THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT

One in four adults in any given year will be diagnosed with a mental health issue. For adolescents, this rises to a shocking 40%. The current generation of young people are experiencing something of a surge in mental health issues and there is very little being done about it. There is limited support and education in schools and many parents simply don’t know what the signs of mental illness are. Teenagers often find their problems are rejected, being told they are attention seeking or that their distress is just part of growing up. There is also the issue of continuing stigma surrounding mental health; many people who have mental health problems are afraid to speak about it in fear of judgement, pity or exclusion.

The rise in mental health problems could be a result of a multitude of things. One common suggestion is that the increase of use in social media has made young people more anxious as there is no break away from social pressures; our peers, and the social issues associated with them, are still there when we go home. The internet is also assigned a proportion of the blame for eating disorders. There are also lots of websites, known colloquially as “thinspiration” sites, that encourage young people to lose weight, contributing to the rise in eating disorders. There is also more pressure on young people now to perform well in school and go into higher education whilst working and trying to balance family and social lives. Schools have become more demanding and many young people now come from households where both parents work, often negatively impacting relationships between parents and children. Some people may be predisposed to mental illness due to a family history or traumatic experiences. Despite the lack of answers, the important thing to note is that, when there is an issue, early intervention is the most important form of help and stops problems from consuming an individual’s whole life. Suicide is a leading cause of death amongst young people in the UK, showing that something must change to prevent this from becoming normalised. Whilst the obvious answer would be for young people to seek professional help, it is often clear that this help is too often unavailable.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) have been the victim of recent budget cuts, with many areas cutting their budgets by up to 41% since 2010. These cuts sacrifice the ability of the CAMHS facilities to help the most vulnerable young people. The cuts go against common sense; mental health issues are on the rise amongst young people but the services available are being reduced. Despite an extra £1.6 billion being promised to CAMHS services, it doesn’t appear that this money is finding its way to the departments. Often, the money is being spent on other areas of weakness in hospitals; a clear prioritisation of other issues over young people’s mental health. Currently, one in ten children aged 5 to 16 have diagnosed mental health problems. One-fifth of those diagnosed are struggling with two or more mental health problems. Left unchecked, children with comorbid disorders are more likely to perform badly in school and develop further problems. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in those aged 15 to 24, but only 14% of those under 20 who had committed suicide had been in contact with specialist mental health services showing that a lack of mental health resources accessed during childhood and adolescence can impact people in the long-term. Over one-quarter of young people have had suicidal thoughts, with this number rising in vulnerable groups such as the LGBT+ community and Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups. Furthermore, 10% of juvenile criminals have anxiety, with another 44% having ADHD. Without the appropriate help, they turn to crime and are more likely to become involved in gang activity and abuse drugs. Young people with mental health problems are also more likely to engage in dangerous behaviour such as unsafe sex and alcohol abuse, endangering themselves, and sometimes others. Ignoring these issues can only detriment society in the long-term but we can only better these figures by making sure that resources are available to the people who need it. Even within schools, there is little knowledge of students’ mental health or how to deal with it in the classroom, making every area of life for the mentally ill more difficult. If students remain afraid to speak out then teachers cannot be expected to try and improve the classroom experience for them.

One method to improve the mental health of children would teaching it as part of the national curriculum. Currently, there are no provisions for mental health to be taught in school, leaving children in the dark when it comes to spotting the warning signs of potential problems. As mentioned before, early intervention is essential and talking about mental health will make sure that young people are fully aware of any changes to their own. This is particularly important in high schools as most young people with diagnoses are teenagers, meaning that there are hundreds of secondary school-age people struggling with mental health on top of other issues of the age. Putting mental health education into the curriculum would help to reduce the stigma surrounding it and make teenagers more likely to seek help instead of struggling alone or with the help of a couple of friends. As it stands, teachers are not equipped to deal with these issues but they are in the best position to offer help. They are most likely to notice a change in the behaviour and attainment of young people; this could include a reduction in attendance and engagement in class or an increase of challenging behaviours. If other resources were available to teachers and students, such as a mental health counsellor in every school, it would make young people feel less alone with their issues, likely bettering their relationships with their peers and their attitude to schoolwork.

Increasing awareness and resources for mental health is to improve the health of society as a whole. Crime rates would fall and attainment in schools would rise and overall satisfaction with life amongst young people would rise. The consequences of inaction will be higher rates of crime, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders amongst young people. The current system is failing the young people that need it the most. We must lose the societal stigma surrounding mental health and work with teachers, parents and, most importantly, young people to help them balance the pressures of an increasingly social world with school and work, as well as normal teenage development.