{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreibsd34vy2kxiq33uejdd7z3xo3vt55obygcsvd5gpkzp5soh6ha7m",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:oznbnvgr7dmvddiyvr7dih52/app.bsky.feed.post/3mknqgx7bevy2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreieoaoa4chnug2x6pouy2yjji6afupqsid4b3jeiatzk7jztqjjcsq"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 397010
  },
  "path": "/news/mental-health-crisis-teenagers-anxiety-depression-adhd-2030",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T18:00:38.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Shabana Mahmood pledges to ‘strain every sinew’ and address ‘wider societal issues’ in wake of Golders Green terror attack",
    "Protesters who climb on national memorials to face prison as new crackdown introduced",
    "University wins record £585k legal challenge amid freedom of speech row",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nNearly two-thirds of British teenagers will suffer from a mental health condition or behavioural disorder by 2030, a new report has found.\n\nThe report, from Zurich Insurance, found that having a mental health issue now falls within the majority of teenagers between 15 and 19.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThey estimate 51 per cent of people within that age bracket have a mental or behavioural disorder, such as anxiety, depression, or ADHD.\n\nIf the current trend continues, by 2030, they suggest it will reach 64 per cent.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe estimates raise serious concerns, as the numbers threaten to worsen the youth unemployment crisis.\n\nStruggling with mental health is becoming increasingly common amongst young people, with anxiety pointed to as the leading cause.\n\nThe report found that more than 10.5million Britons will suffer from anxiety by 2028, an increase from 8.7million in 2025.\n\nIt blamed poor mental health within young people in the UK on “reduced stigma, social media exposure, academic pressure, economic uncertainty and strong engagement through schools and universities”.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWill Shield, a professor of child psychology at the University of Exeter, told the Telegraph: “There is a risk that we’re over-medicalising normal childhood or teenage experience.\n\n“But I think we have to ask why people are using this language to describe themselves.\n\n“I think it is because society and things are really hard at the moment. It’s far easier to try to make sense of your experience through that lens of ‘I fit into this box’ or ‘this is why I find things so challenging’.”\n\nResearch from the Resolution Foundation has also found that children in the UK are among the most miserable and anxious.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:\n\n\n\n\n  * Shabana Mahmood pledges to ‘strain every sinew’ and address ‘wider societal issues’ in wake of Golders Green terror attack\n  * Protesters who climb on national memorials to face prison as new crackdown introduced\n  * University wins record £585k legal challenge amid freedom of speech row\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nNye Cominetti, from the Foundation, said: “The UK, when you compare it to other countries, looks really, really bad on young people’s health.”\n\nWhen looking at those estimated to suffer from depression, he said: “We are worse than any other OECD country.\n\n“On anxiety, we also look really bad.”\n\nMr Shield continued to say: “The children I work with are far more eloquent when they talk on mental health now and far happier to talk about what wellbeing means – what poor mental health looks like and what they can do about it – than they were when I started my career 20 years ago.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHealth Secretary Wes Streeting and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have both cautioned against “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions.\n\nMr Streeting said the Government cannot “sit back and ignore the rise in mental health problems in our society.\n\n“Doing so would leave a generation of people to suffer alone and leave our economy and society deprived of their talent and potential.”\n\nPeter Hamilton, from Zurich, said: “The rise in youth mental health care needs is the start of a wave that will shape the UK’s workforce for a generation.\n\n“Unless we intervene, mental health risks will become a persistent drag on productivity, economic growth and social mobility.”\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**\n**\n\n**\n**\n\n**\n**\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Nearly two thirds of British teenagers to have mental health problem within next four years"
}