Time for Global Action on Youth Mental Health
By Patrick McGorry
Mental illness is the number one threat to the health, lives and futures of young people. It is the chronic disease of the young. 50% of mental disorders emerge by 15 years of age and 75% by 25 years. Mental ill-health is a leading cause of disability for young people, accounting for 45% of the overall burden of disease in those aged 10-24 years.
There is growing recognition that the mental health of young people has reached a crisis point. The recent National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing in Australia revealed that the prevalence of mental disorders in young people aged between 16 and 24 years increased by 50% between 2007 and 2021. In the US, findings from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that persistent feelings of sadness or hopeless in high school students increased by 58% in females and 38% in males between 2011 and 2021. In the same survey, suicide attempts by females increased by 30%. The US Surgeon General has declared this a youth mental health crisis. Young people themselves are voicing concerns about the mental health of their peers. Many countries (e.g., Australia, United States, England) are experiencing a rising demand for mental health care by young people that cannot be met by services, leading to excessive wait times.
The potential consequences of this crisis are staggering on an individual and societal level. Mental illness reduces life expectancy and its timing early in the lifespan can significantly disrupt the formation of interpersonal relationships, educational and vocational attainment, and economic security. This reduction in productivity contributes to the enormous cost of mental illness, with estimates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic suggesting that it will reach a global cost of US$16 trillion by the end of this decade.
What can be done to address this crisis?
A logical step is to understand the causes of rising rates of mental ill-health in young people to guide prevention. While absolute causes are still unclear, a number of megatrends have disproportionately affected young people. These include socioeconomic inequality, insecure employment, precarious housing, soaring higher education costs, social media, and climate change. The pathway to mature adulthood has become less stable and harder to navigate.
Early intervention is also a top priority. Global progress has already been made to reform youth mental health care (e.g., youth-friendly and stigma-free primary care platforms such as headspace in Australia, integrated youth services in Canada, and Jigsaw in Ireland). However, the scale of need among young people demands greater investment in early intervention and the rapid scaling up of services. This includes youth-specific specialised community mental health care for young people who are too severe or complex for primary care services and are often unable to access the next tier of effective and expert care. A specialised and multidisciplinary workforce needs to be mobilised to ensure that young people have access to timely and high-quality care. Ideally, every young person in need of mental health care should have access to a comprehensive, seamless and integrated clinical service that spans the range of mental health conditions and presentations across primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care.
Political leaders and society at large must act now to safeguard the mental health of young people. Young people deserve a promising future that is not eroded by the burden of mental illness.
About the Author
