<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/kids-mental-health-crisis-system-needs-more-early-diagnosis-treatment">nation’s kids</a> were already struggling before the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/stop-pretending-covid-isnt-still-a-serious-illness">COVID-19</a> pandemic.</p>
<p>There were school shootings in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/us/2019-us-school-shootings-trnd">46 out of the 52 weeks of 2019</a>. According to the <a href="https://www.express-scripts.com/corporate/americas-state-of-mind-report">America’s State of Mind Report</a>, the number of kids between the ages of 13-19 taking antidepressants between 2015-2019 rose a staggering 38 percent. And with <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/yes-we-have-to-point-fingers-over-covid-learning-loss">millions of children consigned to remote learning</a> during the pandemic—unable to see their friends, or have graduations, proms, or extracurricular activities for almost two years—<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/federal-task-force-recommends-screening-for-anxiety-in-children">these numbers have skyrocketed</a>, as have attempted suicides among this same age group.</p>
<p>U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy was even compelled to issue an advisory on the “<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/12/07/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-on-youth-mental-health-crisis-further-exposed-by-covid-19-pandemic.html">youth mental health crisis</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/queer-kids-are-getting-blasted-with-too-much-doom-and-gloom?source=articles&via=rss">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
