Is there a teenage mental health crisis in the UK, is it linked to exams and how is it being treated?
In recent decades, we have seen a major increase
in the number of mental illness cases around the world, with "1/6 of the
general population experiencing a mental problem at any one time" (Gee,
2018). However, the UK seems to have some of the most prevalent and severe
cases. As of 2018, "1 in 10 schoolchildren have a diagnosable mental
health condition between the ages of 5 and 16" (Gee, 2018). Now, 1 in 10
may seem like a very small statistic, until you realise that there are
approximately "10,300,000 school children in the UK" (BESA, 2019).
This means that around 1.03 million school children suffer from a clinically
diagnosed mental illness before they finish their GCSEs.
We know that mental health is a very relevant
and well talked about subject across the globe, but there is still so much more
that we don't know about mental illness. There are so many various and
individual reasons as to why someone may experience any of the vast range of
mental health illnesses, e.g. depression, severe anxiety, anorexia. We also do
not know exactly how to 'cure' mental illness. There are many methods that are
used to help people cope with what has happened to them or what they are going
through, but we do not have a definitive way to stop someone from feeling
depressed or overly anxious. There are forms of medication and treatments that
have worked for some, but not for others; these treatment methods don't get
rid of the illness for good. Some medication only suppresses the condition
someone may be feeling, yet, also rendering them unable to feel at all.
Medication like antidepressants can have some very worrying side effects, such
as, "feeling agitated or anxious, feeling and being sick, diarrhoea or
constipation and dizziness" (NHS, 2018) along with many more side effects
that all seem like horrible conditions to give to someone you're trying to help
out of depression.
There is a vast choice of treatments for mental
health and arguably the most controversial and dangerous one is
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). This method of treatment involves sending an
electric current through the brain in an attempt to get the patient to
eventually feel something and cure whatever condition they have. Due to how
controversial this method of treatment is, there are only certain circumstances
in which ECT is allowed to be used, for example, one condition for treatment is
if "severe or life-threatening depression is being experienced and the
patient's life is at risk and in need of urgent treatment" (Mind, 2019).
Other instances are: "moderate to severe depression and other treatments
such as medication and talking therapies haven't helped, catatonia (staying
frozen in one position, or making very repetitive or restless movements) and a severe or long-lasting episode of mania" (Mind, 2019). Some say that this
method of treatment is essentially torture since it’s the same methodic concept
created back “in 1938 by neurologist Ugo Cerletti” (Ruffalo, 2018). This was
back in a time when mental health was not recognised as something serious and
people who suffered from mental illness back then were solely deemed as
‘crazy’.
The side effects to ECT can widely vary since an
electric current is being passed through a subject’s brain and each individual
will have a different reaction to the treatment. However, some of the most
immediate and common side effects are “drowsiness, confusion, headaches,
feeling sick, aching muscles and loss of appetite” (Mind, 2019). Although, as
stated before, every individual is different and sometimes patients experience
“apathy (loss of interest in things), loss of creativity and energy, difficulty
concentrating, loss of emotional responses and difficulty learning new
information” (Mind, 2019). So, essentially, these long-term side effects cause
patient’s brains to be fried by electricity, creating a higher chance they will
become less likely to function as a human being than before treatment started.
The mistreatment of mental health patients has
been taking place since the very first mental health ‘hospitals’ were opened
even up until now. One of the most famous mental hospitals would have to be
Bethlem Hospital, more commonly referred to as ‘Bedlam’. At Bedlam, patients
became exhibits for the rich. Essentially, the hospital’s mental health ward
was turned into a zoo for the entertainment of those who could afford to pay to
watch. It was “the first hospital to specialise in helping people called
lunatics” (Ruggeri, 2016). You could contest the way the patients of
Bethlem Hospital were treated was one of, if not the worst case of patient
mistreatment in history. However, they say history repeats itself, and even
today we are still seeing the mistreatment of patients in mental health
hospitals. One example of modern-day mistreatment comes from one of the biggest
names in and around the subject of British mental health, the Priory Group. The
Priory Group have many private ‘hospitals’ that specialise in mental health
treatment; however, there is one hospital owned by the Priory Group that has
gained some very negative backlash and attention in recent years. In November
of 2012, Amy El-Keria committed suicide while in the care of the Priory Group
at Ticehurst House Hospital. Amy, aged only 14 at the time of her death, was
left with a football scarf in her room at Ticehurst House, which she used to
strangle herself with after tying it to the radiator in her room. There was an
uproar after the method of suicide got out since Amy had a past with attempted
suicide by ligature. On two separate occasions, prior to being in the care of CAMHS
(Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service) and the Priory Group, Amy had
attempted suicide, hence why she was put into Ticehurst House, a private
hospital for teenage girls suffering from a range of mental health issues. This
death then gave people a reason to question the way the Priory Group were
working, particularly the workers of Ticehurst House. In April of 2019, a
documentary was aired on ITV in which a reporter went undercover to see how
Ticehurst House worked from the inside. Baring in mind, this reporter had no
qualifications when it came to psychology or working with children, yet she was
still given a job and minimal training. During her three month placement at
Ticehurst House, the undercover reporter witnessed a total of 5 ligatures, 2 cases
of hospital patients swallowing AAA batteries, as well as many more extremely
dangerous forms of self-harm, such as head banging, which can cause permanent
brain damage. The reporter found that many patients were being mistreated by
staff essentially being neglected. Patients were left to self-harm with the
undercover reporter being told the patient ‘will be fine’. Patients were
also denied medication, not given talking therapy and in one case, a patient
had all of her clothing taken away from her and was forced to walk around the
hospital in just a thick blanket.
During one of the staff meetings held by the
priory group, the subject of profit is brought up, even though “the
Priory Group as a whole receives £720,000,000 every year from both the NHS and
local authorities” (Vicky, 2019). According to the senior manager, they should
have made £253,000 in the previous month, but they only made £54,000. The
senior manager then reveals that per patient, the Priory Group gets around £500
daily. This seems very much like a cash grab, very similar to how the patients
at Bethlem Hospital were put on display for rich people’s money. The methods of
treating mental health conditions may have varied throughout the years,
especially since we now have more of a grasp on what each condition involves
and how to look after the people suffering from them. However, in some
instances, like Ticehurst House, patients are still being treated the same as
how they were hundreds of years ago, without respect and recognition as human
beings who need help.
Teenage mental health is constantly being tested
via the education system. The United Kingdom’s school students go through the
most tests and examinations while at school than those of any other country.
With this pressure already being put on the 16-year-olds of the country, it was
to no surprise when there was a major backlash after Michael Gove, previously
the Minister of Education changed the GCSE, removing coursework and making the
qualification 100% exam based. This put a new pressure onto the shoulders of
GCSE students, one that I experienced first hand. Being a part of the
first-ever cohort of students to have all 100% exam based GCSEs was tough since
there were no past exam papers to guide our work from and the practice papers
provided by the government were limited. This led to many students across the
country to panic. This was a real shock to everyone involved as pupils were
being told by their teachers that they had ‘no idea’ what they were doing at
multiple points across the years. The new syllabus was confusing for both
teachers and students causing many to stress and second guess themselves.
On top of the change to GCSEs, Michael Gove made
changes to Sats and A-level exams making them a lot harder than before. The
Sats are tests taken at the end of year 6 which determine what sets children
are put in when they enter year 7. There is absolutely no need for the Sats
tests to be made harder due to the fact that they hold no purpose past year 7
and employers do not check for your Sats scores when you apply for a job. The
increase in difficulty of these tests puts a whole lot more pressure on the 10
and 11-year olds of today. Continually told that if they don’t get the best
possible grades they won’t be able to have decently paying jobs in the future
and that their lives will be ruined; and as people who haven’t even entered
their teenage years, that should be the least of their worries.
It is unclear just how many people in the UK
suffer from mental health problems like severe anxiety and depression. It’s
less clear how many school pupils suffer from these mental health issues too.
However, it is safe to say that mental health is becoming more and more
prominent in today’s society, now openly talked about on a global scale. There
are more and more people under the age of 18 being diagnosed with these mental
health conditions than there were 20 or even 10 years ago. It is true that the
education system and the pressure of exams is putting an added pressure onto
the minds of children today. However, there are added factors that are affecting
young people’s mental states all the time. The number one being social media.
This becomes a coping mechanism for some, but for others it can become a virus,
causing people to lose grasp of reality. Very little is being done about how
young people are coping with their mental health and it is a problem that we
all need to tackle head-on if we want the future generations to grow up to be
stable and capable. Treatment is available, but it doesn’t always work, proving
that more time and effort needs to be put in to change the way we look at,
perceive and treat mental health and the people affected by it. We can say for
definite that there is a mental health crisis in the UK and it is partially
linked to the way exams are becoming harder, yet nothing is being done.
