澳大利亞兒童、青少年精神醫學的研究及臨床實務介紹

Research and Practice in Youth Mental Health: An Australian Perspective

目前世界 10-25 歲年齡層的人口中，大約 45% 的人，有心理健康的問題；每 4 位兒童及 青少年人就有一位，每年就有可以被診斷出的精神疾病。雖然我們認為患有精神疾病的兒童 及青少年病人，是正常青春期的常態，但這是不對的看法。心理健康的問題不能忽視，因為 這些問題，會帶來許多嚴重的短期及長期負面影響。有很多研究結果顯示，兒童及青少年人 精神疾病相關的壓力及職能障礙，會伴隨到他（她）們的後半生。因此針對患有精神疾病或 物質濫用兒童及青少年人來說，如何促進心理健康、減少疾病風險、減輕疾病帶來的影響， 最後慢慢的變成整體健康和社會上及經濟上的急迫課題。在這綜說中，作者介紹澳大利亞 的一種創新性、改善的治療模式（叫做 headspace center）。這種治療模式使兒童及青少年病 人，有效的尋求有效的治療，而且早期接受全盤性的治療。希望類似的治療模式，在現在或 將來，可以改善兒童及青少年病人的心理健康、身心舒適及生產力。

Currently, mental health problems account for approximately 45% of the bur-den of disease among the 10-25 year age group world-wide, with one in every four young people experiencing a diagnosable mental disorder each year. Although we all too often accept mental ill-health in young people as a normal part of adoles-cence, this should not be the case. Mental health problems are not a trivial threat; they have numerous negative consequences in both the short and long term. Fur-thermore, there is good evidence to suggest that the distress and disability associ-ated with mental ill-health in young people can extend well into the future. Pro-moting mental wellbeing, and reducing the risk and impact of mental and substance use disorders for young people are therefore an urgent global health, social and economic challenges, which has finally begun to be taken up. Here, we discuss innovative service reforms that aim to improve young people’s access to evidence-based mental health care, with a focus on early and pre-emptive intervention. Ser-vice reforms like these have the potential to greatly improve the mental health, wellbeing, and productivity of young people, and thus our wider society, now, and in the future.