antipsychotic drugs such as Seroquel (mainly to control dysregulated moods / behaviors). Some have been on these medications for years. Most are also connected with a child and youth therapist; however, I think they are struggling with the increase in demand as well. There certainly could be medication-induced nutrient deficiencies. I find that the youth have an immense decreased ability to cope in general i.e. girlfriend / boyfriend broke up with me so they instantly consider suicide. As well, self-cutting has become so mainstream – it is sadly one of the most popular “coping methods” amongst this age group. I believe that EMF’s and related electronics i.e. cell phones, video games, have a huge impact on their mental health and I know there is quite a bit of supporting research on this; however, I think that nutrition is salient. I have seen, quite a few times, where I will be assessing someone and the youth will drinking a soda, eating potato chips, or their parents will bring them in fast-food to console them – it is really quite sad to see…
Shane
Shane where in Canada are you? I work in Canada as well. Things are shifting, slowly, but it’s such a challenge in our socialized system to get people access to care they have to pay for out of pocket. Glad you can be working within the allopathic system. Let me know if I can help!
I agree it’s a grassroots effort. There is so much great research on how nutrition and our environment can negatively or positively effect anxiety and depression – depending on our choices. I have seen the results in my clinical nutrition practice and our research into kids with autism. With diet and supplementation we saw not only autism symptoms improve but anxiety and depression too. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/3/369
Julie
Thanks for contributing to the discussion and the wonderful work you do with children with autism. And yes anxiety and depression in those with autism is common and we see these same nutritional/biochemical approaches lead to improvements in all areas, as reflected in the study you contributed to and link to – “Comprehensive Nutritional and Dietary Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder—A Randomized, Controlled 12-Month Trial”
A testament to your work is the wonderful success that all the nutritionists/health coaches/practitioners see when using the same methods you use and teach. They are all part of this grass-roots effort, as are you and the families you all work with. We appreciate every one of you!
Excellent blog! Just as mainstream doctors have basically no nutritional training, sadly, the same goes for the psychiatrists. Even if this is obvious to them, their job description only involves prescribing pharmaceutical drugs and linking you with a therapist for talk therapy. We need more articles like yours to begin to set off the lightbulbs and open parent’s eyes that a poor diet can diagnose a future which can literally become a matter of life and death concerning the prognosis of our children.
So glad you’ve highlighted this, Trudy. I hope this post goes viral 🙂 It brings up such important talking points.
– Why is this happening? The way I see it, it’s happening because our kids are caught in a Perfect Storm. They are exposed to more stress than any generation before them, and at the same time their stress tolerance is eroded because of poor nutrition. The solution, then, requires that we relieve stress and improve stress tolerance. That is how we will find better health – mental and physical (really the same thing) – for our kids.
Better diagnoses? maybe. Better conversations? maybe. More people seeking help? maybe. But fact is, more kids than ever are struggling. Ask anyone on the ground who has been working with kids over the last 10 years and they’ll tell you. That should be the most urgent call to action there is. This is an entire generation we’re talking about (and the people who work with them are burning out left, right and centre because they are such a tricky lot to support).
If it’s true that it’s easier to raise a healthy child than it is to fix a sick adult (which I think it is) and if we can’t raise healthy kids, what does the future have in store for us?? This is a crisis.
– Why isn’t Nutritional Psychiatry part of the conversation? I’m finding in my work that there are 2 groups of people emerging. One that is genuinely surprised when I bring up nutritional strategies for mental wellness because they’ve never considered that there could be a connection. So there’s a lot of education to be done there (your references help, Trudy!) The second is a group who gets the connection but struggles to implement changes. The changes they need to make require tough choices sometimes and that’s really hard for parents, especially without a support team (of course there is a third group who gets it, embraces it, does the hard work and sees brilliant improvement… but they are still in the minority, sadly).
To bring nutritional psychiatry mainstream doctors need to see the value of health coaches. If they are aware of the food-behaviour connection they could say “eat better” or even “take out gluten” but that’s about it, given their time and their training and the medical system they’re in. They can’t support implementation so that leaves their patient at a loss and likely set up to fail, unless they can set them up with a coach.
It’s critical to bring doctors on board here, but parents also play such a valuable role in this. But they need support so they can make the tough choices, have better access to food and coaching on how to set up their homes for health and resilience.
Thanks for all the awareness work you’re doing, Trudy. We will continue to spiral with this until we realize that the solution requires a shift in how we think about how we raise our kids.
I am a psychologist now working in private practice, before that I worked in the public health system. I began noticing an increase in children presenting with anxiety about twelve years ago. I work from an holistic paradigm and as part of my intake interview I query and ask the children, not the parents, what they eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, also what food they would like to eat more often and what food they wished they never had to eat again. This gives me a good insight into their dietary habits. I also routinely screen for pyrrolle disorder and it is surprising how regularly this occurs in my clinical population. My own theory is that the increase in mental health issues in the paediatric population is caused by a processed food/convenience meals diet, massive sugar intake via processed foods and drinks, a 24/7 news cycle where children are being bombarded via overt or discrete methods with a constant barrage of bad news, and, in many cases, poor parenting, not deliberately but because of a lack of education in children’s mental development and what is and is not appropriate for their age level for many things. A lack of outdoor play and adventure is also sadly lacking, this being different to organised sport. I won’t even begin to go into screen use etc. I am also cognisant of the fact that with both parents working and financial constraints it is very hard and time consuming to implement a lot of changes. Hence parent education including time saving practices in the home, recipes etc.
I work with my paediatric clientele, with ages ranging from 3 years to 18 years of age, using a variety of methods. A whole food diet, if required paleo diet and a low oxylate diet, fermented foods, nutritional supplementation, That Sugar app to monitor sugar intake, CBT, HeartMath, Mindfulness therapies, parent education etc. I also have several Walsh, ACNEM, and MINDD trained G.P.’s who I refer clients to and work with.
This really is a societal problem.
Sylvia
Thanks for sharing about the wonderful nutritional work you do with children and teens. I love that you are part of a team too. Parents who are busy and overwhelmed and often unprepared for all this need all the help and support they can get.
I’m not familiar with That Sugar app but just looked it up (https://thatsugarmovement.com/app/) and I love the cencept! I’d love to hear what ages it works best for and it it’s the children/teens who are buying in to it? You mention screen time, which we can also agree is also a big problem, so my only concern is the added time on the iphone or other device.
I also find pyrrole disorder/pyroluria to be very common but the wonderful aspect is that with the correct nutritional support, social anxiety is eliminated very quickly!
I think you need look no further than glyphosate (Roundup) to explain these alarming increases. Glyphosate usage on core food crops has gone up exponentially in the past two decades, in step with an alarming rise in a long list of neurological, autoimmune and oncological diseases. EWG and Moms Across America are finding alarmingly high levels of glyphosate in popular foods like oatmeal, Cheerios, chick peas, hummus, orange juice, oreo cookies and Goldfish crackers. My research suggests that glyphosate has a unique insidious cumulative mechanism of toxicity that involves getting inserted into proteins by mistake in place of the coding amino acid glycine. I believe this mechanism can explain all the correlations we are seeing with the rise in disease in countries that adopt a “Western” diet.
Nice to see you respond Dr Seneff!
I could not agree more! I have followed your work for years and have cited you numerous times in various papers during my master’s program in holistic medicine (with a focus on mental health). Simply switching to organic, even though not fully free from the ubiquitous glyphosate, can dramatically help ones mental health.
Shane
Stephanie
Thanks for contributing to this important discussion and for your valuable research in this area. I agree this is a huge aspect that needs to be considered.
One of my favorite Anxiety Summit interviews was yours – where we discuss your 2013 paper “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance” and that “Deficiencies in tryptophan, tyrosine, methionine and selenomethionine associated with celiac disease, match glyphosate’s known depletion of these amino acids”… contributing to anxiety and depression. Link here for other blog readers https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/roundup-toxic-anxiety-autism-celiac-disease/
You also shared these impacts of glyphosate, all of which can impact mental health
• How glyphosate disrupts gut bacteria causing a deficiency in beneficial bacteria and an overgrowth of pathogenic forms
• How glyphosate depletes minerals like cobalt, zinc, molybdenum, and manganese by caging them; depleting serotonin and GABA levels
• How glyphosate disrupts cytochrome P450 enzymes in the gut and liver, with devastating consequences
Thanks for also mentioning the EWG and Moms Across America glyphosate reports. I’m sharing links to the recent 2 EWG blog posts here for other blog readers: “Breakfast With a Dose of Roundup?” (https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/#.W75ePBNKhgc) and “Roundup for Breakfast, Part 2: In New Tests, Weed Killer Found in All Kids’ Cereals Sampled” (https://www.ewg.org/release/roundup-breakfast-part-2-new-tests-weed-killer-found-all-kids-cereals-sampled)
With so many children and teens consuming these products it’s one more reason to select organic. Of course sugary high carb foods like cherrios, goldfish and oreos like this are also not nutrient dense, loaded with sugar and are going to impact blood sugar levels so there’s that anxiety/depression mechanism too.
Social media is the main culprit, I barely ever here anything positive about social media anymore. It’s great for learning and has been indispensable on my health and wellness journey but I am so tired of people showing off their fabricated and retouched lives on social media. Honestly, we are not interested in fake news. It needs to go, not sure how this can ever be achieved but it is severely affecting the mental health of millions of people. It leads to so many negatives and overwhelms with far too much information any normal person can barely begin to digest. We were all far better off and happier without it and consequently had a lot more time too to engage in what really brings true happiness and contentment – i.e. real face to face human interaction and better still, whilst spending time in nature. Computers are amazing devices but whew, more than ever we need to be so careful how we use them. In many instances they are taking away the need for human interaction which is essential for good mental health…
Drew
Yes it’s a big issue! And we have new research published just last month: Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study “After 1 h/day of use, more hours of daily screen time were associated with lower psychological well-being, including less curiosity, lower self-control, more distractibility, more difficulty making friends, less emotional stability, being more difficult to care for, and inability to finish tasks” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30406005
As you know there is also the extensive EMF/WiFi exposure that is also a factor in neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms, as reported in this 2016 paper: Microwave frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produce widespread neuropsychiatric effects including depression https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891061815000599 I write more about this here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/emfs-a-factor-in-neuropsychiatric-symptoms-and-cancer/ and here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/wi-fi-threat-to-human-health-anxiety-sibo-oxalate-issues-high-cortisol/
Very interesting – thanks for sharing Trudy. The EMF/WiFi issue is huge too and people just brush it off. Apparently China is already exploring 6G! Are you still undecided as to whether your Defender Shield phone case provides any protection at all? Just came back from the hospital having had a chest X-Ray (ouch – more radiation!) and was bewildered to notice the roof of the hospital littered with phone towers!
Thanks Trudy for pointing out the mostly ignored elephant in the room – EMFs. Levels of around the clock irradiation with pulsed microwaves generated by cell towers and wireless devices, which industry-independent research has implicated as a (not the, just a) major cause of cellular stress and neurological abnormalities, especially anxiety and depression, have exponentially increased in recent years.
In addition to the cell towers, most homes now have strong wifi routers, plus any number of constantly-radiating wireless devices… plus smart meters which send out extremely brief, but very strong pulses every few seconds, a kind of exposure that is thought to be particularly damaging.
Kids now spend many hours every day in close proximity to microwave-emitting devices. Their schools usually now have one or several cell towers on the premises, and classrooms are equipped with industrial-strength wifi.
The NBC article mentions the “mystery” of nonwhite children being much more effected by the increases in anxiety and depression. It’s less of a mystery when you consider that poor people – who are disproportionally not white – often live in very close proximity to cell towers and high voltage power lines .
I just had an emergency room visit with my Down Syndrome daughter, who had her first grand mal (hopefully her last). They prescribed Keppra (500 mgs twice a day). They were not pushy but recommended it (in an IV and the prescription). My husband and I declined for the moment but got a lot of pressure from others to see a neurologist and find medication for seizures. I am nervous to even see a neurologist because they are trained in medicine and not overall health I believe. The day she had her seizure she had watched a lot of You Tube videos up close while I packed for a trip. She also drank a lot of milk. A couple of hours before the seizure she started crying for a while. Are neurologists cool people or can they be controlling? We are trying to find natural things that may help and I think we need to have her thyroid checked too. I am concerned that the meds may actually make her have a problem. I am trying to keep her away from the computer and watching what she eats and drinks. Any suggestions?