Posted on December 21, 2009

Adolescents receive mental health services in a variety of settings, such as specialty mental health service settings, community mental health centers and non-specialty settings such as schools and general medical practice settings. Non-specialty settings can be especially important in accessing mental health services, leading to the coordination of care produced in specialty and non-specialty settings, creating a no wrong door approach.

Data collected on youth mental health service utilization from the 2005 and 2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was presented in a recent NSDUH report. In this report, the organization shared that an annual average of 3.3 million youths aged 12 to 17 – or 13.3 percent – received services for emotional or behavioral problems in a specialty mental health setting in the past year.

The report also revealed roughly 3.0 million youths – or 12.0 percent – received services for emotional or behavioral problems in a school-based setting. Another 752,000 – or 3.0 percent – received these services in a general medical setting. Of all adolescents, females were more likely to receive services for emotional or behavioral problems in a specialty mental health or educational setting than males.

For those youths who received specialty mental health services for emotional or behavioral problems in the 12 months prior to the completion of the survey, 11.9 percent received outpatient mental health services. Private therapists, psychologists, social workers and counselors provided mental health help to 9.9 of youths.

Another 2.7 percent of persons within the adolescent age group received inpatient mental health services. Staying overnight or longer in the hospital was the most commonly used inpatient service for emotional or behavioral problems among 2.1 percent.

Those youth receiving services in a school-based setting numbered 3.0 million, with 9.9 percent receiving mental health services from a school counselor, school psychologist or through regular meetings with a teacher. Another 3.9 percent received special educational services as a result of emotional or behavioral problems while in a regular classroom or when placed in a special classroom or school. Those students receiving services from a pediatrician or other family doctors ranked at 3.0 percent.

Age of the adolescents participating in the survey also played a role in the receipt of mental health services. Those youths aged 14 or 15 were more likely to receive specialty mental health services than youths aged 12 or 13.

At the same time, services delivered in an education setting were more common among 12 to 15 year olds than among 16 or 17 year olds. There was no change in the percentage of youths who received services for emotional or behavioral problems in a general medical setting.

While females were more likely than males to receive specialty mental health services and school-based services for emotional or behavioral problems in the past year, there was no difference between make and female youths in the use of general medical services for such problems.