1 Million UK children suffer from mental health problems

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More than a million children have mental health problems, a doubling

of the number in a generation, devastating research reveals today.

An epidemic of disorders ranging from depression, anxiety and

anorexia to violent delinquency has struck one in ten youngsters.

Last night experts blamed a damaging mix of family breakdown, junk

food diets, marketing, binge-drinking, increasing availability of

drugs, sexy images projected by magazines and mounting exam pressure

for the trend.

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They warned that modern lifestyles were forcing youngsters to grow up

more quickly than previous generations, robbing them of their

childhoods.

The children's charity, NCH, called for urgent action to prevent

mental health problems wrecking the prospects of a generation.

It issued the warning as separate figures showed that the number of

children admitted to hospital suffering from eating disorders has

shot up more than a third in the last ten years.

The increase was immediately linked to the pressure on young people

to look like a supermodel or celebrity.

Today, as it launches a campaign to improve children's well-being,

the NCH highlights two major studies which suggest that British

children are afflicted by severe and worsening emotional problems.

The first, from the Office of National Statistics, says that one in

ten youngsters between the ages of five and 16 has a " clinically

recognisable " mental disorder.

Levels are higher among children from lone parent families

and " reconstituted " families with stepchildren, at 16 per cent and 14

per cent respectively.

The study, based on a survey of nearly 8,000 children, also found

that youngsters with serious behavioural problems were twice as

likely as classmates to be regular drinkers.

A third of those aged 14 to 16 with " conduct disorders " ,

characterised by aggressive, disruptive or antisocial behaviour,

admitted drinking at least once a week compared with 16 per cent who

are not affected.

They were also more likely to have used drugs, mainly cannabis.

Overall, four per cent of youngsters aged from five to 16 had

emotional disorders such as anxiety or depression while six per cent

had conduct disorders.

In addition, two per cent showed hyperactive behaviour or attention

problems. One per cent had autism, eating disorders or tics, while

two per cent had more than one type of disorder. This equates to

1.1million children in the UK.

The second study, from the Institute of Psychiatry, showed that the

number of teenagers with emotional and behavioural problems doubled

between 1974 and 1999, the latest statistical group available.

Yesterday experts at the Nuffield Foundation, which funded this

study, said major social changes lay behind the trend.

Dr Ann Hagell, the foundation's programme director, said: " What has

really changed over that period is the elongation of the transition

into adulthood.

" In the 1970s, you could leave school at 16, enter the labour market,

find somewhere to live and be married, whereas nowadays that

transition can take 15 years. "

Increasing peer pressure, fuelled by social networking websites, may

also play a part, she added.

" These days you can feel peer pressure from California or Australia

through sites such as MySpace. Your peer group in the 1960s was your

local community. "

The NCH, which used to be called the National Children's Home and is

partly Government-funded, claimed that unhappiness hampered social

mobility.

Chief executive Clare Tickell said: " The lack of emotional wellbeing

amongst our children and young people is undermining the foundations

of any social policy to combat social exclusion, deprivation or lack

of social mobility.

" We urge Gordon Brown and his new Cabinet to commit to tackling this

hidden and fast-growing problem. "

The trend could be partly due to the " medicalisation " of behaviour

and the growth of a therapy culture.

Behaviour which in the 1970s would have been seen as normal may now

attract labels such as " depression " or " anxiety " .

However, the Nuffield-sponsored study found evidence that escalating

mental health problems were " the result of real changes in behaviour

and experiences " and not increased reporting of problematic

behaviour.

Children's Minister Beverley- said the prevalence of mental

disorders among five to 16-year-olds, as measured by the ONS in 2004,

had remained broadly unchanged from its previous study in 1999.

She said: " Investment in child and adolescent mental health services

increased by over £145million between 2002 and 2005. "

Meanwhile figures from the Department of Health revealed that 673

youngsters aged 18 and under had such severe eating disorders that

they needed hospital treatment last year, up from 486 in 1996-1997.

Almost 60 were under the age of ten.

Anorexia was the most likely reason for admittance, followed by

bulimia. Girls were significantly more likely than boys to be

affected, though 111 patients last year were boys.

The NCH campaign comes at a time of concern that childhood is being

undermined by the combined pressures of schooling and advertising.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is part of a coalition which has warned

that children's lives are being " poisoned " .

A Unicef report recently put Britain at the bottom of a table of 21

industrialised countries for children's well-being.

An Unhappy Childhood Left Me Blighted

Sykes, pictured, suffered from feelings of depression and

rejection from age ten after an unhappy childhood growing up in care.

He was born to a single mother who suffered from schizophrenia and

was taken away from her.

After flitting from one foster family to another, he was eventually

admitted to a care home in Halifax.

It was there that his mental health began to deteriorate.

He said: " I began to hide myself away. I became depressed, which got

worse when I was moved to a foster home at 14.

" My foster mother had recently lost her son and she was even more

depressed than I was - I don't know how she was ever accepted as a

carer. "

He ran away on the eve of his GCSEs. After sleeping rough, he was

granted an emergency placement with a different carer.

From there, his life began to improve. Mr Sykes, now 25, went back to

college and moved to Bradford, where he lives with his 23-year-old

girlfriend Helen and her daughter Chloe, aged four.

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