Provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Surgeon General of the United States of America
Chapter 3: Children and Mental Health
Overview of Mental Disorders in Children
Depression and Suicide in Children and Adolescents
Treatment
Suicide
Community-Based Suicide Prevention
The principal public health approaches to suicide prevention have been (1)
crisis hotlines8; (2) restrictions covering access to suicide methods; (3) media
counseling to minimize imitative suicide; (4) indirect case-finding by educating
potential gatekeepers, teachers, parents, and peers to identify the warning
signs of an impending suicide; (5) direct case-finding among high school or
college students or among the patients of primary practitioners by screening for
conditions that place teens at risk for suicide; and (6) training professionals
to improve recognition and treatment of mood disorders. As discussed below, the
level of evidence for these strategies varies. There is more support for direct
case-finding and improved recognition and treatment of mood disorders than for
the other strategies.
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