Drugs used to treat teenagers who have been diagnosed with internet addiction and depression are placed on a table at Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Center in Beijing February 22, 2014.
IN PHOTO: Drugs used to treat teenagers who have been diagnosed with internet addiction and depression are placed on a table at Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Center in Beijing February 22, 2014. As growing numbers of young people in China immerse themselves in the cyber world, spending hours playing games online, worried parents are increasingly turning to boot camps to crush addiction. Military-style boot camps, designed to wean young people off their addiction to the internet, number as many as 250 in China alone. Picture taken February 22, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

A groundbreaking survey conducted in Australia has revealed some shocking facts about the mental health of the Aussie teenagers. The national survey results states that thousands of children in Australia suffer from some serious mental health issues. However, their parents have no clue about it.

The Guardian reports that nearly one in every four teenage girls in Australia have engaged in self-harm, while 10 percent of the overall teenage population in the country confessed to have done so in the past. The survey figures further show that 1 in 13 children aged between 12 and 17 has considered suicide, while 1 in 40 has actually attempted it once.

The experts believe that anxiety and depression are two of the leading causes that are deteriorating the mental health of the youth in the country. The biggest study conducted so far into the mental health of the children and teenagers in Australia has raised an alarm for the parents and the doctors to look into the signs of depression and anxiety among the children, so that appropriate services could be provided on time.

"There is a group of teenagers who are telling us they are going through a period of significant distress, and their parents aren't aware of the full extent of it in all cases," said chief investigator of the project, David Lawrence.

During the study, the research team from the Telethon Kids Institute at the University of Western Australia interviewed more than 6,300 families. In addition, the kids in the household were given a secret opportunity to fill up a survey form separately.

Only 4.7 percent of the information provided by the parents indicated that their child had depression. On the other hand, 7.7 percent of the information provided by the survey filled by the children showed that they had depression. Anxiety-related disorders were found to be common among all age groups, while depression-related disorders were more common among older teenagers.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the chief executive of the Mental Health Australia, Frank Quinlan, says that similar regular research are required in the country to highlight the mental health problems among children. He further believes that Australia needs to employ more counsellors in schools, in addition to framing of a new mental health plan.

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