A shocking report in the Guardian finds that than 500 children a day in England are being referred to NHS mental health services for anxiety, more than double the rate before the pandemic began.
In 2023-24 there were 204,526 new referrals of patients aged 17 or under where the primary cause was anxiety, official figures show .
The Royal College of Psychiatrists are featured as the mental health experts responding the findings in the Guardian in print and online, in addition to the Mail Online.
Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Child and Adolescent Faculty, said:
“We’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of children and young people experiencing anxiety and other mental illnesses in recent years. Anxiety can mean many things, ranging from an entirely normal response to a stressful event, to being a clinical condition in its own right, or a symptom of another mental illness. There are multiple reasons for children and young people to feel more anxious including the pandemic which caused significant disruption to their lives and made many of them feel worried about the future. The cost-of-living crisis also places pressure on families which can negatively affect children and young people’s mental health.
“The expansion of mental health support in schools, colleges and new community-based services may have helped more young people access the care they need. However, this is a new way of presenting the data, and more work is needed to ensure it is fully understood.
“Mental health services are struggling to manage rising demand, and many children and young people are being placed on unacceptably long waiting lists. This can cause further harm at a crucial time in their lives and result in them developing more entrenched difficulties which take longer to treat.
“It is therefore vital that we continue to improve and expand mental health support in schools and help children and young people with anxiety to get the support they need quickly. There will always be those who need input from specialist mental health services, which must be given the staff and resources they need to provide timely care and treatment.”
Our resource on anxiety for children and young people explains how to access support, and self-help strategies.
For further information, please contact:
- Email: press@rcpsych.ac.uk
- Twitter: @rcpsych
- Out-of-hours contact number: 07860 755896