Every 11th young person has tried to commit suicide – Liechtenstein
Zurich – UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein carried out an online survey on the mental health of young adults between the ages of 14 and 19 in Switzerland and Liechtenstein this year. The aim of the survey was to identify individual, family, social and environmental risk and protective factors related to mental health. Now we have the results.
Around 37 percent of all respondents are affected by mental health problems. And just as many do not speak to anyone about it. Seventeen percent of adolescents with signs of anxiety and / or depression have also attempted suicide; of these, half quickly made several suicide attempts. A total of 8.7 percent gave it. all assumptions (with or without signs of an anxiety disorder / depression, editor’s note) that they have already tried to kill themselves.
69 percent of all respondents had at least one bad childhood experience. That number rises to a whopping 89 percent in young adults with signs of an anxiety disorder and / or depression. A third of these adolescents even said they had more than three bad childhood experiences.
29.1 percent of all young people keep their problems to themselves. In the case of adolescents with psychological stress, it is even a third. In contrast, only three percent turn to specialists from the health or education sector with their problems.
Risk factors
The greatest risk factors for poor mental health are difficult family relationships, low socioeconomic status, poor childhood experiences and chronic ailments. Poor mental health also often leads to deep emotional well-being and decreased self-esteem.
Young men have worse outcomes than women of the same age. This can be partly explained by the fact that men tend to talk less about these topics. And adolescents who identify themselves as of the opposite sex are affected even more.
The pandemic is a potential driver of poor physical and mental health. A quarter of those said their physical health has deteriorated since the pandemic began. Almost half of them rate their mental health worse than they did before the pandemic, and more than a quarter worry about the future.
With teenagers for teenagers
Above all, investments in prevention are needed to strengthen mental health. Our health system is still designed to be reactive. The issue needs to be approached comprehensively, not just from a health perspective. Investing in awareness-raising work, in early childhood education, care and upbringing, in the support of legal guardians, in child and youth welfare as well as regular monitoring demonstrably strengthens the mental health of children and adolescents from birth.
Mental health services When to de-stigmatize and look like any other medical specialty that can improve the health of the population.
Every adolescent and adolescent should feel entitled to get bitten, regardless of the severity of their condition or situation. Offers must be created that are adapted to the needs of young people and have sufficient capacities to meet demand. To this end, it is important to find out directly from young people what offers they use and how and what they lack in the care.