South Korea's Youth Mental Health Treatment Rises 76.6% as Schools and Hospitals Face Growing Pressure

More Than 350,000 Young Patients Seek Psychiatric Care

South Korea recorded more than 350,000 young people receiving psychiatric care in 2024, up from 198,384 in 2020, according to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The increase of 76.6 percent over four years has placed growing pressure on families, schools and hospitals as they respond to children's emotional and developmental needs.

The figures for patients described as under 18 passed 300,000 for the first time in 2023. By January 3, 2026, the central challenge was how to meet that growing demand while addressing academic stress, family difficulties and digital habits that can contribute to distress.

The rise has two connected explanations. More children are experiencing mental health difficulties, while families are also becoming more willing to seek psychiatric help. For decades, treatment carried a stigma associated with damage to family reputation or social standing. Lower barriers to care mean that problems once left untreated are more likely to reach a doctor's office.

The World Health Organization has noted a global increase of at least 25 percent in the incidence of anxiety and depressive disorders following the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea's experience sits within that wider pattern, with the lingering effects of the pandemic and the influence of digital technology adding to concerns about young people's wellbeing.

The treatment figures show a sustained rise rather than a change confined to a single year:

• 2020: 198,384 young patients received psychiatric care.
• 2023: The number exceeded 300,000 for the first time.
• 2024: More than 350,000 received care, a rise of 76.6 percent from 2020.

For health services, the practical task is to expand care while helping children earlier, before their symptoms become severe.

Diagnoses Change as Children Grow Older

ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was the most common condition among children aged 12 and under, with 98,318 cases recorded in 2024. Developmental delays were the second most common diagnosis in that age group.

ADHD involves difficulties with attention, activity levels and impulse control. Developmental delays concern progress in acquiring skills as a child grows. Both can bring a family into contact with mental health services during the early school years, when difficulties may become more visible.

Depression led the diagnoses among teenagers aged 13 to 18, with 60,895 cases in 2024. ADHD followed with 54,311 cases. Depression therefore accounted for 6,584 more cases than ADHD within that older group, showing how the pattern of care changes as children enter adolescence.

The age and sex breakdown also showed different concentrations of patients. Among males, the largest group receiving psychiatric treatment was aged seven to 12, with more than 105,000 patients. Among females, the largest group was aged 13 to 18, with nearly 95,000 patients.

Different developmental timelines and the social pressures faced by boys and girls have been cited as explanations for these patterns. Depression among teenage girls has attracted particular attention from researchers and clinicians.

The figures call for services that can respond to different needs at different ages. A younger child being assessed for attention or developmental difficulties may need a different kind of support from a teenager experiencing depression, even when both enter the same mental health system.

Academic Stress Is Reaching Younger Children

Joung Yoo-sook, a professor of psychiatry at Samsung Medical Center, has described children encountering academic and social stress earlier than in the past. Problems that previously tended to arise in middle school are now appearing at younger ages.

South Korea's competitive education system places heavy weight on academic achievement and university entrance examinations. Many students attend private cram schools, known as hagwons, after their regular school day, sometimes continuing lessons late into the evening.

Students can be left with little time for rest or leisure as they try to keep up with schoolwork and additional lessons. The pressure to succeed can contribute to exhaustion and anxiety, particularly when falling behind feels like a threat to future opportunities.

Parents also invest substantial money and emotional energy in education. Expectations can therefore extend across the family, making academic performance a source of tension at home as well as at school. Young people may experience fear, hopelessness or severe distress when they feel unable to meet those expectations.

Joung's observation connects the competitive school environment with the falling age at which some children need help. If academic and social stress begins earlier, support also needs to reach children earlier, rather than waiting until the pressures of adolescence become more visible.

Smartphones Bring Risks and Routes to Help

Korean adolescents spend an average of 98 minutes a day watching YouTube and 49 minutes viewing Instagram, according to mobile analytics firm IGAWorks. Together, those averages amount to 147 minutes, or two hours and 27 minutes, across the two services.

Social media exposes young people to constant information, comparisons with peers and, in some cases, cyberbullying. Parents and health professionals have expressed concern about how prolonged screen use affects developing minds, especially when online comparisons add to existing stress.

Peer reviewed research described longer smartphone use as increasing depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among girls, with the same pattern less evident among boys. Suicidal ideation means thinking about suicide. The findings point to differences in how digital activity may affect adolescent girls and boys.

The research also found that social and active smartphone use, including communication with friends and family, could predict lower depressive symptoms. Time spent using a phone and the activity taking place on it therefore both matter when considering a young person's wellbeing.

Hong Soon-beom, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Seoul National University College of Medicine, described how attitudes toward professional care have changed:

"Korean society shows less prejudice and fear toward seeing a psychiatrist than in the past, which has lowered the threshold for seeking treatment," said Hong Soon-beom, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Seoul National University College of Medicine.

Hong also noted that parents increasingly seek help after encountering content about child psychiatry on television and YouTube. Information about symptoms and treatment can help families recognize difficulties they might previously have overlooked.

Digital media consequently has two roles in this story. Online experiences can add to anxiety through comparison and harmful interactions, while educational content can make professional support more familiar and easier to seek. Responses tailored to different groups need to account for both experiences.

A Child's Depression Can Look Like Irritability

A nine-year-old boy in Seoul began receiving treatment for depression after his parents divorced. His mother described an unstable home environment that affected his emotional development, alongside irritability and increased smartphone use.

The child's experience shows how family circumstances and digital habits can combine in the life of a young patient. Mental health difficulties are not confined to teenagers facing examinations or social pressures. They can also emerge in younger children struggling with changes at home.

Childhood depression can appear as irritability or hypersensitivity rather than the sadness adults may expect. A child who seems unusually angry, easily upset or resistant may be experiencing emotional distress that is mistaken for ordinary defiance.

Recognizing those differences is part of the challenge for families and schools. When symptoms are interpreted only as bad behavior, the emotional problem behind them can remain unnoticed. The Seoul case places a child's home life alongside the wider concerns about school pressure and screen use.

Suicide and Distress That Goes Unnoticed

Suicide has been the leading cause of death among people aged nine to 24 in South Korea since 2011. In 2021, the suicide rate among teenagers increased by 10.1 percent, the largest increase among all age groups.

Studies indicate that nearly half of adolescent suicides in South Korea fall into a category described as the "silent type." In these cases, young people show no apparent problems or clear environmental risk factors before their deaths. The reported proportion is much higher than in other countries.

Some young people may not recognize their own condition, while others may be reluctant to ask for help because of stigma. Distress can therefore remain hidden from the adults and friends around them, even as wider acceptance brings more children into treatment.

A single suicide affects approximately 60 people in the person's social circle, extending grief and trauma across families, friendships and communities. Research also shows that family members of people who die by suicide face a much higher risk of mental illness and suicide themselves.

Support is consequently needed both before a crisis and after a death. The figures underline the need to identify young people at risk and to provide help for relatives and others affected by the loss.

Hospitals Lack Beds for Children in Crisis

Hong Hyun-ju, a professor of psychiatry at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, has warned that there are too few hospital beds for children who have attempted suicide. Shortages of inpatient facilities and staff limit the system's ability to respond to acute crises.

Hong has also described more cases involving severe symptoms, including children aged 10 being hospitalized for depression. Such cases were rarely seen in the past, according to her account.

Hospital admission provides care for patients whose symptoms require close supervision and intensive treatment. When beds are scarce, increasing the number of outpatient appointments addresses only part of the demand facing services.

The growth in treatment and the shortage of facilities for high risk patients exist at the same time. More families are entering the system, while hospitals face difficulty accommodating some of the children with the most urgent needs.

ADHD Prescriptions and the Limits of Medication Alone

Prescriptions for ADHD drugs among patients aged 19 and under reached 3.35 million between 2022 and 2024. In 2024 alone, 1.37 million prescriptions were issued to minors, a rise of 21.9 percent from the previous year.

The medicines are sometimes nicknamed "study drugs" because of their perceived effect on concentration. Their growing use has prompted debate about whether they are being sought to treat ADHD or to gain an academic advantage.

The Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management has applied a medication history check system to ADHD drugs to monitor use. The system allows medication histories to be checked, while the volume of prescriptions continues to attract concern about possible misuse.

Critics, including some medical professionals, also question a heavy reliance on a biomedical model of care, which focuses on illness and its medical treatment. They argue that medication can receive more attention than the psychological and social circumstances contributing to a child's distress.

Doctors are often treated as unquestionable authorities in Korean culture. Patients and families may therefore accept a prescription without asking about its necessity or discussing other forms of care. Consultations that often last less than 10 minutes can leave limited time to explore the child's wider circumstances.

Critics warn that this combination can lead to long term reliance on pharmaceuticals while underlying problems remain unresolved. Calls for a broader approach include psychotherapy, community support and lifestyle changes alongside medical care, rather than medication alone.

Social Media Restrictions and Lessons in Mental Health

Kim Jong-cheol, chair of the Korea Media Communications Commission, has said that tighter restrictions on children's social media use would be a priority. South Korea is considering measures in an area where Australia has recently banned social media for children under 16. No date was given for a South Korean restriction.

Regulation forms one part of the proposed response. Education, early intervention and community support are also needed to address the pressures children experience beyond their phones.

The Ministry of Education's School Mental Health Resources and Research Center has developed programs for teachers to use in middle and high school curricula. The programs focus on mental health literacy, meaning the knowledge needed to understand mental health, recognize symptoms and seek appropriate help.

Students are taught how to maintain positive mental health and ask for assistance without shame. Research shows that positive mental health status in adolescence is proportional to the level of mental health literacy, supporting calls to make those lessons part of regular schooling.

Teachers and counselors can also serve as gatekeepers: adults trained to identify students at risk and refer them to specialist services. Expanding that role would connect daily school contact with professional care when a student needs it.

Existing school mental health programs have shown positive effects in reducing suicide risk, but underfunding limits their reach. Training, referral services and follow through all require resources if schools are to provide dependable support.

Mental health spending accounts for less than 3 percent of South Korea's healthcare expenditure, compared with the World Health Organization recommendation cited at 15 to 50 percent. Calls for increased investment focus on building support that can meet growing demand, including hospital capacity, school programs and community services.

South Korea's rising treatment numbers bring together increased distress and greater willingness to seek help. The immediate needs extend from younger children under academic or family pressure to teenagers experiencing depression and patients requiring urgent hospital care. A coordinated response involves families, schools, healthcare providers and government, with support available before difficulties become a crisis.

The Bottom Line

• Youth psychiatric treatment rose 76.6 percent between 2020 and 2024, from 198,384 patients to more than 350,000.
• ADHD led diagnoses among children aged 12 and under; depression led among teenagers aged 13 to 18.
• Academic pressure is affecting younger children, while smartphone research identifies particular concerns for adolescent girls.
• Reduced stigma and mental health content on television and YouTube are encouraging more parents to seek help.
• Suicide has been the leading cause of death among people aged nine to 24 since 2011, and many adolescent cases show no apparent warning signs.
• Hospitals face shortages of beds and staff for children with severe symptoms or who have attempted suicide.
• ADHD prescriptions reached 3.35 million among patients aged 19 and under between 2022 and 2024.
• Proposed responses include social media restrictions, mental health lessons, trained teachers and counselors, and greater investment in care.