Youth mental health has been declining over the past two decades and is entering a dangerous phase, suggests a new Lancet Psychiatry Commission. Several global megatrends are implicated, including inaction on climate change, intergenerational inequality, and adversity linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The roles of socioeconomic and technological megatrends, among other risk factors, should be analysed, and their harmful effects addressed. While mental ill-health accounts for at least 45% [1] of the overall burden of disease in people aged 10–24 years, a mere 2% of health budgets globally are devoted to mental health care.
The Commission considers the principles, core features, and strategies for designing, testing, and scaling up new models of youth mental health care, as well as promotion of mental health and prevention of ill-health. It assesses the economic and political imperatives behind reforms in promotion, prevention, and care.
[1] Patton GC, Sawyer SM, Santelli JS, et al. Our future: a Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. Lancet 2016; 387: 2423-78.
Read the Commission’s report including their findings and recommendations here.
Read Jörg M. Fegert's - ESCAP President - commentary
ESCAP strongly endorses this initiative and most of their recommendations, many of which we have raised over the last few years, too. We welcome the statements and initiatives made by the EU Commission, Council and Parliament last year and we are now urging for these to be turned into tangible action. Earlier this year, ESCAP joined the pan-European Mental Health Coalition and we are in an on-going dialogue with WHO Europe to work on making positive changes.
Professor Andrea Danese, ESCAP General Secretary and part of the Commission, says:
“The Commission's work is very timely. Young people's mental health has been declining in many countries. And because the onset of mental illness is typically in adolescence, the additional concern is that worsening youth mental health will lead to a tidal wave of distress and impairment lasting into adulthood, with a vast societal impact. In the face of unsustainable costs for clinical care of established mental illness in adolescents, the Commission highlights opportunities brought by alternative and complementary approaches focused on mental health promotion and prevention and early intervention of mental illness. In many cases, the evidence base for these new models of care is still limited. However, they offer new directions to draw upon to build novel solutions for the current youth mental health crisis.”
We need to continue to raise awareness and to combat the still existing stigma concerning mental health issues. Prevention and early intervention, evidence-based treatments and rapid and affordable access to care are crucial to tackling the mental health crisis. Part of this is addressing the shortage of mental healthcare professionals. We fully support an interdisciplinary approach and collaboration which needs to include those with lived experiences.
For further reading, please see these ESCAP publications:
