The ARCH Lab recently published a paper titled “Mental Health Care Costs Among Youth with Comorbid Mental Disorders”. The study described the distribution of mental health service costs in youth with mental disorder and determined if costs differed for youth with comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorder compared to those with comorbid internalizing disorders.

Data come from youth (8-17 years; n=75) receiving mental health services at a children’s hospital in Canada. Exploratory findings show youth with comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders had higher total, hospital, and professional costs compared to youth with comorbid internalizing disorders only. These preliminary findings suggest that comorbidity type is associated with the costs of past-year mental health services used by youth.

Research is needed to understand the reasons for elevated costs and whether the increased services used by youth with comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders are effective.