How can we ensure the future care for children and adolescents with mental disorders?

Abstract

The interdisciplinary care of children and adolescents with mental disorders requires services from various German codes of social law and—within the medical care system—enclosing inpatient and outpatient services. The increasing demand, the increase in severity of disorders, and the general shortage of staff in social services put pressure on the structures of the interdisciplinary service networks resulting in long waiting periods, long distances, and regionally insufficient care. The medical field of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy (CAPP) plays the central and coordinating role within the cooperative care for children and adolescents with mental disorders. The CAPP is in clear need of reforms; however, these are markedly different from the reform needs of the German somatic medical care system and differ substantially from those of the (adult) psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychosomatics disciplines. This discussion paper describes the reform requirements, the specifics of the CAPP structures, and suggestions to overcome sectors of service provision, enhance networking, intensify telemedicine, and develop evidence-based prevention and early recognition of child mental disorders.