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...