by A leading consultant has criticized official data that claims that more than one of five school children has mental health problems than “nuts” and “pernicious”.
A new report by the Department of Education to increase students who do not take part in the school combines them with a higher mental illness in young people.
It quotes NHS data that show that 21 percent of children between the ages of eight and 16 have a “likely problem of mental health”. The number was made known to the extent and is part of the justification for the government’s politics to move the council members in every secondary school.
However, experts warn that the calculation is based on “subjective” questionnaire data and that prevalence could exaggerate psychological health problems in young people.
The strengths and difficulties used in the NHS data have children multiple -choice questions about their emotional state, level of concentration, behavior and relationships to assess their intellectual well -being.
Questions are asked in the students, such as: “Are you recently able to make decisions about things?”; “Do you recently feel that you play a useful role in things?” And “Do you sometimes feel fearful in certain situations?” The response options are “not true”, “something true” or “certainly true”.
Children who score 17 or more out of 40 points have “probable psychological health problems”.
Professor Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, an academic at the University College London and practicing psychiatrist for the NHS, has questioned the method and the labeling of children as mentally ill.
“Anyone who is achieved over the average in this survey is seen as a likely problem with mental health – I mean, they are nuts,” she told the telegraph. “It is a really good illustration of how misleading this entire debate about mental health can be. If you say that the reason why children don’t go to school is the psychological health problems to the extent they say nothing. If you say it is a problem with mental health, you have explained it, but you really don’t.”
Dennis Hayes, Professor of Education at Derby University and co-author of the dangerous rise of therapeutic education, described the data method as a “sloppy” and “crude oil”.
“It’s as bad as the little questionnaires in Okay Magazin,” he said. “I went through some of these questions. You are in certain situations:” Did you sometimes get worried? “Yes, all the time!
Professions said that children and adults are taught to see normal fears as “psychological health problems”.
“Multiple -choice surveys only confirm the cultural conviction that we all feel uncomfortable,” he said. “It is a terrible and destructive thing. It creates introverted children and young people who cannot handle.”
Prof. Moncrieff said that the labeling of children can restrict them: “People think they have found an explanation, but they didn’t. They have just received a label and labels can be really harmful because they restrict them,” she said. “You think I have this thing, so I can do it impossible and I can do it impossible. ‘ It’s really worrying. “
Another academic, Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, argued that children who registered concern about their lives or the state of the world did not necessarily have signs of mental illnesses.
“What was previously called as problems of life, problems of existence are now framed in the language of psychology, and we tend to medical,” he said. “So we no longer have shy people; we have people with social phobia. We no longer have children who are very energetic. We have ADHD. We cause young people to feel uncomfortable. For me, the mental health industry is actually involved in creating a mental health problem.”
Long waiting lists
There were also concerns that the data method and others may lead to a crisis in the already overloaded children and adolescents of psychiatric services (Camhs), whereby transfers with the most serious mental illnesses are recorded on long waiting lists.
Almost a million children and young people had active transfers for camhs in England, as the figures from 2022-23 show. One third was on waiting lists, while 40 percent had made their transfer before it was accessible to the support. Almost 40,000 children had at least two years. The most common reason for a transfer to the treatment of mental health was described as fear.
“I don’t work with children, but we have quite a few young people from camhs and we are absolutely overwhelmed by recommendations,” said Prof. Moncrieff. “I would say anecdotically that there are people who are less uncomfortable (than in the past). Then we have the whole question of how we help; is it really helpful or could it be harmful? I don’t think it is a good thing for many people to be antidepressants or other forms of drug treatment.”
Bridget Phillipson, the Minister of Education, has undertaken to provide school consultants in all secondary schools in England. Activists say that this is not far enough and also wants specialists in mental health at the primary level.
But Prof. Moncrieff said the step had unintentional negative consequences.
“The concern is that in the end they could identify and mark more children and they can send them to Camhs,” she said. “The best scenario is that consultants reduce the needs because the students have someone they can speak to, and that helps. But I’m worried that we have such mental health because most people believe that they do the right thing by calling children and transferring them.”
