Teenagers are attempting suicide to access health services

Headteacher claims three students attempted suicide to be seen by specialists
Some are turned away as their condition is not considered suitable for therapy
Survey found 84% of experts believe it is difficult for children to access help
Some 67% warned waiting times for services have increased in five years
From 2010-2015, children’s mental health services spending fell by nearly £50m

Alexandra Thompson Health Reporter For Mailonline

Published:
10:24 BST, 5 June 2017

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Updated:
10:24 BST, 5 June 2017

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Teenagers are attempting suicide to access mental health disorder services, a headteacher has warned.

The unnamed headteacher referred to three suicide attempts by her students in a bid to be seen by specialist medical professionals.

Previous research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) states nearly 25 per cent of children referred to the NHS for mental health treatment are later turned away.

This is often ‘because their condition [is] not considered serious enough or not considered suitable for specialist mental health treatment’, the research added.

A past survey revealed 84 per cent of UK experts believe it has become more difficult for young mental health disorder sufferers to get the help they need. Some claim this is due to funding cuts to such services.

Students are attempting suicide to access mental health services, headteacher warns (stock)

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SIGNS THAT YOUR TEENAGER MAY HAVE DEPRESSION

Although they may not describe feeling depressed, warning signs include them saying they are stressed or easily annoyed.

Other symptoms include tearfulness, withdrawing from socialising, changes in eating habits and a lack of energy.

Physical signs are headaches, poor digestion, and muscle or joint pain.

Source: Helpguide.org

Disorders are not taken seriously

Young people are increasingly encouraged to to take their own lives as they ‘feel they’re not been taken as seriously as they might be’, the headteacher, who runs a secondary school in south-west England, told the trade teaching magazine Tes.

Heather Dickinson, helpline manager of teen suicide prevention charity Papyrus, said: ‘Sometimes young people feel that they’re not taken as seriously by Camhs [the NHS's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service] as they might be – they feel that they’re expressing how they feel, and that’s not being picked up enough’.

The EPI issued a report last year that stated children were often turned away ‘because their condition was not considered serious enough or not considered suitable for specialist mental health treatment’.

Mental health disorder services are hard to access

In a previous survey of more than 3,000 NHS counsellors, therapists and psychoanalysts, 84 per cent said it has become more difficult for children to access the help they need, particularly if their condition is not considered severe.

Some 67 per cent of respondents warned waiting times had increased over the last five years, while up to 33 per cent said their workplace was facing closure.

TEENS WHO USE MOBILES AT NIGHT ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE DEPRESSED

Teenagers who use their mobile phones at night suffer poor sleep and are more likely to be depressed, a study found.

Parents should consider ‘digital curfews’ where their children are not allowed to use mobile phones or computers at night, according to the study’s researchers from Murdoch and Griffith universities in Australia.

The study of 1,101 youths aged between 13 and 16 found that adolescents who use phones after nightfall tend to have worse self-esteem, are more depressed and are worse at coping with problems.

They are also more likely to engage in aggressive behavior, the research adds.

Between 2010 and 2015, NHS spending on children’s mental health services fell by nearly £50m, according to official figures published by The Independent.

Theresa May has vowed to rectify the ‘injustice’ faced by mental illness patients by fighting workplace discrimination and ensuring mental health conditions are treated as medical disorders in their own right.

Natasha Devon, the government’s former mental health tsar, said Camhs’ funding cuts mean an increasing number of children do not reach the service’s thresholds for treatment.

This is forcing young mental health disorder sufferers to undertake life-threatening behaviour to get access to the medical services they need, she said.

The claims come after findings from the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh revealed 36 per cent of teenage girls and 14 per cent of adolescent boys have depression.

A potential reason why girls suffer from the mental health condition more than boys may be that they typically reach puberty earlier, the researchers said.

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