MENTAL HEALTH Survey proposed for teens

Erie, Pa., has implemented the screening districtwide.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Honor students, homecoming queens and other seemingly well-adjusted teens could be silently suffering from depression or other mental illnesses unbeknownst to their parents and teachers, mental-health professionals say.
But a 10-minute computer-assisted survey could identify students who need further evaluation for depression, anxiety, substance abuse and other problems, researchers at Columbia University said.
Based on the success of the university's TeenScreen Program at sites around the country, including in Erie, Pa., program organizers hope to expand into more high schools and recreational programs.
Questions on survey
The program is meant to identify teenagers who need a more detailed assessment. The survey asks a variety of questions about mental well-being, including how feelings of anxiety impair daily activities. Students also answers questions about suicide attempts, alcohol and drug use.
The TeenScreen survey, which started as a research project in the early 1990s, is now being used at 168 sites in 36 states, said Robert Caruano, deputy director of the Carmel Hill Center at Columbia University, which administers the program.
Mental-health professionals in Pittsburgh and Langhorne, Bucks County, have used the survey; the program will be used in Potter County in the fall, Caruano said.
Last spring, the City of Erie School District was the first in the nation to implement the program districtwide, surveying 1,100 ninth-graders in four schools.
Reasons for selection
University officials said they selected the Erie school district because behavioral health clinicians were already in the schools through Pennsylvania's Student Assistance Program.
Program organizers chose to survey ninth-graders because they experience a lot of stress as they enter high school, Caruano said. It's also important to reach out to students early before their risk of suicide spikes in their late teens, he said.
The program's expansion in Pennsylvania comes at a time when state Sen. Jane Orie, R-Allegheny, is calling for mental-health screening for every high school student before graduation.
Screening can help parents and educators identify teenagers who are suffering from depression and other mental illnesses, just as screenings can diagnose students with vision and hearing problems, Orie said in an opinion piece she wrote in May.
Ensuring follow-up
Although Dr. David A. Brent supports the idea of screening more teenagers, he's concerned the patients won't get the follow-up help they need.
"It's a good idea, but like every good idea, we'll have to see how well it works," said Brent, the director of Services for Teens at Risk Center through UPMC's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. "You might have the ability to identify kids who are in trouble, but make sure you have something to offer after you've identified a problem."
But Caruano said follow-up calls and assistance finding mental-health providers are part of the program. In 2003, 55 percent of the teenagers identified as needing further help contacted a mental-health professional.
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