Billions are spent on child mental health services without knowing if they work in the long term

SeventyFour/Shutterstock.com Modern medicine increasingly judges itself by long-term outcomes. In cancer care, we routinely compare treatments according to whether patients survive longer. In cardiology, we ask whether interventions prevent future heart attacks and extend life. This long-term data allows healthcare to continually improve. Child and adolescent mental health services are different. Long-term outcomes have received little attention. Success, instead, is largely judged using…