Facing Mental Health Challenges Doesn't Make You Weak

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleague from Vermont for yielding and for convening this important conversation.

This discussion could not be more timely, Mr. Speaker. Rates of mental health conditions for America's children have been rising for years, and now they are rising exponentially.

In 2019, one in three high school students reported persistent feelings of hopelessness and depression, representing a 40-percent increase over 10 years. Social media has had a profoundly negative impact on mental health, with adolescents who spend more than 3 hours per day on social media facing twice the risk of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The youth mental health epidemic in America has also caught the attention of our top public health authorities. Over the last several years, the Surgeon General has issued advisories about youth mental health and the harm caused by social media. Included in the advisories is guidance on how young people, their families, educators, health professionals, tech companies, and other stakeholders can address these challenges by encouraging healthy relationships, modeling good behavior, improving data privacy for children on social media, and more.

The CDC has also been involved, including through research about the COVID pandemic's negative impact on youth mental health, the isolation. The agency found that during the pandemic, youth experienced a very low rate of social connectiveness, understandably. A sense of being cared for, supported, and belonging at school, and that lack of feeling connected to school, was associated with a nearly 20 percentage point increase in persistent feelings of hopelessness and depression amongst American young people.

These statistics, obviously, are deeply troubling and a warning sign to us here in Congress and to America. We have a responsibility to the future of this country in Congress to support children and families who are struggling.

I am proud to have led legislation like the Early Childhood Mental Health Support Act, which would provide Head Start and Early Head Start programs with funding to conduct behavioral health interventions for young American children. I am proud to say that this bill passed the House last Congress with bipartisan support in my broader Mental Health Matters Act.

We have to keep pressing on until this bill and other legislation to protect the mental health of young Americans get across the finish line, signed, and implemented. We know that failure to address mental health disorders and adverse childhood experiences early on can lead to a lifetime of bigger issues and serious outcomes for the individual and for our country and communities.

As we continue our work in Congress to address children's mental health, we must ensure that our efforts meet the critical needs of this moment.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank the gentlewoman for convening this and for leading the effort to raise the consciousness of this epidemic in America.

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