How many children have mental disorders?

How many children experience mental disorders? Over the years, many studies have tried to answer this question. Such studies are always difficult and expensive. The best estimates in the field have been that somewhere about 10 to 15 percent of children experience substantial emotional interference in their development. If we include children who are having some clear emotional struggle but for whom the situation is not as serious, the best estimates have been that the percentage of affected children may rise to about 20 percent.

A recent and important study jointly conducted by the NIMH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sheds important light on this issue. This study, reported in December 2009, was unusual in that information was collected from children as well as parents. Many thousands of children ages 8 to 15 were studied. Children were assessed for the presence of one or more of six conditions: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder.

What were the results? In the past year, 13 percent of children appeared to have experienced one of these conditions. Less than half had received any form of medical or psychological attention for these problems!

All numbers always need interpretation. We interpret these results to indicate that the conventional wisdom about the incidence of significant emotional conditions in childhood has been on target and, if anything, has underestimated the incidence. For one thing, there are many more emotional conditions than just the six that were tracked in this particular study, and so this 13 percent figure does not include the children affected with these other emotional conditions. For example, among the children that we help at the Lucy Daniels Center are many with PTSD symptoms. Children with this problem would not have been counted in this particular study, unless they also had one of the other conditions.

Another reason we think there could be more than 13 percent of children burdened with emotional conditions is that emotional symptoms wax and wane. For example, some children with anxiety or depression have enough symptoms to reach the diagnostic threshold in a given year but not another. In other words, even within the six categories that were tracked, some children who are still struggling with a very significant problem would not have been counted.

Bottom line – the evidence continues to mount about the extent that our children experience limiting emotional conditions. Unaddressed, these problems will usually continue in some form in adulthood.

This study was published online ahead of print on Dec. 14, 2009, in the journal Pediatrics. We have addressed related aspects of this topic, and you might be interested in our guidelines about when to seek professional help.