41.1% of Spanish adolescents say they have had or believe they have had a mental health problem in the last year. Of them, 36.9% have not told anyone what is happening to them and 51.4% have not asked for help.
This is stated in ‘Mental health is a matter for children and adolescents. Opinion Barometer of Childhood and Adolescence 2023-2024’, a work prepared by Unicef Spain and the University of Seville, whose conclusions were presented this Tuesday at an event in which the executive director of the organization, José María, was present. Vera; Pilar Ramos, researcher at the University of Seville and co-author of the report; and José Ángel y Alae, two kids belonging to the Unicef Spain Advisory Group.
The text shows that 41.1% of Spanish adolescents affirm that they have had or believe they have suffered from a problem related to mental health. Of them, 36.9% have not told anyone what is happening to them and 51.4% have not asked for help.
Among the internal determinants that adolescents point out as most important to promote mental health are sleeping habits (74.9%), physical exercise (62.3%) and eating a balanced diet (50.6%); while among the external ones, the good relationship with their parents (82.6%), the support of close people (82%) and doing the things that they like and make them feel good (78.6%) stand out.
On the other side of the scale, Pilar Ramos noted that the internal factors that harm the mental health of adolescents include “low self-esteem, the consumption of alcohol and other drugs, having physical health problems and having economic difficulties.” As for the external ones, “bullying or cyberbullying and having family problems” stand out.
For their part, 98.5% of adolescents acknowledge that they use social networks. Of them, 73.5% claim to have felt overwhelmed or stressed due to the amount of information they receive related to mental health; 70% use them to comment on this issue; and 32% confess that they have felt the need to show “a perfect life without problems” in the online world.
In that sense, more than twice as many girls (34.3%) as boys (13.3%) compare themselves to people who show perfect lives and good mental health on social networks. Added to this is that 73.5% of them feel more pressure to have a certain physique than they do (50.8%).
Given this situation, José María Vera observed that “although our adolescents increasingly normalize talking about mental health and identifying possible problems, a certain stigma still persists around the topic,” which is why it is “essential to promote it from all areas – public institutions and private, media, families, educational- actions, campaigns, initiatives or training that contribute to eradicating stigma and prejudice, and at the same time improving the mental well-being of our children and adolescents.”
For their part, 56% of kids do not trust guidance professionals, a reality in which José Ángel, a 17-year-old from Úbeda (Jaén) stated that it is “very important” that adolescents have “someone with whom speak in an educational center when you have problems.”
He regretted that “there are not so many counselors for a large ratio of students” and stressed the importance of those who become “friends” of them, since many kids “are afraid” that their classmates will see them asking for help.
Along the same lines, Alae, a 15-year-old girl from Fuenlabrada (Madrid), pointed out that the fact that adolescents do not trust counselors is due to the fact that “there are very few of them,” which causes them to dedicate “little time to the kids.” This leads them to “feel that they are alone in their struggles and believe that no one will understand them”, to which is added that “at home they do not have the confidence or courage to ask for health help of any kind.”
MENTAL HEALTH TABOO
On the other hand, José Ángel stated that young people of his generation “do not mind having a relationship with a person with a mental health problem, because we believe that we can help them with our support and with the advice we can give them.”
After confirming that “mental health has been, is and will continue to be a taboo in our society”, he celebrated that this perception “is decreasing”; while Alae stated that “the current generation is a little more open to accepting mental health in adolescents,” since “they are more aware” of this issue and “have more information to help” those who need it.
Regarding social networks, José Ángel considered that they have become “our right hand in our daily lives,” which means that “we are connected all day.” Although these tools “are used to spread good techniques to deal with our mental health,” ‘influencers’ “influence our lives and make us show a life that we may not like, but that we imitate to try to look like others. and being accepted in a group of friends.”
Alea denounced that content creators on social networks “only show the positive side of their lives, to show a perfect life,” which “leads adolescents to think that only they have problems and tend to imitate” what they see in their mobile phones.” However, he highlighted that “a large part” of the ‘influencers’ show the bad things that happen in their lives, which causes them to tell the kids that “a perfect life does not exist.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
For all these reasons, José Ángel and Alea launched the following proposals regarding mental health: “strengthen programs and services for detection, early prevention and mental health care for children and adolescents in Primary Care and regional health systems” ; “improve knowledge and understanding, through reliable data, of the state of mental health of children and adolescents”; and “promote initiatives in schools, understood as protective environments, to promote the well-being of students and emotional learning through awareness or training to detect problems and know how to address them.”
They also proposed “supporting families and caregivers through training, specific resources, recommendations and support networks for families”; “encourage active listening and participation of the children and adolescents themselves”; “raise awareness through the media to help eradicate stigma”; and “promote a digital space in the key of emotional well-being.”
Finally, José Ángel concluded by conveying that “we are going to make it something totally normal, totally natural, to talk about mental health,” and Alae slipped that “it is okay not to be okay,” stating that “we must accept that we have problems, which It is an essential step for healing.” “I would like everyone who feels they have a physical or mental health problem to treat it without thinking about what they will say if they go to a psychologist or counselor,” he concluded.