GPs Under Pressure To Aid Suicidal Teenagers

Adolescents who have suicidal thoughts are more likely to seek help from a GP than any other source, a research has found.

Four in five teenagers who go to GPs with physical complaints are really looking for help with emotional problems, raising questions about how effectively doctors diagnose and treat mental health problems in the young.

The study is the latest finding in a suicide-prevention project funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, part of which will be presented at the National Suicide Prevention Conference in Brisbane this week.

Coralie Wilson, a researcher at the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, said one of the most significant problems in adolescent mental health was that young people often did not seek help.

Rather, they tended to retract further into themselves because they had little confidence that adults would understand their concerns and felt ashamed at experiencing emotional difficulties. The higher their levels of suicidal thoughts, the less likely they were to seek help.

Those who said they would seek help were most likely to see a GP. But, Ms Wilson said, “As they get older, the problem is a lot of kids don’t necessarily want to stay with their family GP.”

Often they do not know they can see a different doctor, she said, which might allay their fears about confidentiality. Fear of not being taken seriously or having their confidentiality breached was also a reason students were reluctant to see school counsellors.

Category:      Public Health
Source:         Adapted from: Sydney Morning Herald, June 19, 2003
Words:         250

参考答案：

普通医生面临帮助有自杀倾向的青少年的压力
 一项研究发现，有自杀念头的青少年更有可能寻求普通医生的帮助，而非任何其它渠道的帮助。
 找普通医生抱怨身体不舒服的青少年中，有五分之四实际上是寻求帮助解决心理问题的。该情况引起人们思考医生们诊治青少年心理健康问题的有效性到底有多大这样一些问题。
一个得到全国卫生与医疗研究理事会（the National Health and Medical Research Council）资助的有关预防自杀的研究项目取得了最新成果。部分成果将提交到本周在布里斯本（Brisbane）召开的全国预防自杀大会上（The National Suicide Prevention Conference）。
伊阿华拉心理卫生研究所（The Illawarra Institute for Mental Health）的研究人员科拉莉.威尔逊（Coralie Wilson）指出，青少年心理健康最重要的问题之一就是青年人通常不去寻求帮助。
相反，他们倾向于更加封闭自己。这是因为他们对成年人是否理解他们的忧虑几乎不抱什么信心，并且认为存在心理问题是羞耻的事情。自杀的念头越深，他们寻求帮助的可能性就越小。
那些说要寻求帮助的青少年最有可能去看普通医生。但是，威尔逊女士说，“随着年龄的增加，存在着许多孩子不一定想要继续看同一位家庭医生的问题。”
她说，通常他们不知道自己可以看不同的医生。看不同的医生也许可以消除他们对保密问题的恐惧。同样，学生们不愿意找辅导员的一个原因是，他们担心不能得到认真对待或者担心他们的秘密被泄露。