• Question: On a scale of 1-10 how bad do you think the mental health of teenagers is at the moment.

    Asked by anon-216541 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 10 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      5 – I am not convinced that everyone who claims that they have mental health issues do really have one. Sometimes, people openly just mention they have anxiety or depression or other mental health issues because it’s trendy.

    • Photo: Robert Dempsey

      Robert Dempsey answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I’m not sure – I think there’s a lot of media discussion about teenagers’ mental health at the moment and I’m not sure whether teenagers’ mental health has really gotten much worse compared to other generations (I’d like to see convincing data on this). I think we do live in some uncertain and anxiety-provoking times which doesn’t help, so there’s lots to worry about, and as a society we’re not focusing helping people be resilient. I think there’s a lot of pressure to succeed in all we do without realising that it is our failures that help us learn and become resilient (I’ve learnt way more about myself when things haven’t gone so well compared to when things went well). I think things are probably about the same (5/6 out of 10), the difference being that we’re more openly discussing these issues today.

    • Photo: Jasmin Moon

      Jasmin Moon answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I’m not sure this can be answered on a scale of one to 10. There is definitely more media attention about the mental health of teenagers than there used to be, but this doesn’t always reflect reality. I think what’s important is that people of all ages are taught how to look after their mental health and encouraged to talk when they are struggling.

    • Photo: Oliver Clabburn

      Oliver Clabburn answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I think the other scientists have raised some really good points here… It’s certainly not something that I think i can scale on 1-10! There is definitely better awareness about mental health nowadays, and less of a stigma to talk about it (which is awesome!) So I’m not really sure that MH in teenagers is worse than it has been in the past, but instead, that it’s more openly talked about, discussed and shared.

    • Photo: Nicola Johnstone

      Nicola Johnstone answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      It’s less about bad and more about realising that taking care of mental health when growing up is essential. Only recently have we learned that the brain continues to mature well into early adulthood and the consequences of stress on a developing brain – it can be very disruptive. There is an excellent scientist called Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore at UCL who has written some nice books and given a ted talk on this topic: https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain?language=en

    • Photo: Caroline Brett

      Caroline Brett answered on 15 Jun 2019:

      This is a great question but I have to ask: is 1 bad or is 10 bad? This really nicely illustrates why in research we always need to specify what we mean when asking people about their mental health – every question, particularly on such an issue, can be open to interpretation!
      But to answer the question in terms of how bad the mental health of teenagers is at the moment – certainly there seem to be greater numbers of young people (teenagers and beyond) reporting mental health difficulties. However, whether that is because there are more people experiencing difficulties or whether people are more open, honest, and willing to talk about mental health difficulties (which is a good thing!) is unclear.
      There are a lot of pressures on young people, particularly teenagers, these days, and it’s great that people are more willing to talk about mental health, and that things like this zone exist! The main thing is to make sure that everyone is aware of mental health difficulties and the importance of looking after ourselves and supporting each other.

Comments