Editorial
| Pages | 145-147 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-12-2018-076 |
| Date | 17 December 2018 |
| Published date | 17 December 2018 |
| Author | Woody Caan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
Woody Caan
My eye was caught recently by a summary of major changes in the causes of death, in the USA:
“Increasing overdose, suicide, and liver disease deaths are fatal outcomes of a culture
increasingly plagued by hopelessness and despair, with its victims killing themselves either
overtly, recklessly, or gradually through high-risk behaviours”(Stein and Remington, 2018).
This mortality is concentrated in poor populations. Stein and Remington (2018) predict over
400,000 American suicides as just one outcome of “failed prevention”. In both the USA and the
UK, adverse childhood experiences (Bush, 2018) are major factorsin suicidal behaviour. There is
already quite a lot of evidence about effectivemental health promotion and child protection (Caan,
2014), but this evidence is rarely reflected in health policy and even more rarely incorporated into
workforce development. In July, I responded to this consultation from the Department for
Educationin England: “New relationshipsand health education in schoolsto prepare young people
for modernworld”. Since the last guidancefor English schools came out backin 2000, it was good
to see some new thinking. However, the tone ofthe draft guidance seemed focussed on making
individuals virtuous and it seemed disconnected from the child’s community environment or their
trajectory from birth to adulthood. Sadly, many children grow up in an unstable environment and
follow an uneven trajectory. Nonetheless, the World Federation for Mental Health has announced
as this year’s theme, for World Mental Health Day (10 October 2018):
■Young people and mental health in a changing world.
The following are among many global aspects of change that are likely thought to impact on
young people:
■Climate change (which can also intensify local problems of air pollution or extreme
weather events).
■Migration (which can also separate family members and destroy traditional community links).
■Modern slavery and trafficking young people across borders (which profits organised
crime networks).
The JPMH has long had a concern for vulnerable, socially excluded young people such as those
“not in education, employment or training”or those exposed to modern traumas like
cyberbullying or school shootings.
More frequent extreme events, like hurricanes, are a consequence of climate change. Their
impact on children’s mental health lasts much longer than the storm itself (Holpuch, 2018). Some
effects are only apparent with careful epidemiology, for example, the increase in injuries to
children during a heatwave (Sheffield et al., 2018). If global warming continues unabated,
daytime life in many cities may soon become unbearable (Watts and Hunt, 2018).
Changingclimate, for example,prolonged drought, alsodrives new types of migration(Caan, 2017)
creating “climate refugees”. Policy-makers in both the USA and UK have recently, deliberately,
enforced the cruel separation of migrant children and their parents (Waggett, 2018). Lasting
psychological damage may followsuch abrupt separations,even if families are eventually reunited.
Children separated from their parents are at increased risk of intimidation or enslavement. Even in
the quiet, rural area in which I am writing this, there has been trafficking of young people
who did not speak any English, for slave labour in illicit, indoor cannabis farms (e.g. www.
cambridge-news.co. uk/news/cambridge- news/danger-modern -day-slavery-after- 13227845).
DOI 10.1108/JPMH-12-2018-076 VOL. 17 NO. 4 2018, pp. 145-147, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729
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Editorial
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