Children’s mental health was the primary topic at dsm Magazine’s Lifting the Veil panel discussion on Dec. 10. Andrew Allen, president and CEO of YSS (which provides shelter and services to youths), shared some frightening statistics about youth suicide, and I’ll share those in a second. But a comment from one of the panelists helped reinforce that this is not a problem limited to youths in crisis and in fact is very prevalent with high performers who will be entering your workforce. 

Allen set the tone for the seriousness of this issue by sharing that 10 of the kids connected to his program have died in the last two years. He followed that by sharing that 1 in 10 kids has a plan for suicide, and 1 in 20 has attempted suicide. Alarming numbers. A few moments later Lisa Streyffeler – Des Moines University chair and assistant professor of behavioral medicine, medical humanities and bioethics – made sure those stats aren’t limited to the population Andrew is serving. Among the medical students she is training, high performers who are going to be doctors, the rate of suicide ideation is 10% percent. 

A 2018 article in the Advances in Medical Education and Practice journal found the following among medical students: “The prevalence of suicidal ideation ranged from 1.8% to 53.6%. The most frequent factors associated with suicidal ideation in medical students were depression and depressive symptoms, a previous diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder, lower socioeconomic status/financial difficulties, having a history of drug use and feeling neglected by parents.” 

Lifting the Veil’s panel discussion localized mental health issues in the state of Iowa. To read the dsm stories in this year’s publication, visit www.dsmmagazine.com.