Teen mental health in the 80s and 90s

[GladysGeorgina]

I work as a pastoral and safeguarding lead in a high school. I was at high school myself in the mid eighties and very early 90s.
I work with so many students who are struggling with their mental health. I also have personal experience with my teenage dc. The AMA thread last night from a school housemistress talked about the wave of mh issues within her school, particularly self harm.
I look back to my time in high school and I just wasn’t aware of peers experiencing mh issues. It just wasn’t something we talked about or knew anything about. I remember one girl who used to have what I now know to be probably panic attacks and she was collected from school when this happened.
I’m not naive enough to think teens at this time didn’t experience mh problems but what happened to these children? Were there really fewer issues like I remember? School refusal also wasn’t something I remember happening.
I guess what I’m asking is am I remembering correctly? Did anyone work in a high school at this time and can remember what teen mh was generally like? Did anyone experience mh issues during this period and what was it like for you?
I feel like I face such alot of significant need at school and it troubles me. Was the need just “hidden” in the 80s and 90s or have things really got so much worse for our young people? I’m not a journalist or reporter by the way. Genuinely trying to make some kind of sense of what I see every working day.

There was still a lot of 'pull yourself together' 'stop being a crybaby' responses back then. Bullying was just seen as part of growing up, so you kept your head down and just rode it out. You also understood the difference between actual, sustained bullying over a period of years, and just someone being a knob.

I kept a diary, which I suspect helped. I also drew and shouted along to angry music. I didn't talk about mental health with friends. We mainly talked about leaving our shitty little town.

I don't remember school refusers or kids refusing to go to lessons.

Now the teacher head.
Didn't see any panic attacks in school until about 2010. Paramedic friend of mine said they stated seeing increased calls to teen girls having panic attacks from roughly then too.

Didn't see kids in school but refusing to go to lessons until about 4or5 years ago, when it was rare.

Kids are largely pack animals. Once one does/starts something, it tends to be contagious.

I suffered horrendously with depression and suicidal thoughts as a teenager at secondary school in the 90’s. I didn’t have the language to talk about it though as I had never heard the word suicide. My parents were both working constantly to try to keep us housed so I didn’t see them very often, and I knew the only way to improve my circumstances was to keep forcing myself to go to school.
I’ve struggled with my mental health through out my adult life and wondered if I had been able to access early intervention it might have helped.
I was aware of a class mate who had anorexia, and another classmate who refused to go to school, and when he eventually returned was a shell of himself, now I would hope he would be diagnosed with autism and receive support.
Anyone showing weakness at my school though was eviserated, it was very much pull yourself together and survival of the fittest.

I went through secondary school in the early 90s and self harmed through high school and University. I don’t remember a lot of students having mental health issues, those with special needs. I do think social media and the internet has changed things not necessarily for the better.

To quote Bowie “I don't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable. I think we're actually on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying.”

I remember in the 90s lots of competitive starving, bulimia, and of course the "pro-ana" movement online. Thinspiration, heroin chic, nothing tastes as good as thin feels etc. Bobble headed celebrities with fake tits were the beauty standard (tits on a stick).

Self harm was quite common, as was depression and anxiety among girls. Boys didn't really talk about this stuff as much but plenty had scars too.

At university in mid to late 80s it was clear there were issues with a number of fellow students and one pastoral tutor was quite open, insightful and genuinely pastoral about it. Anorexia, self harm, were the more obvious issues, but other issues including some minor violence and disturbances were almost certainly mental health issues looking back. At school I suspect there probably were but I don’t know who and I don’t know how they were coping. I think people were just struggling in their own way, apart from the fellow pupil who tried to burn the school down. I know I had a lot of anxiety, which looking back I don’t think was “normal” but neither I nor my parents really knew how to deal with it. It’s not that there was a lack of sympathy as such.

I started self harming aged 11 or 12 in the late 90s/early 00s, I didn't know it was a 'thing' and I certainly was never open about it. I was also a severely anxious child but was just described as 'timid' by teachers although my mum took me to the gp a couple of times.

That's horrible.

Unfortunately some of my classmates saw nasty stuff e.g. their dogs poisoned, a major rail incident, road accident with bodies. They were allowed to leave lessons to have some quiet time. They were also allowed to cry, wail and talk about it.

My school had good pastoral care. I actually a friends' relative explain why my school gates were guarded by teachers with a male teacher on each gate. Her own school's didn't and when she complained she was told to shut up because it was the girls lifestyle choice.

I was in the 6th form 1980-82 (state school).
One girl had anorexia.
Some people got bullied and I don't know how they dealt with it, sadly.

There was no social media thank heavens. I myself wouldn't have coped with that very well and I'm sure it would have given me a lot of angst.

There was however amazing music, as in, different tribes etc and I think people sectioned off with each other according g to musical taste etc. I was into The Jam and all the rest of it, so had a bit of an affinity with the kids who thought they were new Mods etc, and there were other music tribes too. Some were into a sort of 1950s rock n roll revival.

Basically the musical width and breadth and richness of those days went a long way to giving a sense of belonging to teens. Today it seems a lot more fractured.
PS RIP Terry Hall

I was in mixed state secondary in early 90s and there were several anorexics a few self harmers including a friend who overs doses and trip to A&E - a girl who kept fainting possibly stress related as she was being stalked and that did go to court.

There was exam pressure - but I think university education was in an expansive phase - I've had posters on some threads instead I couldn't have got into the red brick I did with the grades I got - same courses now want much higher grades.

I suspect social media plays a role but I think it wider than that .

There was something on radio 4 discussing some recent research and one researcher was suggesting it was more subtle - teens with already poor mental health used social media differently to other teens.

I was a miserable teen for a variety of reasons - I don't think DH was always happy either - we were very motivated to get to University and find better.

Now I think media is very negative about the future - we all doomed is very much the message.

I did a lot of sport in the 90s and there was a lot of anorexia- often encouraged by parents who wanted them to succeed in the sport.

Stories of sexual abuse from coaches are just coming out now (watch Nowhere to run on IPlayer, it really highlights this and the ongoing MH struggles it caused).

I had depression from about age 15, had to take myself to the dr to try and get help. I am now a uni lecturer and what I wonder about is the pathology of all feelings (it seems to me) - sadness automatically being labeled depression, students 'suffering from stress' when they are disorganised. I'm worried we are missing the students who really need help, because everyone is going to well-being for help for things that seem to me to be normal life issues, rather than real MH issues. God that makes me sound so harsh. But I do think about it.

@GloomyDarkness
Now I think media is very negative about the future - we all doomed is very much the message.

yes I understand that very much, the future does seem bleak and that's awful for young people. However I do feel that t'was ever thus - we had a very real fear (well it seemed real) of nuclear attack, the Cold War, there was political unrest Thatcher miners strikes all that stuff.

I was seeing a psychiatrist as a child in the early 90s. I’m sure there was plenty of undiagnosed ADHD and autism going around especially amongst the girls - can think of lots of candidates in retrospect (including myself). As a teen I do remember plenty of eating disorders and self harm amongst friends in the early 2000s. Early social media - Open Diary etc. - and general media - skinny celebrity culture - was definitely exerting an influence by that point. I think things have gotten way worse though and I find it really hard not to point the finger at the way the internet has unfolded.

In school same time frame as you- one girl in our year had anorexia and would self harm. Another looking back on it probably had OCD. Other than that none evident. There were classmates going through some pretty awful things in their life but talking to friends / teachers/ other parents about it.
Another girls brother was under mental health services and later got a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
But much much less than now. I think there are very different pressures, a lot more focus on looks and material goods. Teens now all seem to look like models - we all had our share of acne puppy fat and dental braces! You can’t escape from bullying now - it’s relentless and you can be bullied and threatened by people you’ve never met thanks to SM.
And real life bullying seems to have become more horrific- the amount of young girls I’ve heard of recently who have been seriously sexually assaulted by peers in school. No wonder school refusal is climbing.
I also think that nowadays normal emotions in response to difficult situations have become medicalised so that there is now not only an expectation to look amazing all the time but to feel amazing all the time also and it can become easy for a young person to hide behind a diagnosis as an avoidance tactic .

My mental health was at its poorest in my teens (late 80's, early 90's). I had trichotillomania, and I was a total school refuser from the age of 14. I saw a child psychologist, so even back then there were resources (so I wasn't on my own!)

Mine was definitely linked to problems within the home, I do often wonder if a child in the same situation would be better off nowadays, as so much more is known and spoken about.

Thankfully, in adulthood, my MH has been generally very good. I'm 47 now.

I remember eating disorders and self harm, alarming (in hindsight) relationships with much older men, kids who bunked off and nobody did anything, they didn't let their parents know they were school refusing, but they still did! People at my school getting drunk/high in parks from about 14. 13 in some cases. Loads of people smoked. Teenage pregnancy used to be much more common than it is now. I think these are all symptoms of deeper issues for teens, they don't just rebel for no reason at all.

I couldn't tell you what was going on with most of my school year TBH but among my own friendship group there were 4 of us and I would say in hindsight all of us were struggling with MH - I probably didn't show it much at the time but I had undiagnosed ADHD causing depression, anxiety, social isolation. My best friend W was probably autistic but outwardly, depression, restricted eating, social isolation again. Another friend C was struggling with turbulent home, weight issues, abusive ex-stepfather, very young mother who clashed with her a lot. She would talk to adult men online and met up with a few of them (!) The other in our group was L, she was self harming although nobody knew this until later. Struggling again with family stuff. Alcoholic father.

I had another friendship group through a hobby club. Group of 4 of us again. 2 struggling with weight. One with intrusive thoughts and anxiety (in hindsight - at the time just thought this was normal teenage stress), one had a really chaotic family life, another's parents divorced and she struggled with that.

I think as a child you just don't see it the same, as an adult especially in a position of responsibility you know about things. I wouldn't have known about persistent truanters or school refusal because I wouldn't have seen those pupils at school.

I’m sure there was plenty of undiagnosed ADHD and autism going around especially amongst the girls - can think of lots of candidates in retrospect (including myself).

I wonder this too. Especially since my son was diagnosed with autism

there were definitely mental health issues - we can see it today in the alcohol issues of todays 50 year olds ( particularly men), toxic family discussions on here etc

there just wasn’t support for it - other than agony aunts in teen mags!

I agree. My 15 year old isn't allowed it. It's not good for growing brains imo.

We were self medicating with alcohol weed and ecstasy down the park

Most teens do stuff like this, it isn’t ‘medicating’ or symptomatic of MH issues unless there’s a lot more going on.

TW

I was suicidal and self-harming. Had PTSD diagnosed as depression (think there was no child diagnoses of PTSD then though).

Another girl in my class was self-harming - her entire arms and legs. I only found out because she showed me a few days after we finished high school. Always kept arms and legs covered so nobody saw.

Another girl, a close friend, had severe anorexia. It still breaks my heart today to think of her literally as skin and bones. She also self harmed to the point of needing a skin graft.

None of us knew the others were self harming when we did it. We didn't discuss it at all and kept it totally hidden. - we didn't really have words for it either at the time, looking back. I therefore can't say we were the only ones in our class of 22 kids.

I'm glad there's more attention around it in a way - not sure if it encourages some people to "try" (a friend's DD recently self-harmed because her friends were doing it and talking about it so she wanted to give it a try to see what it was like).

But it really irritates me when there's a sort of whitewashing over the past. Those of us who were victims of abuse and couldn't tell anybody (or did and were blamed/not believed) didn't just sing and dance our way through childhood and teen years. Just because one person didn't have anybody admit it to her at the time, doesn't mean only the youth today know what suffering is!

However I do feel that t'was ever thus - we had a very real fear (well it seemed real) of nuclear attack, the Cold War, there was political unrest Thatcher miners strikes all that stuff.

True - but I think there was hope you could still improve your own lot life. However with climate change I think it lead to people feeling powerless and if you do improve your social economic status you are then part of the problem.

My family had the message that education was way to better personal future - (the world's always on brink of something).

DH and I both have very working class backgrounds (both raised in heavy manufacturing ages so hit badly in 80s and early 90s) but education was valued as a ladder to better things - but that there more than one way to get there.

We have done okay but even with us both well educated there are large parts of UK we can't afford to live in - and our kids face huge debts to get to same level - but there are even fewer alternatives to well paid jobs than when we were young.

There does seem to have been a shift in working areas we've lived away from valuing education - and sort of view even working hard won't improve your lot in life.

One thing I think is interesting is this.
I struggled with eating disorders as a teen in the nineties. At first I liked the idea of losing weight and looking heroin chic, then I started to read about other people in ‘just seventeen’ with the same issue, but I didn’t know anybody personally with the issue. So I’d actively seek out books in the library about anorexia/bulimia.
There were barely any but the ones they had were good (from a tutorial perspective rather than self help, I wanted to learn to emulate). I sought out books about anorexia and looked for tips. There were some that were , and are still are downright dangerous. All of these books at the time were American and all were very graphic with descriptions of appetite suppressants and techniques. They were intended as cautionary memoirs but I lapped them up . Nowadays you don’t have to go to such lengths. You can learn this stuff in seconds with just a click. It’s very disturbing.

Yep.