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Any parent of a child with mental health struggles can likely relate to the uncertainty, frustration, desperation and hopelessness involved in looking for help and hitting walls at every step. Among the barriers: the expense of psychiatry and therapy, which often isn’t covered by insurance; learning that a provider is not accepting new patients or has a long waitlist; and the time commitment during work and school hours.
At the same time that more and more U.S. children and teens are needing mental health support, providers are in increasingly short supply – which is only deepening the crisis, writes Steven Berkowitz, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
As a result of the high demand and shortage of providers, some children are being referred to emergency departments or asked to wait at home, leaving children and their families in impossible situations. Berkowitz pulls back the curtain on what it’s like to be a provider in the current climate and explains why treating mental health needs in children can be more difficult than in adults.
And finally, last month we brought you our first piece of investigative journalism, a fascinating look at online criminal gangs and their growing use of sham bank accounts. Nieman Journalism Lab talked to our Beth Daley and Kurt Eichenwald about this new expansion of our journalism.
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Anxiety, depression and suicide among U.S. teens continue to increase.
Paolo Cordoni/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Steven Berkowitz, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Millions of young people in the US are suffering, whether from abuse at home, pressure from social media or exposure to violence. But navigating the mental health care system can be disheartening.
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Ethics + Religion
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Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida
Oppenheimer’s knowledge of Sanskrit literature was more than cursory. He used quotes and parables from Sanskrit texts as a guide to right actions in his life.
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Politics + Society
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Charles R. Hunt, Boise State University
The framers decided that members of both the House and Senate would be required to be “an inhabitant” of the state they represent.
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Bev-Freda Jackson, American University School of Public Affairs
While Donald Trump has used his social media platform to criticize all of his opponents, the former president has made his most controversial attacks against Black female prosecutors.
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International
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Jorge Heine, Boston University
The recent kidnapping of a US nurse has put a focus on the plight of Haitians living with organized crime every day. But few governments are willing to intervene.
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Peter Rutland, Wesleyan University
Foreign policy experts are divided on whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes it more or less likely that China will launch a similar attack on Taiwan. Here are the arguments on both sides.
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Science + Technology
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Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University
With commercial space tourism on the rise and NASA planning to return to the Moon, you might think the US space economy is booming – but the data paint a more complex picture.
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Laurie Mintz, University of Florida
Women have fewer orgasms than men. But this gap is cultural, not biological. Closing it is possible, both on a societal and personal level.
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Environment + Energy
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Mike Shriberg, University of Michigan
A pipeline that has carried Canadian oil and gas across Wisconsin and Michigan for 70 years has become a symbol of fossil fuel politics and a test of local regulatory power.
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Kevin Hamilton, University of Hawaii
Projections for Hawaii’s climate future are raising concerns about fire risk, ecosystems and freshwater supplies for homes and agriculture.
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