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Article: Mental Health Services and Children
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Education
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND CHILDREN
It is estimated that the percentage of children and adolescents in the United States who are in need of mental health services is between 15 and 20 percent. This means that more than 10 million children in the country suffer from some mental disorder. It is also estimated that 3 to 8 percent have a serious mental illness. More children suffer from psychiatric illness than from leukemia, diabetes, and AIDS combined. There are also both short-term and long-term financial and emotional costs associated with these disorders.
Determining which children need mental health services is a complex undertaking. In most cases, a youth has to receive a mental ...