You may known that the last decade has seen a rise in overall mental health disorders in young people. In 2017, approximately 1 in 9 youngsters between the ages of 6 and 16 were reported to have a probable mental health disorder. Fast forward to 2021, and that figure has escalated to a troubling 1 in 6. Remarkably, there was no discernible difference between the years 2020 and 2021 so this rapid increase occurred over a 3-year period at most (2018-2020). In 2023 it had climbed again to 1 in 5 so clearly things are not improving for young people's mental health.

This chart shows the difference between probable (a high likelihood of a clinically significant condition) and possible (symptoms are present but insufficient to confirm a diagnosis) mental disorder diagnoses for 11-16-year-olds. While possible disorders have not changed much there has been a clear increase in the percentage of young people receiving probably diagnoses.

Whether or not this was due to heightened awareness about young people’s mental health which led to higher diagnoses, changes in clinical processes or other reasons, we can’t be sure, but the trouble is that services just can't keep up with the demand - see Chart 9 in this section.