Rates of adolescent anxiety and depression ʽalarming’ – report
Anxiety and depression among Bermuda’s adolescents has been noted at “alarming” levels since the coronavirus pandemic, a study revealed.
The Bermuda Adolescent Mental Health and Wellness report also found increased rates of loneliness, stress and tension in the island’s young people, as well as a lack of awareness about their mental health.
Edmina Bradshaw, who researched and wrote the report, said it “not only describes the current landscape, it also serves as guidance for increased philanthropic engagement and potentially as a support to public policy and new programme development”.
Distributed at the Moving Forward Together conference last month, the report, published by the Fund for Adolescent Mental Health, also identified limitations to mental health services in Bermuda.
• The science behind adolescent mental health
• Determinants of adolescent mental health and wellbeing in Bermuda
• Key stakeholders, overall capacity and service gaps in Bermuda
• Community awareness
• Evidence-based practices and international approaches to sustaining positive mental health
• Barriers, risks, threats and protective opportunities for local development in mental health
Michelle Wolfe, the chairwoman of the AMH Fund, said the organisation hoped the report represented “an opportunity to foster professional competencies and facilitates support for relevant programmes, organisations and services, existing and proposed”.
She added: “We also hope that its release will increase community awareness on service models, needs and gaps.”
Myra Virgil, the chief executive of the Bermuda Foundation, edited the report and hoped it will “help inform the bigger conversations on needs, services and programming”.
Announcing the publication, the Bermuda Foundation said the report found that: “Since the pandemic, rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, stress and tension in young people has reached ‘alarming’ levels.
“Services offered to young people — public, private and third sector — are limited by stretched services, dated infrastructures, inadequate resources, fragmented approaches, economic challenges and troubling social issues including drugs, gangs and the effects of adverse childhood experiences.
“There is a general lack of awareness about adolescent mental health, in a culture that generally stigmatises mental illness.”
The report suggested the challenges can be resolved through developing a structured plan, increasing adolescent mental health awareness, establishing national standards for youth programmes and highlighting successful techniques.
The Royal Gazette reported earlier that PhD student Daniel Cavanagh and psychologist Shawnee Basden ran a study that involved 76 per cent of middle and high school pupils on the island.
Results showed that 31 per cent of students surveyed had “moderate to severe” symptoms of depression or anxiety.
• To read the Bermuda Adolescent Mental Health and Wellness report, see Related Media
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