More Czech children and teens are turning to psychiatric care

The number of children and young adults hospitalized for psychiatric care in Czechia has more than doubled over the past decade, highlighting growing demand for mental health services among younger generations.

Nearly 67,000 people under the age of 20 received outpatient psychiatric treatment in 2024, while more than 5,000 required acute hospitalization, according to an analysis by the Europe in Data portal.

The number seeking outpatient psychiatric care increased by more than 60 percent between 2010 and 2024, while hospitalizations more than doubled over roughly the past decade.

The Czech trend comes alongside a broader rise in reported mental health problems among European adolescents. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 14 percent of adolescents in Europe experienced a mental health condition in 2023, compared with around 10 percent in 2000.

Mental health advocates say part of the problem is that children can struggle to access specialist help before their condition becomes more serious.

"The system often doesn't respond until the problems have escalated into a crisis," Barbora Pšeničková of Czech mental health organization Nevypusť duši said, pointing to long waits for specialist care and responsibilities divided among schools, health care and social services.

She said teachers and other adults who regularly interact with children need to be better equipped to recognize warning signs, start supportive conversations and know where young people can be referred for further help.

Separate surveys illustrate the extent of reported difficulties. Among approximately 4,700 high school students questioned as part of the Let's Listen to Children When They Talk to Us project, 65 percent rated their overall well-being as low.

Girls appear particularly affected. Data from the 2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study found that 43 percent of 15-year-old Czech girls reported feeling down more than once a week, compared with 19 percent of boys.

About 31 percent of girls said they felt lonely most of the time, compared with 15 percent of boys.

Problematic social media use was also identified among 9 percent of 15-year-old girls and 4 percent of boys. Pšeničková said girls' heavier use of social media for relationship-based communication and self-presentation could expose them more frequently to social comparison, appearance pressures, peer judgment and sexualized harassment.

The data does not establish social media as the cause of the broader increase in psychiatric treatment. Depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are among the most significant health problems affecting adolescents, according to the WHO, while experts emphasize that young people's mental health is shaped by multiple factors.