The proportion of children and young people who suffer from mental illness and who both seek and receive care in child and youth psychiatry (bup) continues to increase.
One of the children waiting for help is 12-year-old Loki, who lives in a village outside Östersund.
– When it was at its worst, I just wanted to die, he says.
Loki’s problems with mental illness started already in year 2 with difficulties to concentrate in lessons and he also often felt left out and misunderstood by those around him.
– There was a lot of trouble at school, many people teased me, says Loke Lindberg.
Two years ago, when Loke was in grade 4, he was falling behind more and more in his schoolwork and the staff at the school urged Loke’s parents to contact bup.
Still haven’t received an investigation
Now another two years have passed and Loki is in the sixth grade. He still hasn’t been allowed to come to BUP to do a full-scale ADHD investigation.
– Despite everything, I think the contact we had with bup was good. But it is very frustrating that Loki didn’t get a real investigation. It’s hard to see when your child is unwell, says Loke’s mother Susanna Lindberg.
Jämtland stands out among the regions in the country, and statistics from Sweden’s municipalities and regions show that just over one in ten children visited bup at some point last year. The national average is 6.2 percent – a figure that has increased over the years.
– Our employees have more visits per employee than the national average, but it is still not quite enough. As I see it, you have to work much more with the preventive work, says Mikael Lec-Alsén, bup manager in Jämtland.
For example?
– That we must ensure that children and young people have a good schooling with sufficient resources at school. You also need to take care of your sleep, you need physical activity as well as the use of social media.
Today, Loki is in the sixth grade and is doing a little better, thanks in large part to an online CBT treatment where he has been given tools to deal with his anxiety and stress, but he is still waiting to get to the bup and do a full-scale ADHD investigation.
– I don’t think it’s that good, because there are some children who need urgent help, quickly. Children who have the same kind of problems as I had, who want to die and not live anymore, says Loke Lindberg.