̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Tamsin Ford

‘Teen-friendly’ mindfulness therapy aims to help combat depression

cjb250 — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:00:40 +0000

Researchers have developed a mindfulness therapy tailored specifically to appeal to teenagers to help them cope with increasing levels of depression and mental health problems.

New report highlights increase in number of children and young people with eating disorders

cjb250 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:44:52 +0000

̽��ֱ��report is a follow on from the 2017 survey, which six years ago reported an upswing in anxiety, depression and self-harm among young women.

Among other key findings were:

After a rise in prevalence between 2017 and 2020, rates of probable mental disorder remained stable in all age groups between 2022 and 2023.
Among eight to 16 year olds, rates of probable mental disorder were similar for boys and girls, while for 17 to 25 year olds, rates were twice as high for young women than young men.
In 2023, eating disorders were identified in one in eight (12.5%) of 17 to 19 year olds, with rates four times higher in young women (20.8%) than young men (5.1%).
More than one in four children aged eight to 16 years (26.8%) with a probable mental disorder had a parent who could not afford for their child to take part in activities outside school or college, compared with one in 10 (10.3%) of those unlikely to have a mental disorder.
17 to 25 year olds with a probable mental disorder were three times more likely to not be able to afford to take part in activities such as sports, days out, or socialising with friends, compared with those unlikely to have a mental disorder (26.1% compared with 8.3%).
Children aged 11 to 16 years with a probable mental disorder were five times more likely than those unlikely to have a mental disorder to have been bullied in person (36.9% compared with 7.6%). They were also more likely to have been bullied online (10.8% compared with 2.6%).

Professor Tamsin Ford, Head of Psychiatry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and one of the research leads for the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital, was one of the report’s authors. She said: “These figures confirm that the huge increase in referrals to clinics for eating disorder services is not just the result of more children and young people seeking help, it’s a sign of more children and young people needing help. There is no single silver bullet to fixing this problem. All services working with children must pull together.”

While not every young person with an eating disorder will require inpatient care, for those that do Professor Ford says Cambridge Children’s Hospital, with its vision of integrated mental and physical healthcare will vastly improve treatment and outcomes.

“These are conditions to be taken very seriously. ̽��ֱ��benefit of having integrated paediatric physical and mental healthcare for children and young people diagnosed with eating disorders is huge,” said Professor Ford.

“If your condition is that severe, you need access to blood tests and the acute medical care that being on an inpatient acute paediatric ward gives you, but at the same time you need the therapeutic environment and support that you would get in a mental health ward.

“What Cambridge Children's Hospital will do is provide both in the same place as opposed to children having to be transferred between locations and only being able to access one part of their care that they need at any one time.”

As the first specialist children’s hospital for the East of England, Cambridge Children’s Hospital will care for children, young people and their families from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Every child will be treated for their mental and physical health, with an additional focus on family wellbeing and support.

Professor Ford said mental health problems in the teenage and emerging adult years can massively impact a young person’s future trajectory in terms of education, health, employment, and social skills. She believes Cambridge Children’s Hospital vision of integrated care will help children and young people recover more quickly.

“What we hope is that treating mental and physical health together – a ‘whole child’ approach - will allow us to get children better quicker and get them back to their homes and back attending school, which again will help their ongoing recovery. Children should be in hospital for the shortest possible time.”

̽��ֱ��report was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and Department of Education, commissioned by NHS England, and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, the Office for National Statistics and the Universities of Cambridge and Exeter.

Living with an eating disorder

Summer*, who was diagnosed with an eating disorder during her teens, was cared for in the community before being admitted to an inpatient ward. She says being able to have a clinician treat you from your bedside, rather than being transferred to a hospital, could make a huge difference.

“ ̽��ֱ��physical consequences [of eating disorders] can be huge,” said Summer, who grew up in Essex. “Your vital signs can get dangerously low and long term you can get difficulties, like osteoporosis.

“Self-harming can be quite common in some mental health units and the need to leave for treatment somewhere else can be traumatising for the young person being moved and the other patients who might witness it.”

Summer, who says challenges at home as well as pressure from social media contributed to her becoming ill, added: “It can be a shock being admitted as an inpatient, particularly if you feel you're still functioning well in school or work. It can be difficult to recognise how sick you are.”

*Summer’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

Adapted from a news story from the Cambridge Children’s Hospital

One in five children and young people have a probable mental health condition, according to ̽��ֱ��Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 report, published today. ̽��ֱ��report also reveals a significant rise in those being diagnosed with eating disorders, including a 10% increase among young men and women aged 17-19.

[It's] not just the result of more children and young people seeking help, it’s a sign of more children and young people needing help

Tamsin Ford

Kate Williams

A woman looking out of a window

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Celebrating the women of Cambridge: Part III

jek67 — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 07:45:24 +0000

Part III: To mark International Women's Day and Women's History Month, the ̽��ֱ�� is delighted to shine a light on some of the incredible women living and working here at Cambridge.

School-based mindfulness training programme fails to improve young people’s mental health

cjb250 — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 07:51:50 +0000

̽��ֱ��MY Resilience In ADolescence (MYRIAD) study programme span spans eight years of research and explore whether schools-based mindfulness training could improve the mental health of young people. It involved more than 28,000 children aged 11-14, 100 schools and 650 teachers. ̽��ֱ��main studies from this programme are published in a series of papers in a special issue of Evidence-based Mental Health.

Professor Willem Kuyken from the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford, one of the lead authors, said: “MYRIAD is the largest of its kind to explore, in detail, whether mindfulness training in schools can improve young people’s mental health. With early adolescence being an important window of opportunity in terms of preventing mental health problems and promoting well-being, and young people spending much of their waking lives at school, a schools-based programme could be a good way to support young people’s mental health.”

Reports suggest that one in five teenagers experience mental health problems, and three quarters of all mental illnesses that anyone will ever develop before the age of 24. For example, the peak age of onset of depression is between 13 and 15 years of age. ̽��ֱ��MYRIAD studies showed that certain groups of young people were more likely to report mental health problems: girls, older teenagers, those living in urban areas, and those living in areas of greatest poverty and deprivation.

̽��ֱ��young people participating in the studies reported mixed views of the mindfulness-training curriculum (some rating it highly and others negatively), while 80% did not do the required mindfulness practice homework.

Professor Mark Williams from the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford, added: “ ̽��ֱ��findings from MYRIAD confirm the huge burden of mental health challenges that young people face, and the urgent need to find a way to help. They also show that the idea of mindfulness doesn’t help – it’s the practice that matters. If today’s young people are to be enthused enough to practice mindfulness, then updating training to suit different needs and giving them a say in the approach they prefer are the vital next steps.”

In addition, to teach mindfulness well, committed staff, resources and teacher training and support are needed, and the co-design of programmes and resources with young people would likely be more effective, say the researchers. A multitude of factors affect young people’s health, for example, their environment at school and at home, their school’s culture, and their individual differences.

Co-investigator Professor Tamsin Ford from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “Our work adds to the evidence that translating mental health treatments into classroom curricula is difficult and that teachers may not be best placed to deliver them without considerable training and support – another approach would be for mindfulness practitioners to work with students at risk of poor mental health or who express a particular interest in attending mindfulness training.”

Other findings included:

Mindfulness training improved overall school climate (atmosphere and culture), especially views of the school leadership, connectedness, and respect – although most effects washed out after one year.
Teachers who did the mindfulness training reported lower levels of burnout, particularly feelings of reduced exhaustion and depersonalization – although most effects washed out after one year.

Professor Mark Greenberg, one of the study co-investigators at Pennsylvania State ̽��ֱ��, said: “ ̽��ֱ��MYRIAD project carefully tested the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention for early teens and found it to have no impact on preventing mental health problems or promoting well-being. In order to improve wellbeing for young people, it is likely we need to make broader systemic changes in schools that both teach them new coping skills and support staff to create environments where youth feel valued and respected.”

Miranda Wolpert, Director of Mental Health at Wellcome, which funded the research, said: “In science, it is just as important to find out what doesn’t work as what does. It can take real bravery to share such findings. This rigorous, large-scale study found that when mindfulness training was delivered at scale in schools it did not have an impact on preventing risk of depression or promoting well-being in students aged 11 to 14 years.”

Adapted from a press release by the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford

A standardised schools-based mindfulness training programme did not help young people’s mental health and well-being overall, but did improve school culture and reduce teachers’ burn out, a new study has found.

Our work adds to the evidence that translating mental health treatments into classroom curricula is difficult and that teachers may not be best placed to deliver them without considerable training and support

Tamsin Ford

Drazen Zigic (Getty Images)

Rear view of sports teacher practicing Yoga with her students at school gym

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Rate of mental disorders among children remained stable in 2021 after previous rise

cjb250 — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 14:57:04 +0000

̽��ֱ��report, Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2021, showed that among six to 16 year olds, the proportion with a probable mental disorder remained at one in six (17%) in 2021. Among 17 to 19 year olds, the rate was also one in six (17%).

Figures were statistically similar in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, the rate of probable mental disorders was also one in six for both these age groups.

Both years showed an increase from 2017, when one in nine (12%) six to 16 year olds and one in ten (10%) 17 to 19 year olds had a probable mental disorder.

This report looks at the mental health of children and young people in England in 2021 and how this has changed since 2017 and 2020. Views on family life, education and services and experiences during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have also been collected. ̽��ֱ��findings draw on a sample of 3,667 children and young people aged between six and 23 years old, who were surveyed in 2017 and 2021.

̽��ֱ��survey was carried out earlier this year by the Office for National Statistics, the National Centre for Social Research, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and ̽��ֱ�� of Exeter.

Professor Tamsin Ford, Head of Psychiatry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and one of the study authors, said: “We can be reassured that the mental health of children and young people has not deteriorated further, but this survey suggests there has been no improvement. We need to work hard to prevent further deterioration and to ensure that those who need it have access to effective support.”

This publication reports individual level change in mental health over time for the same group of children and young people. Some change may be due to different rates of mental health conditions being present at different ages. It shows 39% of children now aged six to 16 experienced a deterioration in their mental health between 2017 and 2021, while 22% saw an improvement.

Among young people now aged 17 to 23, 53% experienced a decline in mental health since 2017 and 15% experienced an improvement over that time.

Girls now aged between 11 and 16 were more likely to have experienced a decline in mental health (43%) than boys the same age (34%). This trend was also seen among those now aged 17 to 23, where young women were more likely to have experienced deterioration (61%) than young men (44%).

Other topics covered in the report included eating and sleeping problems, loneliness, social media usage and household circumstances.

Adapted from a press release by NHS Digital.

One in six children in England had a probable mental disorder in 2021 – a similar rate to 2020 but an increase from one in nine in 2017 - according to a survey published today by NHS Digital.

We need to work hard to prevent further deterioration and to ensure that those who need it have access to effective support

Tamsin Ford

Nijwam Swargiary

Teenager

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Teenagers at greatest risk of self-harming could be identified almost a decade earlier

cjb250 — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 06:00:46 +0000

̽��ֱ��team, based at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, found that while sleep problems and low self-esteem were common risk factors, there were two distinct profiles of young people who self-harm – one with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and a second group without those difficulties but with different risk factors.

Between one in five and one in seven adolescents in England self-harms, for example by deliberately cutting themselves. While self-harm is a significant risk factor for subsequent suicide attempts, many do not intend suicide but face other harmful outcomes, including repeatedly self-harming, poor mental health, and risky behaviours like substance abuse. Despite its prevalence and lifelong consequences, there has been little progress in the accurate prediction of self-harm.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge team identified adolescents who reported self-harm at age 14, from a nationally representative UK birth cohort of approximately 11,000 individuals. They then used a machine learning analysis to identify whether there were distinct profiles of young people who self-harm, with different emotional and behavioural characteristics. They used this information to identify risk factors from early and middle childhood. ̽��ֱ��results are published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Because the data tracked the participants over time, the researchers were able to distinguish factors that appear alongside reported self-harm behaviour, such as low self-esteem, from those that precede it, such as bullying.

̽��ֱ��team identified two distinct subgroups among young people who self-harm, with significant risk factors present as early as age five, nearly a decade before they reported self-harming. While both groups were likely to experience sleep difficulties and low self-esteem reported at age 14, other risk factors differed between the two groups.

̽��ֱ��first group showed a long history of poor mental health, as well as bullying before they self-harmed. Their caregivers were more likely to have mental health issues of their own.

For the second group, however, their self-harming behaviour was harder to predict early in childhood. One of the key signs was a greater willingness to take part in risk-taking behaviour, which is linked to impulsivity. Other research suggests these tendencies may predispose the individual towards spending less time to consider alternate coping methods and the consequences of self-harm. Factors related to their relationships with their peers were also important for this subgroup, including feeling less secure with friends and family at age 14 and a greater concern about the feelings of others as a risk factor at age 11.

Stepheni Uh, a Gates Cambridge Scholar and first author of the study, said: “Self-harm is a significant problem among adolescents, so it’s vital that we understand the nuanced nature of self-harm, especially in terms of the different profiles of young people who self-harm and their potentially different risk factors.

“We found two distinct subgroups of young people who self-harm. ̽��ֱ��first was much as expected – young people who experience symptoms of depression and low self-esteem, face problems with their families and friends, and are bullied. ̽��ֱ��second, much larger group was much more surprising as they don’t show the usual traits that are associated with those who self-harm.”

̽��ֱ��researchers say that their findings suggest that it may be possible to predict which individuals are most at risk of self-harm up to a decade ahead of time, providing a window to intervene.

Dr Duncan Astle said: “ ̽��ֱ��current approach to supporting mental health in young people is to wait until problems escalate. Instead, we need a much better evidence base so we can identify who is at most risk of mental health difficulties in the future, and why. This offers us the opportunity to be proactive, and minimise difficulties before they start.

“Our results suggest that boosting younger children’s self-esteem, making sure that schools implement anti-bullying measures, and providing advice on sleep training, could all help reduce self-harm levels years later.

“Our research gives us potential ways of helping this newly-identified second subgroup. Given that they experience difficulties with their peers and are more willing to engage in risky behaviours, then providing access to self-help and problem-solving or conflict regulation programmes may be effective.”

Professor Tamsin Ford from the Department of Psychiatry added: “We might also help at-risk adolescents by targeting interventions at mental health leaders and school-based mental health teams. Teachers are often the first people to hear about self-harm but some lack confidence in how to respond. Providing them with training could make a big difference.”

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the UK Medical Research Council.

Reference
Uh, S et al. Two pathways to self-harm in adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; 14 June 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2021.03.010

Researchers have identified two subgroups of adolescents who self-harm and have shown that it is possible to predict those individuals at greatest risk almost a decade before they begin self-harming.

̽��ֱ��current approach to supporting mental health in young people is to wait until problems escalate. Instead, we need a much better evidence base so we can identify who is at most risk of mental health difficulties in the future, and why

Duncan Astle

Adrien Olichon

A man sitting in front of a screen

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Mind Over Chatter: What is the future of wellbeing?

ns480 — Thu, 27 May 2021 13:08:22 +0000

Season 2, episode 3

Our wellbeing is essential to our overall quality of life. But what is wellbeing? Why is it so hard to pin down? How is it different from mental health, and what can we do to understand, measure and improve it?

In this episode of Mind Over Chatter, we talked with psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Amy Orben, who examines how digital technologies affect adolescent psychological well-being and mental health, psychiatrist Professor Tamsin Ford, who specialises in children's mental health, and welfare economist Dr Mark Fabian, whose research focuses on how policymakers and citizens understand well-being.

In doing so, we learnt about the negative (and positive!) effects of the pandemic, how wellbeing differs for children and adults, and the influence of ever-evolving technology on our wellbeing.

Subscribe to Mind Over Chatter

Key points

03:00 - What's the difference between well being and mental health?

06:30 - Wellbeing and economics. How do we think about wellbeing outside of psychology?

15:01 - We’ve reached the recap point

19:04 - Can wellbeing be factored into factors that measure societal progress, like productivity GDP?

35:35 - How do we react to technological change as a society? ̽��ֱ��debate around screen time.

37:20 - Time for another recap!

50:05 - How is this new thinking about well being going to shape our lives in the future?For individuals and for governments and policymakers?

Mind Over Chatter: ̽��ֱ��Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Podcast

Pandemic restrictions aggravating known triggers for self-harm and poor mental health among children and young people

cjb250 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 23:30:04 +0000

Writing in ̽��ֱ��BMJ, Professor Tamsin Ford at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and colleagues say deterioration in mental health is clearest among families already struggling and call for urgent action “to ensure that this generation is not disproportionately disadvantaged by COVID-19.”

They point to evidence that the mental health of the UK’s children and young people was deteriorating before the pandemic, while health, educational, and social outcomes for children with mental health conditions were worse in the 21st century than the late 20th century. For example, between 2004 and 2017 anxiety, depression, and self-harm increased, particularly among teenage girls.

Given that self-harm is an important risk factor for suicide, it is not surprising that rates of suicide among the UK’s children and young people also increased in recent years, they write, though numbers remain low compared with other age groups - about 100 people aged under 18 died by suicide each year in England between 2014 and 2016.

Studies carried out during the pandemic suggest that although some families are coping well, others are facing financial adversity, struggling to home school, and risk experiencing vicious cycles of increasing stress and distress.

Probable mental health conditions increased from 11% in 2017 to 16% in July 2020 across all age, sex, and ethnic groups according to England’s Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey (MHCYP). In addition, a sample of 2,673 parents recruited through social media reported deteriorating mental health and increased behavioural problems among children aged 4 to 11 years between March and May 2020 (during lockdown) but reduced emotional symptoms among 11-16 year olds.

̽��ֱ��more socioeconomically deprived respondents had consistently worse mental health in both surveys, note the authors - a stark warning given that economic recession is expected to increase the numbers of families under financial strain.

̽��ֱ��authors acknowledge that deteriorating mental health is by no means uniform. For example, a sizeable proportion of 19,000 8-18 year olds from 237 English schools surveyed during early summer 2020 reported feeling happier, while a quarter of young people in the MHCYP survey reported that lockdown had made their life better.

And while the incidence of self-harm recorded in primary care was substantially lower than expected for 10-17 year olds in April 2020, it returned to pre-pandemic levels by September 2020, with similar patterns detected for all mental health referrals in England.

Data also show a doubling in the number of urgent referrals for eating disorders in England during 2020, despite a smaller increase in non-urgent referrals.

Professor Tamsin Ford from the Department of Psychiatry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “Even before the pandemic, we were seeing deteriorating mental health among children and young people, which was amplified by inadequate service provision to support their needs. ̽��ֱ��lockdown and other measures aimed at tackling the pandemic will only serve to exacerbate these problems – and even more so for some different age groups and socioeconomic circumstances.

“Young people’s lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, as is the case for lots of people, but their education has also been disrupted and many young people now face an uncertain future. We’re calling on policymakers to recognise the importance of education to social and mental health outcomes alongside an appropriate focus on employment and economic prospects.”

Reference
Ford, T. et al. Mental health of children and young people during pandemic. BMJ; 11 Mar 2020; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.n614

Adapted from a press release by ̽��ֱ��BMJ

Experts have issued a stark warning about the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of children and young people.

Even before the pandemic, we were seeing deteriorating mental health among children and young people, which was amplified by inadequate service provision to support their needs

Tamsin Ford

Kelly Sikkema

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