A survey for YoungMinds has warned that young people are growing up in an ‘unprecedented toxic climate’ of stress and pressure. The survey of 2,000 young people between the ages of 11 and 25 called the current situation a ‘ticking time bomb’. The wide-ranging report showed that fear of failure, bullying, depression and pressure to be thin were key issues among those questioned.
More than half of those surveyed believed that a lack of good grades would mean that they were a failure, while half said they had been bullied, and a third said that they did not know where to get help when they felt depressed or anxious. Over 50 per cent of those between 11 and 14 years old said that they had watched pornography, with 40 per cent saying that it had affected their relationships with others their age. Another 40 per cent of the same age group said they had skipped meals in order to stay thin. The report also suggested that, for 15-17 year-olds, loneliness is the biggest issue.
The Labour leader Ed Miliband said: ‘YoungMinds’ survey exposes some of the pressures children are under in Britain today, from bullying and sexualisation to worries about job prospects. Good mental health is essential for children to thrive and succeed. That’s why we must ensure all young people have access to the help and support they need, when they need it. Mental health is the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age, and young people’s mental health must be a top priority for Britain.’
We need to be dealing with young people who are at the beginning of their journey of struggling with mental health issues and catch them before the point where they are in crisis
A study from The Prince’s Trust earlier in the month showed equally worrying statistics. Nine per cent of those interviewed by the charity agreed with the statement ‘I have nothing to live for’; if that nine per cent was representative of wider society the figure would equate to over 750,000 young people. This percentage rises to 21 per cent among those young people classified as NEET (not in employment, education or training). Of those young people who have been long-term unemployed almost one-third had contemplated suicide while almost a quarter had self-harmed. Those who were long-term unemployed were more than twice as likely to have been prescribed anti-depressants than their peers and 72 per cent of them said they had no one to confide in.
Selfharm.co.uk’s Rachel Welch told Premier Christian Radio: ‘It needs to be easier for young people to access primary care services; it would be great for GP surgeries to be far more accessible. We also need a development of child and adolescent mental health services. We know these services are currently over-stretched and this sends out the message that you’re only going to get seen if you’re ill enough to be seen. As well as dealing with young people in crisis, we need to be dealing with young people who are at the beginning of their journey of struggling with mental health issues and catch them before the point where they are in crisis, but at the moment those services are struggling to deal with young people in crisis. [Youth workers] need to talk to young people and find out how they’re feeling, making sure they understand that it’s OK for them to be feeling how they’re feeling. The worst thing a young person who is struggling can heaOK
