Dr. Emily Borman-Shoap Talks About Training Doctors to Spot Mental Health Problems

In Minnesota, more than a million people are under the age of 18, who have a 1 in 5 chance of developing depression and a 1 in 6 chance of developing severe anxiety, but there are only 140 child psychiatrists practicing in the state.

Emily Borman-Shoap, MD, Vice Chair for Education, Assistant Professor and Director of the Residency Program in the Department of Pediatrics, talks to MPR about improving access to pediatric mental and behavioral healthcare by training pediatricians to recognize and diagnose common issues. She is joined by Dr. Deirdre Croke, a second-year resident in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who emphasizes the need for practical education regarding therapeutic strategies. 

"We learn in the books about different disorders and medications and therapies," she said. "But practically speaking, I really only saw the pediatric component of behavioral health on a child psychiatry rotation in a juvenile detention facility."