Healthcare: UNICEF: Approximately 22,000 children and adolescents live in Romania with a diagnosis of mental illness

  Approximately 22,000 children and adolescents live in Romania with a diagnosis of mental illness, and many others face various developmental, emotional or cognitive difficulties, UNICEF says, in a survey.It is estimated that a much larger number of people with psycho-emotional needs are not diagnosed and, consequently, do not benefit from adequate mental health care and treatment.The X-ray published by UNICEF specifies that the mental health of Romanian children and adolescents is much more affected than that of children from other countries.33% of adolescents between the ages of 11 and 15 feel sad several times a week, compared to an average of 13% in the 45 countries included in a World Health Organization study.Also, a 2020 study showed that almost half of young people had suicidal thoughts at least once, 27.1% were sad all the time and couldn't get rid of sadness, and 21.5% felt depressed sometimes in the last six months.In Romania, among the most frequent mental disorders diagnosed in recent years are: conduct disorders (24.19%), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (22.65%), anxiety disorders (19.23%), autistic spectrum disorders (14.47%), depressive episode (9.14%), attachment disorders (4.3%), school phobia (3.1%), eating behavior disorders (2.88%). Depressive episodes in the over 15 age group were 69%, much higher compared to those reported at younger ages.The authors of the UNICEF report also developed a set of recommendations for improving the quality of children's lives from a mental health perspective. One of the recommendations refers to addressing the problems related to insufficient statistical data on the mental health of children and adolescents in Romania. The absence of credible information regarding not only children's access to specialized medical services, to psychotherapy services, psychological counseling, educational support services or to services in the social category, makes it difficult to tailor an intervention that would have the aim of reducing the complexity of the psychological and to facilitate the conditions for a positive and productive state of health.Another set of recommendations refers to schools that do not have mental health promotion programs. The research notes that mental health has a significant educational component, and the development and implementation of psycho-educational programs for children and adolescents can have a transformative potential for the entire community. One recommendation is the introduction of psycho-educational contents at each educational level and the development of these contents to include non-formal methods, in a child-friendly manner and in accordance with the current needs of children. Also, teaching staff should be trained to disseminate the psycho-educational content in schools.According to the source, access to mental health services is more difficult for refugee children or for children and adolescents from rural or disadvantaged areas.In the opinion of UNICEF representatives, mental health services for vulnerable children should be provided by financing e-medicine, e-counseling, e-therapy or mobile mental health clinics.