“YOUNG failed on mental health” was the disturbing headline after the release of a report from the BMA’s Board of Science on the rising incidence of mental health problems in children and adolescents.

The problems covered by the report included depression, anxiety, self-harm and obsessive disorders. With 1.1 million children being affected, the BMA was at pains to point out that services are ill-equipped to cope and are failing the most vulnerable.

Many people would be surprised by the board’s estimate that one child in ten is affected by mental health difficulties and, in particular, that so many younger children experience them. Traditionally, it is in adolescence that mental health problems are first diagnosed. Some of these are lifelong and the report notes that of those with mental issues at 26, half had met the criteria for the disorder by 15.

However, somehow younger children have always been imagined not to have these problems, and even to be more resilient to trauma than teenagers.

In part then, the rising numbers recognise the reality; that younger children have these problems, too. Indeed, many adults with mental health issues can trace their difficulties back to their childhood and will say that their felt “different” or “apart” from as young as 7 or 8.

The frustration is that GPs often recognise it, but they may find that in their area, there is no professionally qualified person to whom they can send the child — and just as important — their family.

Talking therapies are usually the most appropriate treatment for children, but waiting times can be long.

And a wait of six months or more in a child’s life is the equivalent of years for an adult; a length of time that would be unacceptable for a grown-up.

But in addition to greater recognition, there is also a genuine increase in numbers. Cases of self-harm have risen dramatically to 11.2 per cent in girls. Should we be worried that today’s children are mentally more vulnerable? Evidence suggests that it’s not that they are more vulnerable, but that their lives may be blighted by more trauma.

For instance, fractured families are the norm not the exception today, leaving many children with little stability and no one to turn to when they need help.

The good news, as Sir Charles George, the chairman of the Board of Science, is keen to emphasise, is that mental health problems in childhood do not always lead to an adult disorder and the majority of children with anxiety or depression will not have a mood disorder later in life. But prompt recognition and care are important, which is why better services are so crucial for our children’s future.

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