Depression and Suicide in Girls

A recent report has highlighted the level of depression and suicide in girls. 6000 young people called Childline last year, some of them were as young as five.

This shows that there is a real problem of childhood depression in the UK. Organizations like Childline can provide immediate support and help, especially in emergencies, but what children really need is access to proper mental health care, and of course community or familial support.

In recent years the concept of “the family” has more or less fallen by the wayside. And I don’t say that in the same way as the Christian right. I don’t mean that children need married middle class parents for everything to be fine. I just mean children need parenting. And good parenting can come from a single parent, a divorced parent, a married couple, a co-habiting couple, a mixed race couple or a homosexual couple. There is no demographic that can be 100% ruled out of good parenting.

Good parenting means caring, and at the moment too few parents really care about their kids on a day to day basis, that is why we are seeing a high prevalence of anorexia, bulimia, childhood depression, and childhood suicide.

 

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