However,he said the growth in pharmaceutical treatments in Australia was in part due to the lack of access to psychologists.
“Most people would suggest trying psychological approaches first,but that assumes you can access those things – the waiting lists are horrendous,” Hickie said.
While the underlying cause of anxiety around the world was often believed to be smartphones or technology,he said he believed the cause was more basic.
“The one I am more convinced of is social disconnection– young people not having experiences in the wider world to help that anxiety,” he said.
“Children should be moving outside of their families,places where their parents don’t just keep them safe to get the experiences and the skills to cope with the anxiety about the wider world.”
Another complicating factor parents faced was that children now could converse in the language of mental health.
“Most kids have acquired a much more psychological vocabulary without understanding what those terms mean,” Hickie said.
Parents who allow their child to retreat from the difficulties of everyday life might not actually be helping their anxiety.Credit:Shutterstock
Some have blamed falling attendance levels in school on school refusal–which experts have said can stem from an anxiety about leaving the home triggered by a combination of social,emotional,behavioural and academic problems.
A 2017 report recommended increasing the number of school counsellors in the state’s school so there is one for every 500 student. Before the election Labor pledged funding for an extra 250 counsellors in the states schools.
Secondary Principals’ Council Craig Petersen said more students had anxiety but there was a shortage of counsellors in schools because they could make more money in private practice.
“We just can’t pay what a psychologist in private practice can earn,” he said.
He wanted students to have access to a professional who can provide a diagnosis but said schools were also having discussions which reframed feelings like sadness.
“A growing generation of young people are lacking resilience,it is one of the conversations we have with parents and students,saying ‘it is normal to have days when you’re feeling low;
being perpetually happy is not normal’,” he said.
Clinical psychologist Judith Locke said children and adolescents growing up today had a greater tendency to pathologise their feelings with the language of mental health and parents were more receptive to that.
“I think there’s a normalisation of terms and then there’s concept creep-- with words like trauma used in ways which are not genuinely traumatic,” Locke said.
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“With the best of intentions,parents catastrophise normal nerves and talk about those feelings in a way that makes a child feel like their feelings are unusual.”
NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said the mental health of young people was a serious issue.
“We know the data shows have seen more young people struggling with poor mental health and addressing this challenge represents a major priority of this government,” she said.
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