If They Ever Invent A Time Machine...

...they should go back in time and run this survey again, during the Blitz.

Accusations that the young are a snowflake generation are wrong, the head of an independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism has told the BBC. Prof Peter Fonagy said in an exclusive interview that there had been a real rise in mental distress among children and young people, with anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders the most common.

Because it’s been accepted and tolerated for too long, too many people have heard sob stories about how hard the millennials have it, and haven’t challenged that! 

He said it was "harder to be young" now given the economic and employment uncertainty young people face, coupled with the challenges presented by social media.

His review was ordered nine months ago by Wes Streeting after the then-health secretary claimed in an interview that young people were over-diagnosed and "written off".

And so all those who owe their very positions to the ‘need’ for cosseting professions to suckle at the taxpayer teat immediately scrambled to try to disprove it.

It is likely to feed into government policies on everything from NHS services and benefits to support for young people who are not in education, employment or training. Fonagy said he chose to speak to the BBC ahead of the publication, which is expected later this week, because he was concerned the debate around ADHD and autism would "obscure" the wider issue of mental health.

He said it will conclude that the rise in mental health problems since the 1990s was real, with about one in four 16 to 24-year-olds now struggling.

'Struggling' with what exactly, compared to other generations? How is this 'data' gathered? It sounds dodgy to me...

The data on this is contested as some sources rely on self-reporting, while sceptics argue greater awareness and reduced stigma around mental health mean more people are coming forward.

Aha!  

Last year, the BBC found that many GPs had concerns about over-diagnosis and felt normal life stresses were being over-medicalised.

They are, and they are often the one's doing it! 

"Adults have let them down. We're the first generation that probably collectively feels we had a better life than our children will have. 

"So, to the person who says it's a snowflake generation, just try living 24 hours as a 16-year-old."

If I could take the tech that we have now back with me I'd happily go back in time to my teenage years. Never has the phrase 'You've never had it so good' be more appropriate. 

Maybe We Should Find Out Who Has Been Teaching Them They Are In The First Place?

 

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Children will be taught that 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental-health conditions in an attempt to curb Britain's spiralling worklessness crisis.

Surely we should find out where this message is coming from, first? 

Teachers have been told they must avoid encouraging pupils to self-diagnose 'normal feelings' as more serious problems such as anxiety and depression.

The radical change in policy will be issued in new guidance to schools amid escalating concern over the number of young people being signed off sick.

Sounds like it'd be a good idea to start with the GPs then to me... 

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told The Telegraph: 'For too many children today, their understanding of how to manage their mood and regulate their emotions is coming from social media, rather than their parents, teachers or trained professionals.

Ah, no, of course it's got to be blamed on the new Big Bad (and the thing the Labour Party are desperate to control). How fortuitous, eh? 

The changes come in new instructions on how to teach RHSE, which were issued last week. Some of the instructions surrounding mental health had been contained in a previous draft of the guidance, which was drawn up by the last Tory government.

More modern Tory nonsense coming to light? Quelle surprise, eh? 

Ms Phillipson's changes to the schools guidance are the latest evidence of concern within Downing Street over the growing scale of mental-health claims. This is despite Labour attacking the Tories when it was still in opposition for suggesting that too many people were being signed off with milder conditions.

Yes, well, that was then, this is now, when they are finding out that being in power is nothing like being in opposition. 

When Campaigns Are Too Successful...

This year’s big week, run by the Mental Health Foundation, starts on Monday. Its theme is anxiety, a disorder affecting a quarter of adults, according to the foundation – a statistic that sounds unbelievably large until you read its description of the condition, which seems almost broad enough to take in the full sweep of human experience.

“Lots of things can lead to feelings of anxiety, including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) or other big life events. We can also get anxious when it comes to things to do with money and not being able to meet our basic needs, like heating our home or buying food.”

We used to call this 'life' once, didn't we? And got on with it? In fact, wasn't it once a peculiarly British trait? 

Britain is certainly more aware than it used to be. Diagnoses have broadened – more of us see grief and stress as mental illnesses than we did a decade ago. Therapy-speak infuses the language: triggering, boundaries, projection, self-care – stiff-upper-lipped Brits have expanded their vocabularies.

No more, it would seem... 

The theme of last year’s mental health awareness week was loneliness. Previous years have covered nature and mental health, kindness and body image. These awareness campaigns seem to work by stretching the concept of mental illness into the realm of common experience – linking anxious feelings to anxiety, or relating depression to the stresses of everyday life.

Which isn't good for anyone. Except those peddling snake oil 'cures' and remedies. They must be making out like bandits...