Around the world, young people’s mental health has been declining over the past two decades and is now entering a dangerous phase, a new Lancet Commission on Psychiatry suggests.
It has long been known that 75% of mental illnesses manifest before adulthood. Mental illnesses typically peak at age 15 and mental illnesses account for 45% of the total disease burden in people aged 10-24.
However, alarming new evidence suggests that the prevalence and impact of mental illness is steadily increasing. US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy has called this deteriorating situation a “youth mental health crisis”.
Now, a new Lancet Commission on youth mental health has brought together a group of global experts and people with lived experience, including ten youth commissioners, to present an analysis of the global state of youth mental health.
The Commission does not focus on the traditional dividing lines between the mental health of children (up to 17 years of age) and the mental health of adults (over 18 years of age), but on that of young people between 12 and 25 years of age, what the Commission calls the “emerging adult phase”, which covers adolescence and early adulthood.
Several global megatrends (major and lasting societal changes, such as environmental, social, economic, political, or technological changes) have been identified that are exacerbating psychological distress and intersect with the transition from adolescence to adulthood. These trends include:
- Unregulated use of social media
- Inaction on climate change
- Intergenerational inequality
- Adversities linked to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Rising student debt
- Precarious housing and employment
- Destabilization of political structures around the world
“The youth mental health crisis is of paramount importance globally, given the dependence of societies on the capabilities and contributions of young people. As so many young adults die prematurely, are condemned to a life of welfare dependency, are denied necessary respect and care, and languish in precarity, society itself will become more precarious. The youth mental health crisis is more than a warning sign, and now may be our last chance to act.”
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