WHO data show that young people aged 18-29 are 30% to 80% more likely to report symptoms of depression or anxiety than adults. What are the primary reasons for this, and how have these trends evolved?
Hannes Jarke: This is a highly complex issue. The answer depends on which country and what other determinants we’re looking at.
However, there are a few factors that really stand out. One of them, which became more prominent in recent years, concerns the impact of the housing crisis on young people. We know that prices are going up for any type of accommodation, especially in big cities across Europe, whereas the salaries are not. If we add inflation, it is clear that it has become very complicated for young people to set up their lives.
On top of this, we should consider climate anxiety. The more people learn about the climate crisis, the more helpless some feel due to government inaction. If you look at the data, you see that if we don’t act right now, we probably won’t have a planet anymore in a few decades. All this can add to the anxiety.
In addition, the pandemic is still significantly affecting everyone, especially in terms of loneliness. It was particularly hard for young people or children during COVID-19 because they were often struggling the most with the isolation and the lack of contact with their social network in school.
We have seen in the past five years a massive increase in the number of suicidal thoughts among children and youth. We still don’t have the big picture of all contributing factors and how these interact with each other. All the current crises we face play a role, but this is not the full picture. Suicidal thoughts in children are a scary wake-up call and a clear example that something needs to be done in this sense.
Lastly, we still don’t know the long-term effects that COVID-19 has on the brain, and there is a huge research gap there. Since the pandemic officially ended, funding has stalled, and this is progressing very, very slowly.
According to the World Happiness Report, older adults (aged 60 and older) feel more socially supported and less lonely than younger generations despite having less frequent actual interactions. What do you think contributes to this sense of loneliness among the youth?
Hannes Jarke: Loneliness is a very complex matter, and there’s a difference between being lonely and feeling lonely. People can be part of larger groups and have a lot of social interactions but still feel lonely. So, we might have many people who feel lonely, but we don’t see it.
It’s also extremely complicated because internal factors, like personality traits, social skills, and external factors, all play a role in this. People might define loneliness differently for themselves, which is why it is not easy to research.
This European Parliament’s study shows that digitalisation has brought many benefits and opportunities to society, but has also created some risks, including digital addiction, attention-retention disorders, loneliness and exposure to dangerous and illegal content. What should be done to mitigate the adverse side effects of digitalisation on young people’s mental health?
Hannes Jarke: One of the big questions that we need to figure out is how growing up in a digitalised world affects children and youth. We don’t have long-term data simply because some aspects of digitalisation are rather new. Smartphones have been around for slightly more than a decade.
We really need to study what exactly growing up within a digitalised world does to the development of children’s and young people’s brains. We know excessive screen time and sedentary behaviours are detrimental to our health. Essentially, anything that affects physical health can affect mental health as well. If you are physically healthy, it is easier also to be mentally healthy and resilient
I think one of the essential steps in this sense is to teach both digital literacy and digital health literacy, as well as their implications, to both children and parents. Parents also need to be given opportunities to learn how their children interact with various technologies on a daily basis.
We should also establish solid evidence in terms of what the different measures governments and schools are introducing now can do. For example, there are actions focusing on limiting screen time. So, what does it actually do? How much do we need to limit it? What is actually realistic to put into practice? Social media training is also beneficial. What are the dangers of social media? How can it affect people? Safety training would also be necessary for these matters.
What preventive steps can we take to improve mental resilience among young people?
Hannes Jarke: One critical point here is that mental health promotion and building resilience should not only be the responsibility of an individual, but also of policy and society. No one is completely immune to developing mental health conditions. As such, it is necessary to implement policies which prevent mental disorders as much as possible but also put a system in place that ensures people can easily access support if needed. You can plan interventions, or you can address the mental health problems of an individual, but if people live under precarious circumstances, it will affect their mental health.
Ideally, all policies should take mental health outcomes into account. That being said, mental health literacy is also essential. A better understanding of what mental health is, what mental disorders are, how they arise, and what their impact is can serve as a strong factor in terms of resilience.
The EU4Health-funded Mentality project, led by Mental Health Europe and which EuroHealthNet is a part of, works to adapt and implement good practices in mental health from one country to another in Europe. One of them is a guide for teachers co-developed by the Red Cross. It aims to support teachers in explaining mental health to their students.
If mental health education is started as early as possible, children will better understand what they can do to protect their mental well-being and become more aware of this matter in general.
Additionally, people need to know where to find help. In many countries, people, even those with some experience in the matter, are sometimes not sure where to look for help. Another great example we’re using in the Mentality project is a map of services created for the first time by the Human Foundation in Poland during the pandemic. Some people realised that citizens needed mental health support, but they did not know where to find it. They came together and created an online map where individuals could understand where to find free assistance close to their homes. They could see what psychosocial services are available in their area, as well as other types of social support.
Lastly, tackling mental health conditions should be a coordinated approach. All of the aforementioned measures are important, but they can have a greater impact only when implemented in a coordinated way.
The EU recently adopted its first comprehensive mental health strategy, emphasising research and access to mental health professionals and focusing on children and young people. What further steps do you believe are necessary to address mental health challenges among European youth effectively?
Hannes Jarke: This strategy was a milestone, and now it depends on how it’s implemented in the member states. However, further steps should actively involve stakeholders, such as youth and children from the start, not just as survey participants but by encouraging and supporting them to bring ideas to the table actively. Co-creation can improve things a lot. You conduct the best surveys and then run solid meta-analyses across them. Yet, in the development and implementation phase of an intervention and policy, the voice of a person with lived experience sometimes brings to light matters which have simply not been studied before.
Additionally, access to mental health support, mental health care, and mental health literacy programs are big targets that we should focus on both internationally and nationally; we need more therapists as well as general support.
Another key topic mentioned in the strategy is data. We need better and more comprehensive data to measure the impact of the interventions developed in Europe. We need to know what exact impact interventions have and if they are successful – we cannot do this without sufficient granular data.
We also need more specific data to see how mental health develops differently depending on social, economic, and personal determinants. For example, we lack data on LGBTQ+ community members; having more data on specific populations would be really beneficial to identify specific needs and approaches to address them.
Next to this, we need to ensure that the results of research and interventions are known, and all stakeholders are involved. And lastly, we need clear responsibilities and dedicated personnel within the EU to ensure that the money dedicated to mental health helps the Member States implement it. While health is the countries’ responsibility, harmonising approaches would go a long way.