According to figures from the Public Health Agency (PHA) suicide rates in Northern Ireland have experienced a sharp increase of 64 per cent in the last decade. Over a relatively short period of time an unusually high number of young people in the city have been committing suicide, with their deaths having serious and reverberating read more »

A recent study has revealed that young people who smoke cannabis stand an increased risk of developing psychosis. A study conducted by a research team from Germany, the Institute of Psychiatry London and the Netherlands has investigated the effects of smoking cannabis on 1,900 volunteers in Germany aged between 14 to 24, before following up read more »

What does the Government’s new mental health strategy mean for children and young people in Britain? Last week it was announced that the Governments new mental health strategy was to focus much of its attention on a series of early intervention programmes which are aimed at identifying children and adults who may be vulnerable to read more »

According to British researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge, girls who start having periods before the age of 12 are more likely to experience symptoms of depression than those whose periods begin later. The long term study involved 2,184 girls and aimed to find out whether or not early menstruation read more »

A recent study has revealed that an alarming percentage of teenagers are pretending to have a mental illness which they deem as ‘cool’, reports the Daily Mirror. Many teenagers are faking serious conditions such as bipolar disorder, depression and self-harm in an attempt to mimic famous sufferers and impress their peers. Teenagers who took part read more »

This year whilst many of us were enjoying Christmas with our families, Childline took calls, texts and emails from 1,005 young people in distress, an increase of 11% since last year. Childline Manager, Margie Rose explained that children who contacted the service this year on Christmas day did so for a variety of reasons, but read more »

Young people who are unemployed stand a high risk of suffering from depression and panic attacks, says study. According to a recent study conducted by the Prince’s Trust Charity, unemployment among young people is resulting in increased levels of mental health problems. The survey, which involved 2,170 participants, found that almost half of all the read more »

According to a recent study which set out to investigate bad attitudes towards those with poor mental health, young people in the UK stand a high chance of being verbally abused when they are in distress. The study involved questioning 2,629 individuals between the ages of nine and 25 about verbal abuse. The researchers found read more »

According to research carried out by the Mental Health Foundation and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, around 200,000 young people in the UK are thought to be caring for a parent with severe mental health problems such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression. The MyCare report includes the opinions of young carers aged read more »