Positive thinking

Naomi Warne, Cardiff University and Ruth Sellers, University of Sussex In England, rates of childhood mental health disorders have increased in the past 20 years. The proportion of five to 15-year-olds with a mental health disorder rose from 9.7% in 1999 to 11.2% in 2017 , with emotional disorders (such as depression and anxiety) becoming more common in particular. Now, on average, three children in a class of 30 will have a mental health disorder. Awareness of mental health problems has increased too, and a number of policy changes and novel treatments have been introduced to specifically target children’s mental health. But our research suggests t hat children with mental health problems have worse relationships with their peers, worse grades at school and worse mental health in adolescence compared to children who had mental health problems 40 years ago. Our study takes a novel approach, by looking at changes in the impact of child mental health problems over time. We ...

  Angel Urbina-Garcia, University of Hull Diagnoses of mental disorders and drug prescriptions among school-age children have skyrocketed over the last two decades. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 20% of children experience mental disorders – such as depression, anxiety, ADHD and autism – at any given time. This is a significant problem in the UK, where one in eight children between the ages of five and 19 has been diagnosed with an emotional or behavioural disorder . Even children as young as five are getting ill: according to the latest reports, 6% of five year olds suffer from a mental disorder. The challenges are greater still for children from low income families, who are four times more likely to develop mental health problems than their better off peers. While home life, friends, social media and body image all have an impact on the mental health of children, a recent report from The Children’s Society found that more young people feel un...

Rob Creasy, York St John University and Fiona Corby, Teesside University Children growing up in the UK are said to be some of the unhappiest in the industrialised world . The UK now has the highest rates of self harm in Europe . And the NSPCC’s ChildLine Annual Review lists it as one of the top reasons why children contact the charity. Children’s mental health has becomes one of British society’s most pressing issues. A recent report from the Prince’s Trust highlights how increasing numbers of children and young people are unhappy with their lives, sometimes with tragic consequences. This is a generation of young people that has been labelled as “ snowflakes ” – unable to handle stress and more prone to taking offence. They are also said to have less psychological resilience than previous generations. And are thought to be too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own. Social media likely plays a part in all this. Studies show nearly thr...

Olivia Remes, University of Cambridge   The term “smiling depression” – appearing happy to others while internally suffering depressive symptoms – has become increasingly popular. Articles on the topic have crept up in the popular literature, and the number of Google searches for the condition has increased dramatically this year . Some may question, however, whether this is actually a real, pathological condition. While smiling depression is not a technical term that psychologists use, it is certainly possible to be depressed and manage to successfully mask the symptoms. The closest technical term for this condition is “ atypical depression ”. In fact, a significant proportion of people who experience a low mood and a loss of pleasure in activities manage to hide their condition in this way. And these people might be particularly vulnerable to suicide. It can be very hard to spot people suffering from smiling depression. They may seem like they don’t have a reas...

Rhi Willmot, Bangor University   Exercise has been found to reduce stress , increase positive mood , decrease anxiety and alleviate depression . But you may not know that the emotional well-being associated with exercise is also linked to key attributes that can help us while we work. One of the most established of well-being frameworks ( PERMA ) states that of the many ways to experience happiness, five areas are most important: positive emotions, mental engagement, strong relationships, meaning in life and accomplishing goals. At face value, achieving all five may seem a colossal task. But many activities from tennis to triathlons, squash to swimming, can help us clinch all five at once. Evidence suggests that, as a result, we are more likely to avoid job burnout , sleep more easily and be more engaged at work. 1. Positive emotions The “runner’s high” is at the peak of positive emotion. While this euphoric feeling is most typically linked to pounding the pav...

Sara Haslam, The Open University ; Edmund King, The Open University , and Siobhan Campbell, The Open University   Bibliotherapy – the idea that reading can have a beneficial effect on mental health – has undergone a resurgence . There is mounting clinical evidence that reading can, for example, help people overcome loneliness and social exclusion. One scheme in Coventry allows health professionals to prescribe books to their patients from a list drawn up by mental health experts. Even as public library services across Britain are cut back, the healing potential of books is increasingly recognised . The idea of the healing book has a long history. Key concepts were forged in the crucible of World War I, as nurses, doctors and volunteer librarians grappled with treating soldiers’ minds as well as bodies. The word “bibliotherapy” itself was coined in 1914, by American author and minister Samuel McChord Crothers . Helen Mary Gaskell (1853-1940), a pioneer of “literar...

Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, University of Exeter One in four young women aged 17-19 have a mental disorder, according to the latest figures from the NHS, and one in five have anxiety or depression, or both. For all children and young people aged five to 19, the new data shows that one in eight has a mental disorder. The figures come from a survey led by NHS Digital. The team, of which we were a part, surveyed more than 9,000 children and young people across England and their parents. Where parents agreed, teachers were asked to complete questionnaires about the child. Clinical “raters” used this information to decide whether children were classified as having a mental disorder, using internationally agreed criteria. This system means that the information is more complete, accurate and rounded than many mental health surveys. Working in the dark We have waited a long time for these figures. The last national survey took place in 2004 and was published in 2005 . Since then,...

Lowri Dowthwaite, University of Central Lancashire   Who’s happier, men or women? Research shows it’s a complicated question and that asking whether males or females are happier isn’t really that helpful, because essentially, happiness is different for women and men . Women’s happiness has been declining for the past 30 years, according to recent statistics . And research shows that women are twice as likely to experience depression compared with men. Gender differences in depression are well established and studies have found that biological, psychological and social factors contribute to the disparity . But research also shows that women are more likely to experience intense positive emotions – such as joy and happiness – compared to men. So it seems that women’s more intense positive emotions balance out their higher risk of depression . Research also shows women are more likely to try and get help and access treatment – allowing them to also recover sooner . Ear...

Kai Syng Tan, King's College London and Philip Asherson, Professor of Molecular Psychiatry, King's College London   We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, according to a recent review by the Lancet medical journal. Our “collective failure” to respond to this crisis results in “monumental loss of human capabilities and avoidable suffering”. The development of 20 antipsychotics and 30 antidepressants over the past four decades has not improved the morbidity or mortality of mental disorders. In England, mental illness costs £105.2 billion annually. People consider the stigma around mental health worse than the illness itself . Evidently, to bring about policy and cultural change, we need to think outside the pillbox. A recent governmental report in the UK puts forward a robust argument for how the arts can “stimulate imagination and reflection” and “change perspectives”. Art therapy, for example, can improve conditions like dementia. But this report...