Leading Health Indicator 9 Mental Health Florida 2010 Goal for Children and Youth Improve the mental and behavioral health of children and youth and ensure access to appropriate quality health services for children, youth and young adults HP 2010 Goal Improve mental health and ensure access to appropriate, quality mental health services

“Like adults, children and adolescents can have mental health problems that interfere with the way they think, feel, and act. These problems are real and painful. They can lead to school failure, family conflicts, drug abuse, violence or suicide.” (SAMHSA, 2002)⁽¹⁾   Mental health problems include emotional, mental and behavioral conditions. They occur to infants, children and youth as well as adults. Pregnant and postpartum women can also suffer from serious depression and other mental health problems that affect how they care for themselves and their fetus or child while pregnant or after pregnancy. Diagnosable emotional, behavioral and mental conditions can include, depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, anxiety, conduct disorders, and eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. While mental health problems affect one in every five children, serious emotional disturbances (SED) affect one in 10 at some point.

Causes of mental health problems are both biological and environmental or can be a mix of both. Some events or mixture of events that have been found to lead to serious mental health problems for children and youth include:

• Lead or mercury poisoning and other environmental toxins



• Witnessing or being the victim of violence, such as abuse or domestic violence



• Mental illness or depression in a parent or guardian



• A natural trauma, such as hospitalization, death of a parent, divorce, or discrimination



• Being relentlessly bullied or socially ostracized by peers or adults



• Poor attachment and bonding between infants and their caregivers



• Child/caregiver difficulties with behavior and development such as eating, toileting, sleeping are important issues for infants and young children



• Factors related to being a child with a disability or special health care need

Mental health problems recognized early can prevent the cycle of increasing risk factors that may cause serious disruption of a child's healthy social emotional development and ability to function. For instance, children with conduct/behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD) or severe trauma may display impulsive anti-social and disruptive behaviors that significantly affect their learning and social interactions with families and peers.^{(2, 3)}   Identifying the cause, treating behavior disorders and supporting caregivers early regardless of original source (nutritional, biological, social emotional or environmental) may prevent school failure, violence, drug misuse and suicide.⁽⁴⁾