(Los Angeles Times) – Children, teens and young adults in Southern California had been grappling with rising rates of depression and anxiety for years before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 came along and made their mental health struggles even worse.

Among 1.7 million young patients who were part of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system, the prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression was 60% higher in 2021 than it had been five years earlier, according to a new study. The prevalence of anxiety among young patients who did not have depression also rose by 35% during that period, researchers found. (Read More)