MENTAL HEALTH
THE STATE OF CHILD and Adolescent
Psychiatry
Christopher K. Peters, MD and David W. Lohr, MD
M
ore than ever, we need to de-
liver effective and compas-
sionate mental health care
to children and adolescents.
Over the last decade and a
half, the rate of suicide for our youth (age
10-34) has continued to increase and is the
second leading cause of death for our teen-
1
agers. The rates of depression and anxiety have also grown. 2 This
has not occurred in a bubble. The United States has essentially
been at war since the 90’s, has endured an economic crisis, and has
seen a resurgence of a polarized society. Social media and gaming
have changed the landscape of youth development, and we are still
struggling to understand the positive and negative impacts on our
developing minds. The UofL Division of Child and Adolescent Psy-
chiatry and Pediatric Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics
16
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
provides a vital resource in various ways to assist youth and their
families in traversing the new age landscape.
With the rising demand for mental health care, it is clear that
there will never be enough child and adolescent psychiatrists to
manage all the patients. As such, primary care practitioners will serve
at the forefront of screening, diagnosing, referring and initiating
medical treatments when appropriate. It is imperative to develop
viable systems to support our primary care colleagues. 3 Integrated
care models are one pathway to bring mental health care into the
primary care setting. Child and adolescent psychiatrists, psycholo-
gists and other mental health providers can serve as consultants and
provide brief treatment interventions in the primary care setting and
assist if referral for specialized on going care is needed. The training
program in Child Psychiatry at UofL has designed a rotation for
the child and adolescent psychiatry residents to spend time in the