Commentary

Addressing paediatric mental health concerns Daniel Rosenfield MD1, Mohamed Eltorki MBChB1, Pier Bryden MPhil MD2

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ntil relatively recently, paediatric mental health concerns have not received the attention they deserve given their prevalence, morbidity and mortality. With a few notable exceptions (eg, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, autism), awareness among health care providers has been minimal with regard to the majority of paediatric mental health concerns, and even less in the public sphere. In the past decade, there has been a surge in public awareness campaigns about adult mental health concerns, including depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. While highlighting these often-stigmatized disorders is important, paediatric mental health disorders were not initially embraced with the same fervor. It is only recently, with the tragic deaths and resulting widespread media attention dedicated to victims of bullying and depression, that paediatric mental health concerns have truly been brought forward for public discussion. The time is now ripe to examine these conditions, which affect a high proportion of Canada’s children. Globally, the WHO has estimated that mental health conditions account for approximately one-third of the global burden of disease in the paediatric community (

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