Talking therapy won't solve the mental health crisis

[dreamydell]

There's a mental health cross among children and young people. What's the only solution that's ever suggested? Talking therapy.

This is ridiculously expensive to deliver en masse and there is no evidence that it even works.

Instead of endless calls for more therapy, can we start looking at some real solutions. And don't say banning smartphones/social media. If anyone seriously thought that was the cause of poor mental health then the first line of treatment would be remove a person's phone. This costs nothing so would be a cheap and effective intervention.

This is my instinct as well. That human connection is of primary importance. So many young people now report feeling drained by other people, or that other people are toxic, narcissistic or in other ways damaging to their well being.

I think it would be beneficial if smart phones were seen as something for over 18's only, like alcohol. DS has ASD and was never interested in using his phone beyond letting us know he'd missed the school bus. I think that was a huge positive in his life as he really avoided so many potential issues that phones introduce. So many kids seem to be completely addicted, can't be separated from their phones and have to be checking it every 3 seconds.

Having a job is very clearly linked to mental well being. I know people say that work is stressful, but actually it very damaging mentally to be out of work.

We probably have to get away from this idea that everything that is difficult or makes you feel uncomfortable is in some way bad for you.

For example, family life has never been easy. People have always felt entitled to cast judgement, interfere or place demands. But weakening family ties is not good for us.

Joking (not joking) Inside Out should be required viewing in the last year of primary and Inside Out 2 a mock exam project in early secondary.

But seriously. These are not my words but those of a colleague who works exclusively with mental health problems in children;

"I am of the mind that the school system in the UK is LONG overdue an overhaul. GCSE's are meaningless. Sorry but they are. What's more important is emotional regulation, creativity, exercise, participation, diet and nutrition ... these should form the foundation upon which the individual child can then choose a subject or to as an add-on. We can't keep forcing all children no matter what their background or neuro-diversity or language ability to take the same exams, sit in the same classrooms and deal with the same daily issues and environments. Otherwise we're going to face a massive wave of young people having no purpose or direction or ambition, feeling hopeless and sorry to say (what I'm seeing more and more of) feeling like they're better off not being here.
The situation is very serious. So I'm just putting it out there into the universe. I'd love to see a completely different education system in my lifetime."

Kids lack resilience because they get everything handed to them on a plate these days and are not allowed out, hardly allowed to take any risks etc

How do they go about insisting though? They are not the child's parents.

Oh and ref MH

There is no magic wand it’s something that requires a lot of self management if anything!

This is it. Agree with everything but had never thought of this which is particularly true life being so busy from hobbies to visiting friends and family to all the making memories

And OP I disagree. Banning phones and social media for kids would be the first huge step but it is not in the interests of rich/powerful to do so.

My friend and I often talk about all these new "activities" - things like en masse pumpkin picking, xmas markets, willy wonka day out etc etc. All instagrammable for the memories. So nobody focuses on the here and now and enjoys the moment in front of them.

I think there's a weird contrast where in some ways, kids are growing up too quickly (I'm thinking in terms of 10 year olds getting drunk elephant skincare and makeup instead of dolls), while at the same time, being wrapped in cotton wool (never being pushed out of their comfort zone, told no, or that sometimes in life we lose), so they are unprepared for dealing with the realities of life.

There are also a lot of parents who spoil their kids so much that they don't learn to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.

This, it's all the main character syndrome and how everyone else can only be the villain or the bit player in their life.
Someone else can't just have a different opinion, it's 'hateful, evil, actual harm'.

Children were having mental health problems long before the dawn of smartphones. They're bad for MH, but not as bad as poverty, lack of community, lack of opportunities, cost of living, over-emphasis on academic success and multi-generational MH issues. People lose themselves to their phones because they feel they have nothing else.

Also, therapy can be amazing. It changed my life.

This is lovely idea but there is no school system in the world that prioritises creativity and physical well being over academic success. The UK system is actually far more child centred than many others. Even France or Ireland have education systems which don't adapt for SN in mainstream, for example. The German system is also far more rigid and would be considered too dry and boring.

@Eyesopenwideawake I couldn't agree more with your friend. The secondary curriculum is just a shocker - inaccessible to many children, boring and repetitive for some, irrelevant to others. My DC's teachers have been largely fantastic but they are fighting an uphill battle. The school environment is also incredibly stressful for a lot of kids - noisy, unpredictable, aggressive, and with very little autonomy. I think most adults would struggle with their MH under those conditions.

How would that work? Parents generally don’t believe in consequences anymore and certainly wouldn’t follow through on removing the phone. CAMHS would never agree to that. Your argument that because they won’t remove phones it’s because they don’t believe they’re a source of a lot of the health issues is a nonsense!

But were they actually though - on this scale? In terms of anxiety/depression etc. Genuine question.

I don't think anyone disagrees that therpay can help but I got the impression OP is talking specifically about talking rather than taking action. There are obviously other forms of therpay - EDMR for example.

@dreamydell - have a look at this;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

I've hosted a couple of Workaway volunteers from Waldorf schools and they had lots of confidence and common sense (I know two is not representative of the entire system!).

There is a book called the anxious generation which speculates on the research which seems to show a link between smartphones and mental health. In some ways indirectly, ie spending more time in digital life rather than outdoors and engaging in group, risky play which teaches social rules and develops resilience. Our brains are not wired/evolved for the type of life and childhood we are living at the moment, our emotional development suffers. It makes a number of recommendations for how to counteract this, none of which are palatable to a society which is wed to smartphones and screens

I do think social media and smart phones are causing a lot of the mental health problems in young people and adults but you keep repeating the same thing "why not remove the smart phones and mental health will improve"

that's a reductionist point of view, if a young person is heavily reliant on their smart phone and it is removed their mental health is likely to suffer initially as you have removed something they spend all their time on, they socialise on it, they self sooth with it etc.

you can take away their phones and access to social media but then what happens when all their friends and peers are socialising / communicating on there and they are left out.

in order for it to work it needs to be a shift in society of all parents not allowing their childrrn access to smart phones / devices and social media and giving them other tools to entertain themselves with, self sooth and socialise, it would also need said parents to lead by example (as most are heavily reliant on their smart phones too!) and children learn by modelling.

These devices and platforms have been created to cause people to become addicted to them its a huge problem and I appreciate you saying talking therapy won't solve the mental health crisis perhaps not but I don't think the answer is as simple as remove social media / smart phones.

One problem is that by handing devices to babies, toddlers and young children we are creating a new, unknown breed of people. The human interaction that is needed for neural connections, emotional balance and a healthy mind/body integration is not happening, it is replaced by apps. These 'educational' apps are designed to induce addiction, dependency in an eternal cycle of unsatisfied needs. These kids will not be wired like humans have been up until now.

Children, especially very young and young children have no need for technology (it's the other way around). Put a 12 or 13 years old in front of a computer and they will learn everything they need to know in a matter of hours.
I would take away all for of technology from children and from schools until their brains have sufficiently developed to handle and use technology but not be moulded by it.

Secondly, if possible, we must not repeat what we did during covid: face masks, isolation, distancing, have been very detrimental across the whole spectrum of ages from infant to young adult, on multiple levels. I believe we are, in part, seeing the fallout from this.