Mental health review chief says young people are not "snowflakes"
Prof Peter Fonagy, leading an independent review ordered by Wes Streeting, tells the BBC mental distress among young people is real and rising, not over-diagnosis.
What to know
- Prof Peter Fonagy's independent review, ordered nine months ago by then-health secretary Wes Streeting, is expected to be published later this week.
- Fonagy says the rise in youth mental distress since the 1990s is real, with about one in four 16-24-year-olds now struggling, driven by economic uncertainty and social media.
- The review contradicts the premise it was reportedly commissioned under — that young people were over-diagnosed and "written off".
- Data is contested: some rely on self-reporting, and critics argue greater awareness, reduced stigma, and over-medicalising normal stress inflate the figures.
The review's findings show youth mental health struggles stem from real external pressures, not weakness, and demand policy action.
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“life for the young has become harder & more stressful, and the range of mental health difficulties & challenges they face is the result of that, not some failure of reliance on their part! Which seems about right! Now we need to do…”
ChrisMayLA6 · mastodon ↗
“Adults have let them down. We're the first generation that probably collectively feels we had a better life than our children will have.”
Prof Peter Fonagy, Head of the independent mental health review · BBC ↗ · Sep 20
Peter Fonagy Clinical psychologist, head of the independent mental health review
Wes Streeting Former health secretary who ordered the review
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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Commentator says review undercuts Streeting's over-diagnosis framing
A Mastodon commenter argued the review, originally ordered to support the over-diagnosis narrative, instead appears set to conclude the opposite — that young people's struggles reflect real external pressures, not personal failure.
“life for the young has become harder & more stressful, and the range of mental health difficulties & challenges they face is the result of that, not some failure of reliance on their part!”
— ChrisMayLA6 -
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The report/review ordered by Wes Streeting to (implicitly) back up the notion that young people's mental health problems were 'over-diagnosed' seems actually likely to come to the exact opposite conclusion; life for the young has become harder & more stressful, and the range of mental health difficulties & challenges they face is the result of…
2 more of the top 3 · 5 posts in this stretch
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This leads to a debate i've had recently between: a) This has been said for generations upon generations of the previous (see below Socrates quote) b) Something has fundamentally shifted with the development of the internet (beyond just a tool), smartphone, and social media ecosystem in the last 10-15 years that is f\ **ing up our brains in a way…
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They're not snowflakes, and it's just ridiculous to say that they are. Every generation looks at the younger ones as being troublesome in some way. However, we also need to acknowledge the younger generations are unique. They are growing up with social media dominating everything, AI freely available to them, and they missed a couple years of in…
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BBC syndication spreads the interview across feeds
The interview was picked up and reposted across multiple BBC-affiliated feeds and Flipboard/Mastodon accounts within the same hour.
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# BBC # News # Health Young people aren't snowflakes - mental distress is rising, says head of official review
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Fonagy tells BBC young people are not a "snowflake generation"
In an exclusive interview ahead of the review's publication, Fonagy said mental distress among children and young people has genuinely risen, driven by economic and employment uncertainty and social media pressures, and that his review will reject the "snowflake generation" narrative.
“It's harder to be young now…”
— Prof Peter Fonagy -
first by BBC, 3d ago · also BBC Health
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first by Mastodon, 8h ago
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background
Streeting orders independent review after "over-diagnosed" remarks — Then-health secretary Wes Streeting commissioned the review, led by Prof Peter Fonagy, after claiming in an interview that young people were over-diagnosed and "written off".
What people are saying 2 voices from 1 site · best of 6 · verbatim
- Sep 21
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Agreed. Some economic policies which focussed on wealth creation and social mobility would be welcomed
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Which also led to substance and alcohol abuse, abusing spouses and children, and suicide. You can build resilience but even that has limits and if you aren't given enough time to build it back up it will stay crushed.