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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

A recent report in September 2017 in the Guardian newspaper discussed the
increasing rates of stress and anxiety amongst teenage girls that are causing
concerns. Read the case study below to learn more.

Case Study: Mental health crisis

Girls and young women are experiencing a ‘gathering crisis’ in
their mental health linked to conflict with friends, fears about
their body image and pressures created by social media,
experts have warned.

Rates of stress, anxiety and depression are rising sharply
among teenage girls in what mental health specialists say is a
‘deeply worrying’ trend that is far less pronounced among boys
of the same age. They warn that the NHS lacks the resources to
adequately tackle the problem.

New NHS data obtained by the Guardian reveals that the number
of times a girl aged 17 or under has been admitted to hospital in
England because of self-harm has jumped from 10,500 to more
than 17,500 a year over the past decade – a rise of 68%. The
jump among boys was much lower: 26%.

Cases of self-poisoning among girls – ingesting pills, alcohol or
other chemical substances – rose 50%, from 9,700 to 14,600
between 2005-06 and 2015-16. Similarly, the number of girls
treated in hospital after cutting themselves quadrupled, from
600 to 2,400 over the same period, NHS Digital figures show.

Rising levels of ‘body dissatisfaction’ – insecurity and low
self-esteem about their appearance – have been identified
as driving the unprecedented levels of mental turmoil in
young women.

‘There is a growing crisis in children and young people’s mental
health, and in particular a gathering crisis in mental distress and
depression among girls and young women,’ said Dr Bernadka
Dubicka, the chair of the child and adolescent faculty at the
Royal College of Psychiatrists. ‘Emotional problems in young
girls have been significantly, and very worryingly, on the rise
over the past few years.’
Increasing numbers of academic studies are finding that mental
health problems have been soaring among girls over the past 10
– and in particular five – years, coinciding with the period in
which young people’s use of social media has exploded.
Source: www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/23/stress-
anxiety-fuel-mental-health-crisis-girls-young-women

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