Is kids deteriorating mental health catching? ?

[Allotment123]

In our local secondary school I have a child and she has really struggled with her mental health this year, they spend more time in the mental health room than the classroom. I know more than a dozen kids in the same position. Everyday I hear about someone new with an eating disorder or panic attacks. I'm considering schools for my other child, and wondering whether to not send them to the same school due to this mental health epidemic at school number 1. Or am I deluding myself and its the same at every school at the moment?

I see a lot of serious mental health issues with teens amongst my friends everywhere

DH is a secondary school teacher and says it’s got a lot worse because if the pandemic

The restrictions have had a massive impact, it seems, especially on kids who already suffered in some way

I’d say there is a serious mental health crisis amongst teens

Hope your child is ok. Can you involve her/him in the decision making about schools? Some schools deal with if a lot better than others

It's every school.

Year 9 was always seen as a bad year for problems starting when I worked in school health. There’s something about that age that triggers problems in some.
I’ve noticed a large number of secondary school children now becoming home schooled since covid. A lot more than before it.

And my son had a short lived, thankfully, experience with MH and panic attacks when smoking weed. So that’s something I’d also consider.

I think I know what you mean, eating disorders especially are particularly "contagious" among young girls - they always have been. One of many reasons we chose not to send dd to an all-girls' school.

I think there's definitely a social contagion aspect to this, I've noticed it too. But there is simultaneously an increase in serious issues, probably a combination of hitting a certain age and the effect of the last two years.

I suspect a bit of both.
I suspect that increased MH issues is happening because of the pandemic, but that how they can present is partly contagion.
When DD1 when to secondary I was worried about anorexia - that was the 'thing' when I was at school. Then actually the common thing was self harm, and right now it seems there is a fair bit of gender issue contagion.
Talking about MH issues is important, but I do worry in the background that more suggestible kids can be influenced by those discussions unless they are done with care.

DD 14, all girls secondary, has just been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder. Two lockdowns and being on the ADD/ASD spectrum also added to the whole issue for her.

I do think there is a lot going on with teens, the student support team in school immediately went into action, they knew exactly what to do, the assessment team told us they know whom to contact in her school and told us that there is a fairly long waiting list.

The girls do talk more about these things and I do think there is a danger of "influence" which we first feared but on the other hand it also means DD is not bottleing up and has peers to talk to.

Co-ed schools have it as well, I have friends with DDs in Co-ed and they report similar issues.

Thanks, sounds like putting child number 2 in another school won't massively help. It does particularly seem a 'girl' problem but it may be that boys just don't talk about it. The school are really supportive, but sometimes I wonder if the support encourages a reliance on it, don't know if rather they were supportive than unsupportive, didn't realise parenting teenagers would be so painful

There is undoubtedly a mental health crisis in teens. The pandemic hasn't helped, but it was there and growing before it hit. 'Contagion' is undoubtedly a factor but comes as much, if not more, from social media as from real life peers. But lots of other complex factors involved.

I'm sorry your DD is going through this. Your other DC may be just fine, but I guess at least you know that this school will be on top of it if they experience similar issues?

@TeenPlusCat

I suspect a bit of both. I suspect that increased MH issues is happening because of the pandemic, but that how they can present is partly contagion. When DD1 when to secondary I was worried about anorexia - that was the 'thing' when I was at school. Then actually the common thing was self harm, and right now it seems there is a fair bit of gender issue contagion. Talking about MH issues is important, but I do worry in the background that more suggestible kids can be influenced by those discussions unless they are done with care.

I agree with this. Sometimes it's just a 'thing'

My DD's mental health issues started in year 9, coinciding with lock down 1. Out of her group of 8 or so friends, 5 of them have variously panic attacks, eating disorders, depression to the point of self harming. I think to a degree they sort of play in to each other a bit on it-but they all have very real conditions and there are lots of other kids in school struggling.

My DS is in Year 9 at an all boys grammar school. There is far more of an acceptance of anxiety, depression, identity crisis etc amongst his peers than there ever was in my teenage years.

In my day, kids went “off the rails” for all sorts of reasons. Lots of drug and alcohol use, risky sexual behaviour, kids who never left the house. Kids who struggled to stay in school and barely turned up. Kids who stayed in bed all day with the curtains drawn. The difference now is that we have names for what is going on. Schools are far more aware. The behaviours are now viewed through the lens of mental health rather than poor behaviour. This is a good thing.

There is absolutely no doubt that modern life has delivered poorer mental health across the whole population. This has then been exacerbated by the pandemic, lockdowns, school closures and the huge disruption that many schools have faced over the past 2 years.

A friend of mine has told me some information about our local, very prestigious, expensive boys independent school. Before the pandemic, 60% of the boys aged 13+ had a diagnosed mental health/ wellbeing concern. That has risen to 80%. And there will be some boys flying under the radar so likely to be closer to 90%. Absolutely shocking.