Pediatric Support for Mental Health

SDSU College of Sciences


SDSU researchers find that providing mental health care to young people in a primary care setting can help fight stigma and other barriers to receiving treatment.


“In these interventions, kids learn not to withdraw from what’s upsetting them.” Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems in children and adolescents. Youth with these disorders often go to their primary care physicians for referrals, but only a small number of them obtain much-needed mental health care.  A new study led by researchers at San Diego State University suggests that providing a brief behavioral therapy in the pediatric primary care setting can help more young people get the help they need. The brief intervention’s benefits were especially noteworthy in Latino youth, more than three quarters of whom showed significant improvement. About three in 10 children and adolescents suffer from significant anxiety and/or depression that affects their ability to learn in school, form and maintain meaningful relationships, and engage in activities. The study’s lead author, V. Robin Weersing, professor in SDSU’s Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, said that our mental health system is not currently suited to identify and successfully treat this many youth.  Additionally, families report barriers to pursuing mental health referrals that they might receive, including stigma, limited time, transportation and financial difficulties. However, statistics show that nine out of 10 kids and teens do regularly see a pediatrician, presenting an opportunity to piggyback mental health services on top of their existing medical care. To learn how effective that approach may be, Weersing and colleagues recruited 185 ethnically diverse children and adolescents ages 8 to 16 who were identified by their pediatrician as struggling with anxiety and/or depression. The study occurred at several pediatricians’ offices in San Diego and Pittsburgh. Half of these youth received outpatient referrals to standard outpatient mental health care, with the researchers continuing ...

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