Is Colorado Different ?

I just read something very disheartening from the Colorado Sun. The disturbing article was by Jennifer Brown from the Health section of that journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver. It strives to cover all of Colorado. After initially reading the article, I asked myself, “Is Colorado any different from other states in terms of the problem that it having with adolescent mental health?” 

As many of us are aware, Colorado was one of the first states to legalize marijuana, and it is possible that marijuana availability is playing a role in this issue. However, if I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the legalization of marijuana is playing only a minor role here.

The title of the article is: “Children’s Hospital Colorado declares mental health state of emergency as suicide attempts rise,” and the stats from this piece are truly disturbing.

“Colorado children are attempting suicide and arriving in emergency rooms in psychiatric crisis at levels never seen in this state, while abuse of alcohol and drugs to cope with mental health struggles is also on the rise.

“The youth mental health crisis has escalated to the point this spring that hospital beds are full and more parents are sending kids out of state for treatment, according to a Children’s Hospital Colorado panel of experts who recently sent up a flare for help.

“In Aurora, the hospital’s 52-bed emergency department has been overrun with children in psychiatric crisis. Mental health emergency visits were up 90% last month compared with April 2019. The hospital’s transport team is seeing three or four kids each week who have just tried to kill themselves. 

“Children’s Chief Medical Officer Dr.  David Brumbaugh, who has practiced medicine for more than 20 years, said that in the last 15 months he has seen a demand in children’s mental health care like nothing he’s ever experienced. Brumbaugh began to cry as he spoke of a dad whose 9th-grade son recently tried to kill himself after not making the baseball team near the close of an isolating first year of high school. 

“Our kids have run out of resilience,” the doctor said. “Their tank is empty.” Then he apologized for crying: “I’m sorry, but this is what we are feeling as caregivers every day.”

“The isolation and stress of the pandemic have exacerbated mental health struggles, leading to higher rates of substance abuse in kids and teens and more diagnoses of eating disorders, said Dr. Jenna Glover, director of psychological training at Children’s. 

More than ever, she said, children are turning to alcohol and drugs to escape feelings or try to find a sense of control, rather than asking for help because they think they will cause more stress for their parents, she said.”

After reading this article through multiple times, my same question remains, “Is Colorado any different from other states in terms of the problem that it having with adolescent mental health?” 

I am sorry to say that my answer is … “No!”

And a recent CDC study agrees:

“Among the adolescent girls aged 12-17 years, the average weekly visits to the emergency department for suspected suicide attempts from February 2021 to March 2021 was 50.6% higher than the same period the year before, according to the CDC analysis. Boys were far less likely to show suicidal tendencies during the same time period; the number of emergency department visits for suicide attempts rose by 3.7% for males

A recent CDC study theorized that the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been toxic to the mental health of young people.

“Young persons might represent a group at high risk because they might have been particularly affected by mitigation measures, such as physical distancing (including a lack of connectedness to schools, teachers, and peers); barriers to mental health treatment; increases in substance use; and anxiety about family health and economic problems, which are all risk factors for suicide,” the CDC study said.

So for the sake of clarity tell me again who were the main driving forces in lockdowns and Zoom schooling? Other than the teacher’s unions it was the governors who thought that this approach was a good idea. This inane idea of preventing kids from going to school was somewhat pervasive throughout the country, but much more so in blue states. As I I’m sure you are aware, the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, is indeed a blue state Democrat.

6/23/21