Psychology in School Mental Health and Wellbeing summary
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Course
Understanding Mental Health
Institution
The University Of West London
Summary on lecture Psychology in School Mental health and Wellbeing, module Understanding Mental Health, course Psychology. The notes are summarised in preparation for an end of semester MCQ test. I passed the test with 1st (A+).
W12
Psychology in Schools Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental health
• Medical term that makes people uncomfortable – not seen as a comparable term to
‘physical health’
• Suggests clinics and drug treatments
• Despite promotional campaigns, stigma is still a big issue
• In children, in particular, often confused with learning difficulties or neuro-
developmental differences
• Reluctance of some adults to accept that children can be affected by mental health
problems
• Assumption that ‘mental health disorders’ = bad behaviour in children
• Hard for children’s voices to be heard as service users
Emotional health and wellbeing
• Preferred term in schools – seems gentler
• Also referred to as ‘social and emotional’ skills or learning or
development/character/resilience etc.
• Can be confused with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and with
safeguarding issues
• Perhaps masks a reluctance to see children as being susceptible to ‘mental health’
problems or assumes it is a developmental phase that they will grow out of
• Children with serious problems seen as having ‘Emotional and Behavioural
Difficulties’
• Current official terminology is ‘SEMH – social, emotional and mental health’ issues
UK figures
• Surveys carried out in 1999 with follow up in 2004 across UK showed prevalence and
persistence of mental health problems in children
, • 2017 English survey (NHS Digital): 9,117 children aged 2-19 (parental report for
younger children) – data available here http://digital.nhs.uk/pubs/mhcypsurvey17
• One in eight children (12.8%) had one diagnosable disorder, up from one in ten from
2004, while one in 20 (5%) had two disorders, measured using standard ICD
diagnostic criteria
• Other UK countries expected to have similar figures
• In line/bit worse than UN figures generally
UK figures post Covid
Survey carried out in England in 2021 showed:
• Number of cases had risen to one in six children
• 39.2% of 6-16 year olds experienced deterioration in their mental health, and 52.5%
of 17-23 year olds (21.8% and 15.2% respectively experienced an improvement)
• Eating disorders in particular had jumped, from 6.7% to 13% in 11-16 year olds, and
from 44.6% to 58.2% in 17-19 year olds
• Sleep disturbance was around a quarter in 6-10 year olds, a third in 11-16 year olds
and over half of 17-23 year olds
Four broad categories of childhood disorders
• Emotional: anxiety, depression, mania, bipolar affective disorder. Affects 1 in 12
(8.1%) of children, girls (10%) worse than boys (6.2%), and anxiety (7.2%) more
common than depression (2.1%). Emotional disorders have increased since 2004,
while other types were stable
• Behavioural or conduct: affects 4.5% of children, boys (5.8%) more than girls (3.4%)
• Hyperactivity disorders: affects 1.6% of children, boys (2.6%) more than girls (0.6%)
• Other: 2.1% of children affected, with 1.2% ASD, 0.4% eating disorders and 0.8% tics
or other less common disorders
What increases the risk?
• Being female: emotional disorders, self-harm, body dysmorphic disorder more
common in girls. Worsens with age: 22.4% of 17-19 year old girls have an emotional
disorder compared to 7.9% of boys
• Non-heterosexual identity: 13.2% of heterosexuals had a disorder compared to
34.9% of non-heterosexuals
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