Many teens have mental health problems that get noticed by someone near them while many times it goes unnoticed. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens (Klass), making it where teens are more likely to die from a suicide than in a traffic accident, allowing kids to be screened reduces the risk of possible future suicides that could occur. In the United States, seventeen percent of teens had seriously thought and considered suicide with more than fourteen percent had planned (SOS: Signs of Suicide). Screening children for mental illnesses should be allowed in schools, it will decrease the amount of children with bad outcomes due to not having any care. Letting schools screen teenagers for mental illnesses helps prevent and tell the students and the families that are going to possibly be struggling through finding out that their friend or family member has a mental illness. Schools screening, children provide the perfect space for them to take the test due to already being there most days, it also helps benefits kids, because it could help improve their education and behavior if finding out they need help and possibly getting the mental health care they need.
Most often teens have psychiatric problems that are not recognized by anyone, children spend around nine hundred to one thousand hours in school per year (‘Time in School: How Does the U.S. Compare’) leaving teachers and staff to be with them usually. Allowing screening to happen at schools would allow staff to also be on the lookout for mentally ill students who need help but do not say anything and be more aware of what students may need a little more help. Numerous amounts teens have psychiatric problems that aren’t recognized by adults (Klass), screening for mental health illness will allow each adult to have a slight knowledge of what looking for mental illness looks like between depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders and many more due to them being told what the signs are looking for each. The people that could notice first a difference in a student are teachers and staff because they have extended contact with the children on a daily basis, they are in the best position to recognize early patterns of their behavior. Teachers deal with these kids constantly and they would start recognizing changes in their students and can watch them. Allowing schools screening is a perfect atmosphere for the students to take the questionnaire because they already use to it. Screening in schools provide a unique opportunity that treats and identifies mental health conditions by serving teens where they already are (Nami). By serving teens the questionnaire where they already are means that parents don’t have to take time out of there days to take them to the doctors.
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Screening children benefits them and helps them get the care they need and improves education and behavior. Allowing children to be screened at young ages helps improve their future because the can get the help they need from early age they can start showing signs as early as eleven years old (Eunjung Cha) and is when they should start being checked for any mental illnesses. Richard J. Chung, an assistant professor at Duke says, “Screening for mental health illnesses during adolescence enables healthcare providers to catch the problems early and to start treatment which results in great benefits for the children” (Noonan). Catching the problems early will help the children that end up diagnosed with a mental illness get the help they need early on in life than waiting until they are older and struggling more. It will help benefit their future. Access to care reduces barriers to learning and improves educational, behavioral and health. Getting the mental help, they need at a young age they will prosper more in education, behavior and health because they will know how to better deal with the problems they are having in different situations. People diagnosed with a mental illness has shown signs five to ten years prior to diagnosis (Bruemmer). Which when screening children in schools could be caught at a young age before their diagnosis starting to make their daily life tasks more difficult.
Many teen suicides can be prevented by screening because most of the time the signs may be clear. Many of the signs maybe clear, but many people get them mixed up with signs of just being a teenager so they don’t do anything about it. Nine out of ten youth die by suicide having mental health conditions, while four out of five gave off clear warning signs (Posner). Having screening will reduce the amount of youth that die by suicide and will give people a knowledge of being around each other to know to look out more for their friends. Many teen suicides can be prevented with a ten- to fifteen-minute questionnaire that will single out at risk teens (Borrell). Singling out at risk teens helps staff of schools get them the help they need or just to keep an eye out for them by letting them knowing that someone is there for them.
Although I believe that schools should screen children for mental illnesses, others believe schools should not be allowed to screen children for mental illnesses. Allen Frances, M.D. and professor at Duke says that “screening children could lead to overdiagnosis and if over diagnosed a teen may have trouble with it” (Noonan). If a teen gets overdiagnosed, they might not find out they were diagnosed until years later and they could possibly get worse. Teens diagnosed could also act out and do worse in schools and their social life once they are told.
Schools may uncover illnesses that families do not have the finance to treat (Kennedy). Letting the schools screen kids could end up uncovering mental illnesses that the child’s family might not be able to afford to give their kid the proper care they need.
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