An expert has spoken out on behalf of teenagers who are suffering with mental health issues this week, highlighting how little funding is put into mental care for the young.
Professor Tanya Byron, a psychologist, spoke at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, saying that half of adults with a mental illness began to show signs in their teenage years, but as such a small portion (only 6%) of funding was allocated to youth mental ill health, a lot of people are lost or unseen by the system.
Furthermore, she specified that those who grow up in a family of high achievers with aspirational parents or siblings may suffer more because they have not developed an “emotional resilience” to failure.
She also criticised the mental healthcare system in this country, calling it “third world.” Byron said that children who are more protected and made to focus on certain goals may become anxious and even develop anxiety disorders as a result of failing or the threat of failure.
“When they transition through adolescence, that’s when you see them falling apart.”
She also pointed towards the educational system and says that through that, she has seen what can only be described as “executive burnout”.
With a protective bubble and pressure to achieve put on them, children growing up may find themselves in dire need of medical help to cope, and at the moment there is nowhere near enough funding to be able to aid them all.
