Mental Health Crisis?

Ann John examines the current discussion around young people's mental health. A Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry at Swansea University, Ann thinks the current focus is welcome in many ways, but also poses dangers. Is it possible, she asks, that it could turn into a moral panic - like the one she remembers when she first became a doctor, around the MMR vaccine? Do we risk medicalising normal human emotions? And who is getting access to treatment - is it those who most need care, or those with easiest access to services? Ann identifies mixed messaging around young people's mental health - on the one hand we want young people to be emotionally literate; on the other we criticise a 'snowflake' generation. And she argues that social media - so often the fall guy for young people's mental health problems - actually offers upsides, too. Producer: Giles Edwards.