By Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es

The #pandemic has seen the number of diagnoses reduced and #mentalhealthservices for #children and young people become increasingly overcrowded, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.

The number of #mental and #behavioraldisorders among #children has tripled during the #COVID-19 #pandemic, with 3% experiencing #suicidalthoughts in 2021, the Spanish branch of Save the #Children warned on Tuesday.

The #pandemic has seen the number of diagnoses reduced and #mentalhealthservices for #children and young people become increasingly overcrowded, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.

According to the Save the #Children report analysing #mentalhealth and #suicide among Spain’s #children and #adolescents, #children living in low-income households are four times more likely to suffer from #mental and/or #behavioraldisorders than those in high-income households.

According to the report, #mentaldisorders in Spain have increased from 1% to 4% among #children aged 4-14 and from 2.5% to 7% for conduct disorders compared to official data from 2017.

“The #pandemic has brought new worries, fears and unhappiness into the lives of #children and has highlighted the magnitude of #mentalhealthproblems in Spain”, said Save the #Children’s director-general in Spain, Andrés Conde.

“The situations that lead #children to #suicide are serious family conflicts and divorces, problems of #bullying by peers, humiliation and abuse, #loneliness, disappointment in love, the death of family members, #school failure and the pressure to avoid that failure, and discrimination based on #sexualorientation,” Conde explained.

In 2020, 61 #children committed #suicide in Spain, the NGO reported.

#James Donaldson notes:

Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.

Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.

Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticle

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“Today (In Spain) there are fewer #suicides than 30 years ago, the fall is very pronounced until 2008, but from that year onwards there was an upturn that lasted a decade”, Conde added.

The NGO found that Spain is one of the OECD countries with the lowest rates of #child #suicide, but its health system and #mentalhealthservices for #children and young people are not sufficiently equipped for the challenge ahead.

In some regions like Murcia in the southeast and Madrid, getting a clinical #psychology consultation can take more than two months. Only 60% of public hospitals have #psychological care, and the ratio of #psychiatrists per inhabitant is among the lowest in the EU.

“Waiting lists for #psychological or #psychiatric care become a bottleneck as the disorder often worsens or becomes chronic,” the NGO also said.

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https://standingabovethecrowd.com/2022/06/jamesdonaldson-on-mentalhealth-spanish-children-had-increased-suicidalthoughts-due-to-covid-19/