All in the mind. Teenage mental heath.

This episode of 'All In the Mind' focusses on teenage mental health. To open, Spoken-Word Poet Hollie McNish recites a poem commissioned by the programme on the subject of teenage mental health. Presenter Claudia Hammond then introduces her panel: Young Minds Activist Sarah Hulyer, mental health Blogger Kimberley Robinson, Professor of Evidence-Based Psychological Therapy Shirley Reynolds and child and adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Dickon Bevington. They discuss the complications associated with establishing a comparable scale of teenage mental health diagnoses throughout history. Clinical Psychologist Dr Tanya Byron discusses school stress in adolescents and the importance of not basing the propensity for mental health problems exclusively on a child’s environment. Hulyer and Robinson recount their personal experiences suffering from anxiety and panic attacks. Hammond visits a career fair and interviews young people about the issues they typically worry over. Hulyer and Robinson then compare these comments with similar research carried out by Young Minds. The panel discuss the pressure put on young people at school to attend university. Bevington explains the difference in development between an adolescent and adult brain, and discusses the disconnect between our brains’ natural interests during adolescent development and what it is expected to concentrate on within a contemporary cultural landscape. Hammond interviews Tom Carr, Abbey Brewer and David Ward, who all contacted the LGBT organisation Stonewall during adolescence regarding issues surrounding sex and sexuality. The panel discus the role of digital communication in the development of young minds. Reynolds then talks about adolescent self-harm and suicide. Bevington and the panel then discuss parent worry, how parents and children can communicate with each other in a healthy way, and the taboo of asking for help. The panel, including Byron, take this debate further by discussing the types of services available to vulnerable young people. Hulyer and Robinson recount the types of services that helped them personally, and the panel discuss these types of experiences further.