More children than ever being prescribed Valium as mental health woes

He feels that youngsters are struggling with the tough elements such as falling out of friendships, falling in love and failing exams because they had limited time with friends and social groups during the pandemic.

“They, their parents and teachers are interpreting this as a sign of stress but there are more ordinary ways of engaging with people who are in distress without interpreting it as a sign of possible mental disorder that requires some sort of special expertise.

“Growing up is tough but we shouldn’t be over-medicalising it.”

Separate data shows antidepressant prescriptions for children aged five to 12-years-old rose by more than 40 percent between 2015 and 2021, according to figures obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal.

The rates peaked in March 2020, after the start of the first lockdown, at 2,031, a 15 percent increase compared to March 2019. In the same month, the number of unique patients aged 0–17 years who were prescribed antidepressants reached a peak in England, with 17,902 females and 9,855 males prescribed antidepressants.

Olly Parker, Head of External Affairs at YoungMinds, said: “These figures are yet another alarming sign of the crisis in mental health services for young people. Record numbers are trying to access support and very often find the options are limited. Many young people are really struggling to get access to CAMHS and that, even if they do get accepted for care, support can be minimal.

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