Mental health checks on all school pupils from age of 7?

[NoseWiperExtraordinaire]

Not sure if this has been done elsewhere on MN, but wondering if there are any thoughts to be gleaned on this.

Apparently, a study published in the British Medical Journal recommends that pupils should be asked to complete regular tests throughout their schooling to assess their emotional and psychological health.

I have to say I was surprised to see Rethink CEO express reservations, but think Paul Jenkins is right to highlight teens as a very important time to look at mental health, and other thoughts around ensuring adequate services would be in place (rather than patchy as is now).

I don't think 7 is too young to learn about good mental and emotional health, perhaps screening in isolation wouldn't be all that helpful? How about activities to raise awareness, or do these already exist? Are they good enough?

I'm all for screening. It's what is done with the results of that screening that concerns me. Who gets to know? Would the reasons behind any concerns investigated in a non-hysterical manner? What support would be provided for children who are struggling with their mental health?

As things currently stand, it takes an awful lot of jumping up and down and shouting by parents to get their child's MH issues even acknowledged, never mind treated. What resources would be allocated to deal with the increased caseload that may be sent the way of CAMHS, which is already stretched to its limits in most areas?

I think maybe I didn't explain myself well, of course people shouldn't be no treated because of stigma! That's just irresponsible, but we're not talking about diagnosed mental health difficulties here but screening, which is a different thing entirely. I've seen people with pronounced symptoms and doctors struggle to diagnose as the area is so unclear cut and they may have several diagnoses before one is settled on. To say that those with possible mental health issues or teetering on the edge of suicide is hyperbole. And children who are suffering from symptoms should be treated. We are talking about the unsymptomatic here. It's such an uncertain area

Yes that is my concern too, ouryve. I guess we'd have to be brave and see what trials expose initially. I have a feeling if there were hard evidence from that, it would be more difficult for government and other funders to ignore the need for better service provision, but that might be naive.

Although if effective at reducing long term health & associated employment issues, I would say the long term benefits would be worth the investment. And we do seem able to find funds available for some things (jubillee, olympics, high speed rail etc).

x post, but not sure about that. Screening can be effective for PND - that's the only comparison I think think of at moment, but there may be others.

A lot children with some anxiety issues or anger issues may well not be mentally ill, why do they need to have there problems labelled and medicalised? Surely help can be given in a low key way to begin with. You may not agree but I've seen how a mental health label can follow someone round for the rest of their lives if not done appropriately. I just think we should be careful.

And you're right there.

There has also been some controversy about pnd screening, some studies believe it can produce a significant number if false positives leading to inappropriate treatment.

Sorry mimmum I didn't mean to sound as harsh as I did. Just hit a raw nerve really; I'm sure I seemed fine as a kid but a little gentle screening would've prob done me a lot of good and prevented some desperate times as an adult.

Agreed nose wiper. Lots of years ago I did a course called counselling as part of my Masters. However, it was about an approach to conflict resolution not counselling for mental health or other issues as my head was convinced. It needs to be done by people with the correct skills and knowledge and that will create a huge training issue.

If someone had identified my struggles as a child and if there had been something like CBT for children I may not have had as many problems as an adult.

I was a child carer to a very disabled and depressed parent (from 12) and was under a great deal of pressure from family to cope on my own. It would have been wonderful to grow up without feeling personally responsible for everything.

While it could be very valuable to some children I can see it being used as an excuse for others.

Schools already try to pin the blame for being bullied on to any DC who chooses to be slightly different.

Yes, let send the quirky, geeky child for counselling instead of punishing the bullies for teasing a child for not having the right style of trousers or wearing make-up and all the other petty trash they think up.

So much easier to deal with one child than societies intolerance of difference and tackle several children's unpleasantness.

In a way Starball, that's where I think screening (done well) could be effective. It wouldn't be a matter of singling out any particular child, all children with identified issues, including bullies (who inevitably have other stuff going on to make them bully) would be picked up. I would say there would be more reason to then address both sets of issues (the bully and the bullied) where that is the issue, there'd be no getting away from it.

I would also hope it could be something that helps tease out the differences between behavioural issues and mh issues, possibly.

I still err on the side of thinking it's better to be offered counselling and not need it, then need it and it not be there.

And re: PND, it may just be my experience, but of all MH related conditions, it seems to me that PND is one of the more generally better known about (and accepted with slightly less stigma?) conditions that can be entirely chemically treatable, by that I mean women with absolutely no other issues, seemingly good lives in lots of ways etc, effectively treated with ADs.

Mental health problems are an illness! Nobody's fault! Not the environment, not another person, not a happy home or a sad home.

How they are dealt with, that can be affected by the environment.

Pure ignorance thinking children with mental health problems are like that because if their environment. Tell that to a Mother if someone who is suffering, jeez!

I dont think its a ood idea at all.They would just diognose loads of kids wrongly and dose them up with even more drugs.

Yes bish bash boosh, I agree with you, I think we may have a misunderstanding, possibly something in my posts could be taken in different ways.

The point in my last post was relating to whether PND is generally more widely accepted and understood in society (there remains a lot of stigma and ignorance elsewhere about other MH conditions). I wonder if PND screening has led to increased awareness and therefore reducing stigma and ignorance, and perhaps childhood screening would be helpful in that respect too.

ringaringarosy

I dont think its a ood idea at all.They would just diognose loads of kids wrongly and dose them up with even more drugs.

The point is that if they get psychological help, they won't be put on medication at all. The purpose of early intervention would be to avoid any kind of chemical input. The problem is that doctors, being doctors, look at a mental health issue and prescribe a physical solution.

I'm in favour, if there is a system in place to help those who've been flagged up by screening. I'd be wary of any kind of routine drug or behaviour treatment though - each child would need individualised assessment and attention, and I wonder how likely that would be to happen? Doesn't mean that it shouldn't happen though.

My DSis has suffered severe depression for 25 years, in hindsight it began in her mid teens, though it took another 15 years for any of us to realise that's what it was. Early intervention could make a big difference in these cases. By the way, our home was well-off, stable and happy, it wasn't a simple environmental matter.

Interesting.
I think building on the existing work in schools of understanding our own and others feelings may be a better place to start than a screening style approach.
In some ways I feel it's parents role to take child to GP with mental health concerns as for physical health ones, with teachers and TA's at school also having some responsibility for raising concerns.
Possibly the screening approach could be more workable and needed with teens when more issues arise?
Still as I said I think it's an interesting idea to explore further, possibly with a pilot study?

But it won't be done well. It will be done by badly by poorly trained, poorly funded staff, just as PHSE lessons are given out to any teacher with a time table slot to fill.

Schools already think counselling the victim solves low level bullying.

It doesn't, look at Big brother, X factor, the stick Ruby got on the GBBO, it needs the whole of society to realise it's not cool to choose some random persons quirks and take the loss out of them.

the piss out of them

Starballbunny

But it won't be done well. It will be done by badly by poorly trained, poorly funded staff, just as PHSE lessons are given out to any teacher with a time table slot to fill.

It shouldn't be done by schools at all. It should be done by the healthcare sector.

I agree flatpack, it would need to be healthcare led. However I think it would also be important to have schools (and wider community) on board to put it in context, and build on work around understanding feelings etc, as Juggling pointed out.

I do hear (and share) your concerns Starball. But in a way that is also what a complaints system should be for (slight hollow laugh as I know they are not always great). Why do we have to accept potential for poor implementation in some areas means that things like this shouldn't be considered? Poor implementation should not be allowed to happen and bloody well challenged when it does!

Independent monitoring may be a solution?

I totally agree something like this "needs the whole of society" to shift in it's thinking somehow.

I can't think of a better way than to show and teach ALL our DC that their mental and emotional health is Important (enough to warrent across the board screening) - for me that gets rid of any lasting misconceptions that mental ill health belongs to the poor and lower classes, or only ever results from abuse or lifestyle choices of the feckless.

There is no money for new schemes.

The DDs school already has very good pastoral care, from school staff, volunteer and paid outside mentors, but they scrimp to pay for it.

Way better to increase and improve the support their already is than to start some grand new scheme that will probably screen every child once, before like poor old sure start it's money is cut.

There

Being screened for mental health issues at a young age would have changed my life.
I knew I was probably medically depressed but my mother had her own issues going on and my father believed that you just bottled it all up inside and got on with it.
Someone else telling my parents that I had mental health issues may have actually led to some kind of intervention, rather than me struggling on until I had my dd before seeking help.