A new report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine states that doctors are ill-equipped to deal with health-related behavioral and developmental issues among teens.
With teen deaths on the rise from car accidents, homicide and suicide—usually linked to risky or unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol or drug abuse—recent studies show that doctors often don’t know how to address these issues among youth.
And mental health is another problem. About, 10 to 20 percent of teens experience mental health problems at some point, but a third of them go untreated.
While it is unclear what doctors can do to address these realities, study authors hope that when the incoming Obama Administration begins to restructure and reorganize the health care system, it will keep teens’ needs in mind.
Wanted: Better Health Help for Teens
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