The “staggering” increase in anxiety among children (NHS referrals for anxiety in children more than double pre-Covid levels, 27 August) deserves a more sophisticated response than installing counselors in every school, even if it is useful in some cases, and I say this as a mental health professional – a consultant clinical psychologist.
Well-meaning awareness campaigns that encourage us to translate every feeling into a “mental health issue” convey the message that children have an individual deficit, while obscuring the reasons for their distress. And yet, research consistently shows that their feelings are understandable in context.
Your article mentions pressures from target-driven education, online bullying, poverty and uncertainty about the future. None of this will be solved by funding extra mental health workers, helplines and support centres. Indeed, this is likely to perpetuate the cycle, as these are not fundamentally medical problems – they are social problems.
This is particularly disappointing to see Labor fail to make these obvious links. Do we need to get to the point where every child is on a clinic waiting list before we take appropriate action on the root causes?
Dr. Lucy Johnstone
Bristol
As a clinical psychologist, and like anyone who has contact with young people, I have seen anxiety rates rise. But it is important not to pathologize young people anymore, only to focus on increasing crisis treatment.
It’s essentially paying people like me to be an even more expensive Band-Aid. I would argue that much of what is happening is not a mental health crisis, but an empowerment crisis. No matter what age they are, people can handle incredibly stressful things if they know they have the resources and the social support to deal with them.
Young people feel disempowered; they are aware of the stresses and dangers in the world, but do not feel listened to or given the tools to deal with those stresses. Most don’t need me anymore; they need a much earlier focus on community, fun, support, connection and engagement.
Dr. Helen Care
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
That British children and teenagers suffer significantly greater anxiety and unhappiness is deeply concerning. Several plausible reasons have been suggested, but I believe a potential one has been overlooked. There is a fashionable trend in ultra-gentle parenting, where children are offered high levels of comfort for feelings caused by each setback. I admit that my large number of grandchildren is still a small sample, but the happiest and least anxious of them are by far the ones who have learned that not all of their negative feelings will be soothed and resolved by others. The support of loving parents is of course invaluable, but learning resilience is also important.
Name and address provided
In 1991 I started working in a large comprehensive school in London and immediately felt the impact of the Thatcher/Major years on our pupils. Children lived in poverty and deprivation, with very little support from social services, and this affected their mental health. We made almost the same number of calls to A&E for mental health reasons as for playground injuries. Within the first few years of the Labor government from 1997, things improved rapidly, with more support for schools and families. Unfortunately, history is now repeating itself for Keir Starmer.
Linda Karlsen
Whitstable, Kent
