Nearly a third of adolescents getting mental health treatment, federal survey finds

Close to 1 in 3 adolescents in the U.S. received mental health treatment in 2023, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported Tuesday, which works out to around 8.3 million young people between the ages of 12 and 17 getting counseling, medication or another treatment.

The result is among the findings now released from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2023. The federal agency's sweeping annual poll is closely tracked by mental health and addiction experts.It includes a broad range of questions asked to Americans ages 12 and older living in the community, not in care facilities.

The most common type of mental health treatment was meeting with a provider in an outpatient setting, like at an office of a therapist or school counseling center.

Among adolescents, the biggest increase from 2022 was in the number getting medication for mental health treatment. SAMHSA estimates that 13.9% of those age 12 to 17 received such a prescription in 2023. That is up from 12.8% the year before, though the agency said that the increase was not statistically significant.

The share of adults receiving mental health treatment has also climbed, from 21.8% in the 2022 survey to 23% in 2023. Among adults, 16.3% got prescription medication for mental health treatment, compared to 15.2% in 2022.

SAMHSA officials said they saw the increase as a positive development, citing efforts to normalize and destigmatize seeking out mental health treatment.

"We think it's a good thing that more people are accessing and connecting with mental health treatment. Certainly that has been a focus of the Biden Harris administration to make treatment more accessible, to help people know that treatment and services and supports are available," Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam Delphin-Rittmon told reporters at a briefing Tuesday.

Rates of adolescents getting mental health treatment has increased virtually every year since 2009 in SAMHSA's survey results, though the agency has cautioned against directly comparing against results from before 2021 due to changes in how the survey was done.

In 2022, the survey estimated that 7.7 million ages 12 to 17 years old had received mental health treatment of some kind, or 29.8%. The increase amounts to more than 500,000 additional adolescents getting treatment in 2023, SAMHSA said.

The rate of adolescents reporting having a major depressive episode has remained roughly flat since 2021, at 18.1% of those 12 to 17 years old, or 4.5 million.

Psychiatrists classify a major depressive episode as a period of feeling depressed for at least two weeks, to the point where the person has problems with daily tasks like sleeping and eating or thoughts of death or suicide.

"The report shows us that we must remain steadfast in our efforts to address the mental health and substance use crises," Delphin-Rittmon said.

Rates of vaping and marijuana use

SAMHSA's survey found that traditional cigarette use has continued to slow nationwide, dropping to 13.7% or 38.7 million adolescents and adults overall in 2023.

Meanwhile, nicotine vaping has increased to 9.4% of adolescents and adults, or 26.6 million people, up from 8.3% in 2022.

Around 11.7% of people vaping nicotine were underage, similar to last year's results. Other federal surveys have reported finding that e-cigarette use in high school students could be declining significantly, but levels in middle school students have not.

SAMHSA said its survey found that marijuana use overall was roughly flat from last year, at 21.8% or 61.8 million adolescents and adults smoking or taking weed.

Among only users too young to legally use marijuana — which is illegal under age 21, even in states that have otherwise legalized it — SAMHSA found that underage use has decreased to 18.4%.

The decline was too small to be statistically significant, the agency cautioned, and is above the 17.9% it was in 2021.

The most common mode of using marijuana was smoking, at 77% of those adolescents and adults who have used marijuana in the past year. Close to half of users said they had consumed edible or beverage products containing it.

Alcohol use declining

While trends of using most substances did not see major shifts in 2023's survey, alcohol use did see a statistically significant drop.

In 2023, 47.5% of adults and adolescents — about 134.7 million Americans — reported drinking alcohol in the past month, down from 48.7% in 2022.

But rates of alcohol abuse were virtually unchanged in 2023, at 21.7% reporting binge drinking and 5.8% reporting "heavy alcohol use," defined as binge drinking for at least five days a month.

Around 10.2% of adolescents and adults (28.9 million people) reported drinking to the point where they met the criteria of alcohol use disorder.

By age, rates of alcohol use disorder remain highest in young adults ages 18 to 25. More than 15% of young adults met the criteria for alcohol use disorder.

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