Bullied Children Need Support Not Anti-Depressants, Mental Health Campaigner Warns | HuffPost Life

Schools need to tackle the root causes of bullying instead.

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Life editor at HuffPost UK

Children are being wrongly prescribed anti-depressants as a result of being bullied, a leading mental health campaigner has said.

The Department for Education's mental health advisor, Natasha Devon, said kids need support from bullying, rather than being prescribed medication.

"If a child is being bullied and they have symptoms of depression because they are being bullied, what they need is for the bullying to stop," Devon said at the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

"They need to feel safe again. They don't necessarily need anti-depressants or therapy."

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Natasha Devon is a mental health champion for the Department of Education

Devon said mental health problems among school children are "much worse" than people think.

"It's my belief that many of these struggles could be avoided if we get our approach right," she added.

'If we don't, we're giving with one hand and taking away with the other. And we run the risk of medicalising childhood."

Devon also discussed the amount of pressure children are facing at school, saying education has become "fiercely competitive".

"You cannot apply an adult amount of pressure to a child brain and expect them to cope," she said.

"Being a young person today is harder than it has ever been."

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Nick Harrop, campaigns manager at YoungMinds, supporting young people's mental health and wellbeing, said anti-depressants for children should never be the only course of action.

"GPs all too often prescribe antidepressants to young people because they don’t know what else to do," he told The Huffington Post UK.

"Child and adolescent mental health services are a postcode lottery, with unacceptably long waiting times in many areas, and with a high threshold for treatment because services are overwhelmed.

"We believe that anti-depressants can have a place in treating some mental health conditions, but they should never be the only course of action.

"It’s also really important that children and parents have comprehensive information about the effects that anti-depressants can have.

"Children and parents need to be able to make informed decisions about whether medication is the right approach."

In March 2016, it was revealed the number of children in the UK prescribed anti-depressants increased by more than 50% from 2005 to 2012.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed the findings and stated that the increase in the use of these drugs to treat young people was "a concern".

Over those seven years there was a 54% increase in the number of young people prescribed anti-depressants in the UK.

Dr Helen Webberley, GP for www.oxfordonlinepharmacy.co.uk, said parents must seek medical advice before making any decisions to take their children off a course of antidepressants.

"If a parent is worried about the medication that has been prescribed for their child, the recommendation is to continue taking the medication but to discuss their concerns with their GP or specialist as soon as possible," she previously told HuffPost UK.

For more information on mental health medication for children, visit HeadMeds.org.uk - a website powered by YoungMinds.

SEE ALSO:
Number Of Children Prescribed Anti-Depressants Increased By 54% In Seven Years, WHO Reveals
Children Prescribed Antidepressants 'May Be At Higher Risk Of Suicide', Study Suggests, So What Should Parents Do?
Let's Make a Real Difference for an Entire Generation of Young Children

This Is How Bad It Is To Be A Young Person With Mental Health Issues In 2016

Nearly a quarter of children and young people are being turned away by providers(01 of09)

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are turning away nearly a quarter (23%) of all children and young people referred to them for help by parents, GPs, teachers and others.

This was often because their condition was not deemed serious enough or suitable for specialist mental health treatment. (credit:© Naufal MQ via Getty Images)

You might not be able to access specialist support if your BMI isn’t low enough(02 of09)

CentreForum noted that in some cases, support for anorexia was denied unless a young person was under a certain BMI threshold. (credit:Donald Iain Smith via Getty Images)

You might not be able to get specialist support if you’re hearing voices(03 of09)

Criteria in one area suggested those “hearing voices in the context of mild anxiety, low self-esteem or low mood” should see their GP or voluntary sector counselling service and only be referred to CAMHS if they “heard voices that command particular behaviours”. (credit:H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock via Getty Images)

You might not be able to access specialist support if you've only expressed suicidal thoughts once(04 of09)

CentreForum found one CAMHS would refer people to more generic support unless they had “enduring suicidal ideation” (i.e. they had felt they wanted to commit suicide on more than one occasion). (credit:Jacques LOIC via Getty Images)

You might not be able to get specialist support if your condition hasn't reached a high level of severity(05 of09)

In some areas, referrals were not accepted unless the young person's condition was “having a major impact on the child’s life such as an inability to attend school or involving a major breakdown in family relationships”. (credit:Arvydas Kniuk?ta via Getty Images)

Maximum waiting times for services have more than doubled in the last two years(06 of09)

CentreForum's analysis of NHS Benchmarking data found that the average of the maximum waiting times for all providers has more than doubled since 2011/12. (credit:Hero Images via Getty Images)

Maximum and average waiting times vary greatly(07 of09)

Respondents reported maximum waiting times ranging from four weeks to over two and a half years. The average of these longest waiting times for each service was nearly 10 months for treatment to begin.

Average waiting times for different providers also varied widely, from two weeks in Cheshire to 19 weeks in North Staffordshire. The average waiting time in Gateshead is five times as long as for those in nearby Tyneside. Similarly, waits in London vary widely from two months in Kensington and Chelsea to nearly six months in neighbouring Brent. (credit:Aaron McCoy via Getty Images)

There were also 'hidden waits' concealed in average waiting times(08 of09)

CentreForum has uncovered that the median of the maximum waiting times for all providers was 26 weeks (6 months) for a first appointment and nearly ten months (42 weeks) for the start of treatment.

Some providers did not even measure waiting times at all, meaning that some patients could even be waiting longer than this. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)

Where you live can affect how much is spent on your treatment(09 of09)

CentreForum’s analysis of regional expenditure on mental health also revealed a North/South divide, with northern regions spending more on services while capacity problems exist in the South. (credit:Sverrir Thorolfsson Iceland via Getty Images)

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