Almost 32 percent youngsters have had suicidal thoughts, according to a latest U.K. report on the mental state of young people.
The study surveyed around 2000 16 to 25 years old Britons. It found that one in five young people were depressed in their childhood and cited schoolwork, fear of the future and lack of confidence as the reasons for their depression.
The study was released to mark the launch of Mindfull, a new organization for mental health, in the U.K. The organization will work with schools to counsel youngsters to handle mental pressures. It also launched a website to provide free, confidential counseling to 11- to 17-year-olds.
Over a third of the young people surveyed (39 percent) said that they could not get out of the house because of low feelings and 18 percent of the people surveyed reported to being on constant edge in the last two weeks.
"We are at risk of failing a generation of young people," the study researchers wrote. Around 75 percent of 850,000 youngsters diagnosed with mental health issues do not receive any treatment, the report stated. Young people usually do not get the proper long-term and intensive treatment they need due to cuts in mental-health program funding.
According to Emma-Jane Cross, founder and chief executive of Mindfull, most of the children with mental health issues are "being let down or simply ignored." "It's unacceptable that so many are having to resort to harming themselves on purpose in order to cope, or worse still are thinking about ending their own lives."
Professor Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist associated with Mindfull, said that mental health should be given the same importance as physical health. "Teenagers naturally look to the internet as a source of information and advice, so that's where we need to be in order to help the hundreds of thousands of young people who are getting no support."
