IWK Health Centre: The Facts on Adolescent Mental Health

Home < Care Services < Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health < The Facts on Adolescent Mental Health

The Facts on Adolescent Mental Health

40 per cent of adolescents suffer from psychiatric disorders or psychological distress. In Canada, 1 in 5 children in need of mental health treatments receive it.
Less than 4% of medical research funding goes to mental illness research.
Once depression is recognized, help can make a difference for 80% of people who are affected, allowing them to get back to their regular activities.
If not recognized and treated in the early stages, mental illness can progress, becoming deeply entrenched and more difficult to treat by the time the person reaches adulthood.
The signs of mental disorder in youth, which include apathy, behaviour problems, and the deterioration of school performance and social relationships, often go unrecognized.
1 in 7 people under the age of 19 are likely to have a mental health issue that affects their ability to participate in common adolescent activities.
About 4,000 Canadians commit suicide each year and it is the most common cause of death for people aged 15–24. Mental illness is a factor in most suicides in Canada.
80 per cent of all psychiatric disorders emerge in adolescence. Psychiatric disorders are the single most common medical illness that onset in the adolescent age group.