Children with disabilities

CASPAR Monday 26 July 2021

Source: Cereba

Date: 21 July 2021

"Cerebra, a charity helping children with brain conditions, has published a report looking at the experiences of families with disabled children in their interactions with local authority children’s services departments in England. Findings from analysis of the assessment protocols of 143 children’s services authorities and a survey of 92 parent carer led support organisations include: national and local social care policies create a default position for those assessing disabled children that assumes parental failings; and the national guidance that directs the process by which disabled children are assessed is not fit for purpose, as it fails to address the assessment and support needs of disabled children for whom there is no evidence of neglect or abuse."

Link to news report

"You are enough"

"We spend so much of our time telling young people how they could do this differently, exploring why doing that isn’t such a good idea and looking at the practical steps of how positive change can be achieved.

The problem is that our words, however well-meaning will just go in one ear and out the other if they don’t believe that they can change. If they believe they are deficient in some way- lacking the character, the support, the willpower or the ability to stick with a change- then change becomes impossible in their minds. No matter how much desire they might have to make a change, with this sense of lack, they will be unlikely to get started and even less likely to meet their goal.

Those kids who have never believed in themselves, who may never have had someone cheering them on from the sidelines, bolstering their self-belief, have often been mentally over-run by a sense of their own deficiencies, where the negative voice inside their heads hasn’t been reduced to size by the positive encouraging voices of others.

Some kids have had someone cheering them on, but just because of their brains going through a chemical storm thanks to teenage hormones or because they are going through a difficult time in their lives, they stop believing any positive messages they hear from you or from significant others in their lives. The negative voice in their heads is front and centre of their thoughts. A sense of lack dominates.

When a mantra of lack dominates, young people (and the rest of us too), become like rabbits caught in headlights- they freeze. They want to get out of the way of the car, but they suddenly forget how their legs work, how to move forwards and their eyes become wide with fear. “I can’t do this”, they say.

So no matter how large the sense of desire is to change a situation, they feel that they just can’t because they don’t have the ability to. They are not enough to fix this. They are stuck.

But they are enough. And if we are to really help them, then they need to know that they are enough. This needs to be front and centre of everything we say and do. Every word we say, every piece of advice or guidance we give needs to be infused with the message “You are enough”. It can take many forms, it can be “You can do this”, “You’ve got this”, “You have more ability than you can possibly realise right now”, or “You have so much unrealised potential”."

Read full article here ...

"New class resources will help empower young people to take control of their online privacy"

"The UK’s data protection regulator is helping children and young people understand the power of their personal data as they learn, play and socialise online.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a suite of lesson plans and worksheets aimed at teaching primary and secondary school pupils how to protect their privacy online and how they can control what online companies and platforms know about them.#
The resources explain what counts as personal data, how to protect it and how to keep it private on social media. They cover the curriculum in all parts of the UK and can be downloaded for free from the ICO website.
The resources form part of the ICO’s work on building awareness of the Children’s Code, a set of standards that online services must follow if they are likely to be accessed by children. That includes putting in place extra layers of protection for children’s data.
The ICO will be producing more resources around the principles of the Children’s Code to ensure that young people know what to expect when they open an app, visit a website or play an online game.
For more information on the Children’s Code, please visit our dedicated website hub or email our Children’s Code team on childrenscode@ico.org.uk."

Link to resources

BBC Bitesize - "Children and young people’s mental health"

Source: BBC Bitesize

Date: 28 May 2021

"BBC bitesize has published an article and short film outlining top tips to support young people aged 11 – 16 years who are dealing with boredom and low motivation. The article and film are based on evidence-based guidance from researchers and clinicians reported in a research briefing published by the Co-RAY project, part of the Emerging Minds Network."

 Link to BBC bitesize

Children’s helplines

Source: Child Helpline International

Date: 17 May 2021

"Child Helpline International has published a report looking at the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the children and young people who contact child helplines around the world. Findings from quarterly surveys covering January to December 2020 include: globally, child helpline members received 25% more contacts in 2020 compared to 2019; violence and mental health were important reasons for contact globally; and requests for information about Covid-19, contacts relating to family relationships, access to essential services and the caller’s own physical health were other main reasons for making contact."

Link to full report

"LGBT+ pupils twice as likely to contemplate suicide"

Just Like Us - May 17th 2021

"LGBT+ young people are three times more likely to self-harm and twice as likely to contemplate suicide than their non-LGBT+ peers, new independent research by Just Like Us has found.

Seven in 10 (68%) LGBT+ young people have experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings, compared to 29% of young people who are not LGBT+. Lesbian (74%) and transgender (77%) young people are the most likely to have experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings, followed by bisexual young people (73%) and gay boys (66%). 

Black LGBT+ young people are three times more likely than non-LGBT+ young people to contemplate suicide – 89% of Black LGBT+ young people have experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings, compared to 67% of white LGBT+ young people.

A third (31%) of LGBT+ young people have self-harmed, compared to just 9% of non-LGBT+ young people.

LGBT+ young people are also three times less likely to report feeling good about themselves – just 13% of LGBT+ young people say they’ve felt good about themselves on a daily basis, compared to 30% of non-LGBT+ peers.

One in 10 (9%) of LGBT+ young people say they have ‘never’ felt good about themselves in the past 12 months, compared to just 5% of non-LGBT+ peers.

LGBT+ young people are twice as likely to say they ‘never’ feel useful – one in 10 (10%) say they’ve ‘never’ felt useful in the past 12 months, compared to just 5% of non-LGBT+ young people. 

LGBT+ young people are also three times less likely to feel useful – only 12% of LGBT+ young people have felt useful on a daily basis in the past 12 months, compared to 30% of non-LGBT+ peers.

The independent study of 2,934 pupils aged 11-18 (1,140 of whom were LGBT+) across the UK by Just Like Us, the LGBT+ young people’s charity, has found that LGBT+ young people are significantly more likely to struggle with mental health and are not getting enough positive messaging from school.

Only 58% of LGBT+ young people have felt safe at school on a daily basis in the past 12 months, compared to 73% of non-LGBT+ pupils.

Half (48%) of all secondary school pupils say they have received little to no positive messaging at school about being LGBT+. According to Just Like Us’ research, 18% say they have had zero positive messaging and 30% say they have only had positive messaging one or twice in the last 12 months."

Link to further information

"Families, technology use, and daily life: parents’ role in building resilience and mitigating harm"

Olaf Kapella - May 19th 2021

Excerpt -

"Parents can become overwhelmed by the rapid changes in information and communication technologies (ICT) and contradictory advice on how best to support their children’s safe and beneficial internet use. Why is that? When many of today’s parents were children themselves, most of today’s technologies did not even exist. So, parents may lack key references and best-practice examples from their own childhood that show what good digital mediation, guidance and support for children could look like. 

For www.parenting.digital, Olaf Kapella discusses how research evidence can close this information gap and support parents and carers in their decisions. Drawing on two recent reviews conducted as part of the EU Project DigiGen, he offers insights for parents on how to maximise the positive aspects of internet use by focusing on online activities (rather than screen time), co-using technologies with their children, respecting children’s privacy, promoting resilience and acting as role models."

Link to full article

Guidance Gov.UK - Parents with alcohol and drug problems: support resources

"A toolkit containing guidance, data and other resources to support professionals who are helping families affected by parental alcohol and drug problems."

last accessed 17-05-21

Link to documents

What was lockdown like for dads – and how can we keep the ‘best bits’?

"Our new study, Lockdown Fathers: the untold story, shows that during the first Covid-19 lockdown (in spring 2020), Britain’s fathers spent more time than ever with their children – looking after them, doing more housework and supporting their learning and development through play, home schooling and other activities."

"Our study found that overall, dads grew in confidence, learned new skills and built stronger relationships with their children. They want to stay more involved in future – and their contribution to their children’s learning and development could be massive."

"But long working hours and commutes, and lack of direct contact with schools, get in the way. The fathers we surveyed want that to change: 76% of those full-time at home during lockdown said they’d like more flexible working, and 63% more home-working in future, for example."

"That’s why we’re launching a new campaign, called Time with Dad."

"Time with Dad aims to create a space where employers, education providers, and parents themselves can work together to give fathers the time and support they need to keep supporting their children’s education."

"We want to explore new ideas, share our stories, form collaborations and trial new approaches."

Link to full report etc

"There Is No Evidence That Associations Between Adolescents’ Digital Technology Engagement and Mental Health Problems Have Increased"

Abstract

"Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate whether technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and mental health in three nationally representative samples. Results were mixed across types of technology and mental health outcomes: Technology engagement had become less strongly associated with depression in the past decade, but social-media use had become more strongly associated with emotional problems. We detected no changes in five other associations or differential associations by sex. There is therefore little evidence for increases in the associations between adolescents’ technology engagement and mental health. Information about new digital media has been collected for a relatively short time; drawing firm conclusions about changes in their associations with mental health may be premature. We urge transparent and credible collaborations between scientists and technology companies."

Last accessed 10-05-21

Link to full article

"Support for end-to-end encryption increases if child safety can be protected"

 "An NSPCC/YouGov survey1 found 33% of UK adults support using end-to-end encryption on social media and messaging services, but this jumps to 62%2 if it’s rolled out only if and when tech firms can ensure children’s safety is protected.

Private messaging is where most child sexual abuse happens online, and we're calling for an urgent reset of debates on end-to-end encryption to help keep children safe.

End-to-end encryption means only the devices communicating have the ability to decrypt and read the messages. While this is useful for privacy, it also presents risks for child safety and means abuse can go unnoticed online.

A major NSPCC roundtable event attended by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, will bring together child protection, civil society and law enforcement experts from the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, and Australia. The reset of the debate will focus on showing how end-to-end encryption takes away platforms’ ability to find abuse in private messaging, and how this can be avoided. 

Currently, major tech firms use a range of tech to identify child abuse images and detect grooming and sexual abuse in private messages. But Facebook’s proposals for end-to-end encryption for Facebook Messenger and Instagram would make these tools useless, with an estimate of 70% of global child abuse reports lost. In 2018 these reports resulted in 2,500 arrests and 3,000 children being safeguarded in the UK"

Accessed 19-04-21 Link

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NSPCC "Sharing the Science evaluation"

Publication date 2021

"Sharing the Science (now known as Sharing the Brain Story) is a programme that aims to help professionals and families understand child brain development and how it can be affected by early adversity."

"The programme uses six metaphors to explain key aspects of early child development, the impact of adversity, and the factors that can lead to abuse and neglect."

Key finding

"A trauma-informed approach should be taken if sharing the metaphors with a wider audience"

"Parents, carers and young people felt that sharing the metaphors widely was important for improving understanding of early child development, and for helping parents to do the best for their children. However, desire for universal sharing needs to be balanced with being trauma-informed and making sure that support is available, as the metaphors have the potential to cause distress to individuals who have experienced trauma or abuse."

Other findings include:

"Participants felt the metaphors increased their knowledge and awareness"

"The Sharing the Science metaphors were perceived to increase knowledge of the six concepts they explain and were felt to be helpful for raising awareness of the impact of trauma and abuse on child brain development."

"The metaphors are relevant to people’s lives and can evoke discussions about personal experiences"

"The metaphors led to discussions about personal experiences, indicating that they may be a helpful tool for professionals to use to facilitate conversations in therapeutic work with children and families."

"Strong emotions and judgements about different parenting practices can arise from viewing the metaphor videos"

"Watching the metaphor videos led to the expression of feelings of blame and failure from parents/carers whose child had experienced adversity, as well as judgements about the acceptability of different parenting practices. It is therefore important to emphasise that recovery is always possible when raising awareness about the impact of adversity."

Link to full report

 

"Guilt vs Shame"

Infographic From NICABM 17-03-21

Link to infographic 

"Identifying Positive Childhood Experiences"

From KidsXpress Facebook Page 17-03-21

"We talk a lot about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – with good reason – but recent research found that there are 7 Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) which act to counter traumatic experiences and have been linked to good mental health and resilience in adulthood."

Link to Facebook post

"The Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness Trial of Humanistic Counselling in Schools (ETHOS)"

Background

"In England, approximately one in seven young people meet criteria for a ‘mental disorder’, with prevalence rates rising over the past two decades. Schools, as recognised by the UK government, may provide an ideal environment to try and address this problem. They provide young people with unparalleled access to services; alleviating barriers such as time, location, and cost."

"One of the most common forms of school-based mental health intervention is counselling. School-based counselling is well established in over 60 countries around the globe, and mandatory in at least 40, including Wales. In England, approximately 60% of secondary schools provide some form of on-site counselling, with approximately 70,000–90,000 young people attending it every year in the UK."

"School counselling in the UK most commonly takes a humanistic (aka ‘person-centred’) form. Here, counsellors provide clients with an empathic, non-judgmental, and supportive relationship to find their own answers to their problems. This form of counselling is not targeted towards specific mental health ‘disorders’ (for instance, depression), but adopts a more general orientation. This may make it particularly appropriate as a ‘first line’ intervention within a school context, where a diverse array of mental health challenges may exist (for instance, bereavement, bullying, and problems with parents/carers)."

"But does this form of school counselling actually help? Data from four small trials have provided some initial indications of effects; and qualitative research suggests that clients, parents/carers, and teachers all tend to perceive it positively. What is missing, however, is a large-scale, robust evaluation of this intervention, which looks at a range of mental health and educational outcomes, follow-up effects, and economic costs; as well as the experiences and perceptions of clients, parents/carers, and teachers."

"In 2016, a team led by the University of Roehampton was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to conduct such a study, with collaborators at the universities of Manchester and Sheffield; the London School of Economics; Metanoia Institute (London); the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy; and the National Children’s Bureau."

Summary

"Our findings suggest that, on average, school-based humanistic counselling can help young people, with effects that persist for at least three months after the end of counselling. The counselling was most effective in helping young people improve their self-esteem and achieve personal goals; least effective at reducing mental health symptoms. In addition, it showed not effect on educational outcomes or reducing other service costs. Such averages, however, can mask differences in the way that young people responded to the counselling: around two-thirds seem to have found it wholly or mostly helpful, another 30% or so found it helped a bit; and then approximately 5% really did not like it. Although there is no clear evidence on who it was most helpful for, our interview data suggests that if young people were wanting—and motivated—to get things off their chests, learn about themselves, and/or find different ways of relating and coping, the counselling may have been most likely to of benefit. On the other hand, if the young people found it difficult to open up, felt uncomfortable talking to others, and/or wanted direct guidance and advice, then this intervention did not seem to be most suited."

"Finding effective ways of addressing mental health problems in young people remains a priority for policy makers and fund holders. Our study shows that school-based humanistic counselling is a viable option, but it is not a ‘magic bullet’. Rather, it is likely to help some young people some of the time, and should be offered to young people as one out of a range of possible interventions. What is most important now is to carry out equally rigorous evaluations of alternative programmes in the UK; and to develop some understanding of which interventions are most likely to be helpful for who."

Link to full article

" ‘Generation COVID’? The socio-economic factotrs impacting young people’s mental health in the pandemic"

 The link between mental health and its social determinants is well documented: unequal societies experience worse mental health outcomes. As such, the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the young – from mass job and income losses, to being trapped in abusive households, and paying rent for university accommodation they can’t use – has serious implications for wellbeing of 16-25s, whose mental health and emotional needs were already increasing before Covid-19.

"This is especially concerning for young people who faced multiple disadvantages. The same young people who have been hardest hit by the pandemic – including young women, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and young people living in poverty – already experienced the worst mental health prior to the crisis"

"Our briefing shows that hundreds of thousands of children and young people still go without the devices or internet needed to access education and essential services – and that this, along with school closures and reduced teaching hours, is exacerbating existing educational inequalities. It shares findings from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which predict that levels of destitution in the UK will approximately double due to the pandemic, and from Turn2Us which shows millions more people are resorting to debt and a near doubling of 18-25-year-olds reporting they are frequently running out of money since before Covid-19. It highlights the pandemic’s devastating impact on 16-25-year-olds’ employment and earnings – especially on those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and disabled communities women, the self-employed and those who grew up in a poor family. It outlines the impact the past year has had on an already precarious housing market, and reports of increasing numbers of young people being trapped in abusive, unsafe homes."

"Knowing this, it comes as no surprise that young people’s mental health needs have grown in the past year. More young people are experiencing poor mental health – including relating to anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal ideation – and more severely than before Covid-19."

Link to full report

"Can brain scans help reduce the guilt and shame associated with adolescent self-harm?"

 From The Mental Elf 02-03-21

"Deliberate self-harm amongst young people is a rapidly growing phenomena with as many as 45% of adolescents thought to have tried it at some point (Nock, 2010; Muehlenkamp et al., 2012). For the most part, self-harm is a form of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), that is, a deliberate act of harm without the intention of dying (Nock 2010; Brent et al. 2013).  Whilst self-harm may not start with suicidal intentions, it is recognised to be a significant risk factor for future attempts (Asarnow et al. 2011; Chesin et al. 2017).  Understanding more about connections in the parts of the brain active or underactive in self-harm, may help in developing targeted therapies thus preventing decline into suicidal behaviours. It may also help challenge the stigma around NSSI being a form of attention-seeking behaviour (Burke et al. 2019; Favazza, 1998; Gratz, 2006)."

"It has long been understood that NSSI is a dysfunctional coping strategy to help regulate emotional distress (Klonsky et al. 2011; Nock 2010). But why and how does the act of doing something that seemingly goes against nature, help with emotion regulation? The answer lies within activation of the amygdala (Plener et al. 2012), the brain’s emotion control centre; physiological research demonstrates high levels of activity in this region in young people who self-harm (Nock & Mendes 2008)."

Link to full article

"Misleading online content"

Source: Safer Internet Centre Date: 09 February 2021

"Safer Internet Centre has published a report on young people and unreliable and misleading content online. Findings from the report, which surveyed a group of over 4,000 children aged 8 to 17 and their parents in December 2020, include: 77% of children said that being online was a more important part of their life than ever before; almost half (48%) reported seeing misleading content every day and more than one in 10 children reported seeing it more than six times a day; 62% have had friend requests from people they don't know; and 78% think online platforms should do more to tackle misleading online content."

Link to full report

"Online harm"

Source: Marie Collins Foundation and NWG Network Date: 10 February 2021

"The Marie Collins Foundation and NWG Network have published two guides aimed at reducing online harm for children and young people. The Online Sexual Harm Reduction Guide is aimed at professionals and includes information about: why young people don't always speak out and responding to online harm. The guide aimed at parents, How Can I Help My Child?, includes information on: what online harm is; how to respond; and getting help from others."

Link to information for parents and professionals

"Exploring the relationship between vulnerable children & online"

From - Internet Matters Team | January 14th, 2021 

As part of the Youthworks, over 6,500 UK children with some form of vulnerability shows the online world has become their lifeline – yet some are to up to seven times more likely to meet particular dangers over the internet than their non-vulnerable peers. This report is by Youthworks and Kingston University, in partnership with Internet Matters – calls for a number of urgent changes in the way vulnerable children receive support, including an approach that considers their offline vulnerability, and parents and professionals being encouraged to think differently about online safety advice for teens.

*From a sample of 14,449 11-17-year olds, of whom 6,500 self-identified as having one or more of five types of vulnerability.

We must protect the UK’s two million vulnerable children from online harm

We need to place a greater focus in how the UK supports vulnerable children, as a new study reveals some can be up to SEVEN TIMES more at risk in the digital world than those without vulnerabilities.

The Refuge and Risk report showed they face many and varied types of online risks. While their vulnerabilities make them more likely to experience risk than non-vulnerable teens, being without digital access can also be problematic. If they are harmed and become scared of going online, or have their device taken away, they lose opportunities to connect and develop socially, interacting with others without any label of vulnerability.

As a result, today we are calling for a new approach to support vulnerable young people so their online lives are fully considered in their education and care.

Facts and statistics

The study – part of an ongoing research programme– reveals that compared to teens without vulnerabilities, those with three or more vulnerabilities are:

 - Four times more likely to experience cyberaggression risks including cyberbullying or racist/homophobic comments and insults (40% vs 11%)

 - Three times more likely to be cyberscammed (14% vs 5%)

 - Nearly three times more likely to see harmful content such as pro-anorexia, self-harm or talk about suicide than their non-vulnerable peers. (40% vs 15%)

Young people with eating disorders are most at risk 

The report also found that those with eating disorders are most at risk, in a variety of ways, with almost a third (31%) having seen content about suicide ‘often’ in contrast to 4% of young people without vulnerabilities. Those with eating disorders were also most likely to say, ‘someone online tried to persuade me into sexual activity I did not want’ with 43% have ever experienced this, of whom 23% said it happened ‘often’, compared to 3% of their peers without vulnerabilities.

Link to full report

From The Mental Elf : "A matter of trust: helping adolescents open up about their trauma"

 January 21st 2021

"While sitcoms with sassy teens stomping off and slamming doors, screaming “Why won’t you listen to me?” is an old trope, we know that many adolescents still struggle with feeling heard and being taken seriously; particularly those who have endured traumatic events. Youth exposed to traumatic events are more susceptible to a myriad of behavioural health concerns including PTSD, depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidality leading to higher rates of truancy and drop-out, poorer physical health, substance use, addiction and engaging in high-risk sexual behaviour (Flaherty, et al., 2013, Iverson, et al., 2018).

Despite these well-established correlations, adolescents are notoriously underserved by behavioural health providers. Almost 25% of young people meet criteria for serious mental illness, but less than 10% report using subsidised mental health services (Gulliver, Griffiths, & Christensen, 2010). This gap between need and service access leads Ellinghaus, Truss, Siling, Phillips, Eastwood, Medrano & Bendall (2019) to explore the barriers impeding teens from receiving quality mental health services."

Conclusions

"The authors’ discussion of results is best viewed through a lens of trauma-informed care principles (SAMHSA, 2014). The findings within the sub-theme of structural barriers echoed themes in other studies in the industry (Bendall et al., 2018; Bush, 2018; Damian et al. 2018; Stewart et al., 2017). Importantly, this study is hearing from adolescents who have experienced these barriers themselves rather than service providers, or adult consumers.

Another noteworthy difference with this study is the identification of clinician-client relational barriers from the young person’s perspective. Research on the importance of the therapeutic relationship when working with victims of trauma has mainly utilised the service provider’s perspective (Damian et al., 2018; Stewart et al., 2017; Chung et al., 2012).

With physical safety within the therapeutic relationship assumed, a primary trauma-informed principle emerging from the analysis was the importance of trustworthiness of the service provider. Due to the barriers within the system itself, adolescents are already justifiably sceptical of those who they eventually access.

Lack of choice and collaboration in the treatment process was also a glaringly apparent barrier highlighted in the postings. As young people felt talked down to or completely unheard, this dismissiveness served to further damage an already fragile relationship, even after several sessions into treatment.

Young people clearly reported feeling a lack of empowerment within the therapeutic relationship. The inherent power differential that, from many posters’ perspectives, is unrecognised by their provider, sets the young person in a defensive position from the onset. Additionally, adolescents struggling from traumatic experiences have often developed a fawning response to authority figures. This defence strategy of pleasing their aggressor may have helped them survive during traumatic and abusive events in their past, but it must be recognised and deactivated if the youth is to obtain desperately needed healing.

There are grave implications for young people when their providers do not take the time to establish safety, demonstrate themselves as trustworthy, provide them with appropriate treatment choice, collaborate with them in treatment planning or empower adolescents with trauma histories to advocate for themselves honestly. Without addressing this elephant in the room, adolescents report not disclosing important details about traumatic experiences or omitting them altogether. They also indicate they feel even more depressed, anxious, or suicidal after negative relational experiences with their providers, exacerbating the very issues leading them to seek treatment."

Link

From the Mental Elf - Hearing voices: experiences of children and young people #CAMHScampfire

"Many of us hear voices that no-one else can hear. The experience of hearing voices is unique and different for every individual. As the Understanding Voices website tells us, for some “the voices can be comforting, kind and encouraging; for others, the voices are intimidating, critical and abusive” (Understanding Voices, 2018).

There is a lack of user-focused research on children and young people (CYP) who hear voices. Most of what is known comes from adult studies. Exact figures on lifetime prevalence are hard to find, but recent Dutch research suggests that figures are similar in children (12.7%) and adolescents (12.4%), but these two groups differ significantly from the adults (5.8%) and the elderly (4.5%) (Maijer et al, 2018).

So the experience of hearing voices is about as common for young people as having asthma, but of course it is not viewed by many people in society as a ‘normal experience’."

Conclusion

The two most striking take-homes are:

"The study shows that hearing voices has an impact beyond those with a clinical diagnosis

Hearing voices can have positive impacts as well as negative (but for more than half of participants, it was the latter).

We might therefore expect that stigma-reduction measures could reduce voice-related distress. Another approach would be to help young people develop the skills to contextualise the voices they hear, and understand their origin.

Although, as noted in the study, this would be easier to achieve with positive voices than negative ones, which were harder to control. There may be feedback loops at work in the interaction of mental distress and hearing the negative voices. It seems that here is the most urgent need for further research work.

The research platform itself shows promise as a way of engaging with participants who may not want to contribute face-to-face for whatever reason. Indeed, the participants themselves said as much:

"This survey helped me get my feelings out. Thank you for giving me a place to talk openly about my experiences!""

Link