27 June 2006
Dear Sir,
George Monbiot’s argument for understanding the major increase in mental health problems among our children in a context of social mobility bears further examination (We are making our children ill with unrealisable expectations, 27 June). While his venturing ‘Willy Loman Syndrome’ as a root cause of what he rightly calls a social catastrophe is engaging and partially successful it can’t account for many of the phenomena described in the BMA’s report to which he refers.
Yes, mental illness, behavioural problems and conduct disorders are linked to poverty, and no-one would deny the need to lift children out of poverty. But as Monbiot himself points out, child poverty is falling without a corresponding downward turn in mental health problems in the UK.
It is undeniable that young people’s expectations in a fast-moving culture of celebrity icons set them up for disappointment - but it is difficult to believe that life events such as the failure to obtain consumer goods promised girls in consumer magazines can offer an explanation for huge increases in depression, anxiety and self-harm among younger people.
Lord Layard’s work on happiness is gaining an increasing foothold in Government circles for very good reasons. Underlying his theories about the need to measure wellbeing and happiness when charting the economic progress of a nation is an important but daunting concept. He is telling us that traditional economic measures of progress can no longer help the wealthiest nations to develop - or protect them against self-destruction.
Humans are complex creatures. Once a nation has developed beyond the need to eradicate absolute material poverty, the theory of diminishing marginal returns is bound to kick in. And it kicks hard in humans. The push for individual material gain in nations like ours threatens mental wellbeing in the end because it fails to nurture or even make room for the basic tenets of mental health. We need to love, to form and maintain productive social and family relationships. We need to work for more than money - a sense of belonging and contribution to a wider society is also crucial to our sense of self. We need to belong to communities and identify positively with other people in these communities.
Many of the basics of good physical health are also crucial to good mental health. It is not a coincidence that these are the very ones to have suffered most due to our economic developments in the last fifty years. We need regular vigorous exercise to maintain good mental health - humans were not built for the indoor, sedentary lifestyles we currently lead. While young people watch TV, they are not only developing unrealistic aspirations of celebrity - they are exercising less than ever.
Finally, the introduction of convenience foods, trans-fats and meats that have dramatically altered in nutritional value is hugely important. The brain is a complex organ that relies on good nutrition like any other part of the body.
While Monbiot is correct is questioning the fact that children have unrealistic expectations and few ways of fulfilling them, the aspirations handed them by adult society can never promote good mental health. The social catastrophe he seeks to define is complex, and calls for an immense rethink of how we measure progress.
The payoff of a failure to understand the concept of public mental health and apply it to our public policy will be an enormous economic and social burden of mental illness, carried by countless future generations.
Andrew McCulloch
Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation
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