The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced a plan for a new network to support young people who need psychological help. Commendable as it is, that announcement may prove to be a case of too little too late. Young people needing help with problems have increased over the past decade to near crisis levels. Thus far, problems ranging from bullying to truancy, abuse, depression, suicide, anorexia and one of the most recent diagnoses, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), have found few effective responses. Why are the ministries always the last ones to know?
The plan has good intentions, though, and even small steps will certainly benefit many kids in need. The plan will establish a nationwide system of hub hospitals with specialist clinics and wards, and will help coordinate schools, public health centers and the police. These hubs will be distributed through every prefecture in Japan and coordinated by the National Center for Child Medical Health and Development. All of this is well and good.
Even with these positive steps forward, many missteps are possible. Setting up yet another central bureaucracy to manage the overall mental health situation of young people may create its own new set of problems. Mental health treatment is notoriously difficult to fit into rigid guidelines of treatment schedules and health plans. It is imperative that treatment programs be given flexibility to treat individuals as individuals and not be entirely controlled by a central authority.