Addressing the Adolescent Mental Health-Care Gap in the United States

Mental health challenges in adolescents have steadily risen over the past two decades in the United States, most recently surging after .This includes an increase in the prevalence of diagnosed mental or behavioral health conditions [2], as well as suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and deaths [4,5].Although the need for adolescent mental health care is greater now than ever, extensive supply and demand barriers prohibit the majority of this population from receiving the treatment they need.Consequently, it has been estimated that only about half of adolescents in need receive mental health support [6][7][8].Addressing this crisis will require actions targeting the determinants of mental health, as well as improving the accessibility to evidence-based care for adolescents experiencing mental health problems.This commentary is explicitly focused on opportunities to address the care gap, outlining the key barriers to the availability and utilization of adolescent mental health services and presenting promising solutions to address these challenges.