By Wendy Anders

The most recent data for adolescent mental health in Costa Rica paint a troublesome picture.

An April 2014 study of 3,372 students from 32 public and private high schools in the greater San José metropolitan area shows that one in ten reported having been a victim of violence, and 13 percent had had suicidal thoughts.

The study was conducted by the National Children’s Hospital Adolescent Health Clinic.

Alberto Morales, the clinic’s director, likened Costa Rica’s teen health situation to a pressure cooker whose top is about to blow, according to his interview last week with Teletica, Costa Rica’s Channel 7 TV.

Thirty percent of the teens who have sought services at the clinic, housed inside the National Children’s Hospital, this year have had suicidal thoughts, said Morales to Teletica.

He blames a combination of factors, including reduction of health services for teens. Where as in the 1980s there were 100 such clinics especially geared to this population, today there are just 10, said Morales.

Associated mental health risks identified in the 2014 study included exposure to porn (almost 1/2 of respondents had been) and alcohol abuse (over 1/5 of respondents had gotten drunk before); as well as lifestyle factors such as skipping breakfast, which almost 1/3 of respondents said they do, or the only 1/5 of students who said they do some form of regular exercise.

Morales is concerned that factors that aid and protect teen health are being weakened at the same time pressures, stresses, and increasingly complex problems facing this population are increasing.

He is alarmed that one in 10 teens who have been to his clinic this year said they had planned a suicide attempt, and said the health system is neglecting to provide urgently needed services to teens to overcome and manage depression and other mental health problems, reported Teletica.