https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/25/young-people-offered-sur...

In the last few weeks I have been thinking about the way Anorexia affects some girl very severely. In our clinic most will recover after one year but a handful develop a chronic course with more preoccupation with anorexic thinking, voice hearing and a more depressive experience. 

In my professional role I have had to assess the risk of suicide for over twenty years. A holistic understanding of the young person is required in terms of their personal life, education progress and life at home, in addtion to the features of depression and anxiety disorders. In the forensic setting there is additiona emphasis on the risk a young person might posse to others in terms of offending behaviours.

Recently I was reading a blog entitled www. wiring the brain.com by Professor Kevin Mitchell of Trinity College, Dublin.

In the Victorian era the study of the skull contours was linked to theories of the emotional life and character of that person, giving way to a language of understanding the mind.

After Freud there was a great expansion in our language in understanding the mind in the modern age in relation to the great social and technological changes.

Young people frequently present to us in the context of the breakdown if their parents' relationship.

It can be a very sad time and have an enduring emotional impact on a young person for many years.

In the United Kingdom all children are back in school after about six months absence during the Coronavirus pandemic. It is good to see that children and teachers are back. In the last few months there have been concerns of young people getting more stressed and being more susceptible to depression.

Education is the gateway to our future in an uncertain world. However we need to learn and develop our skills in order to go out into the world and meet its challenges.

Our children, families and society need to have hope for a good future.

We have all been under pressure during the Coronavirus pandemic that causes the potentially fatal disease covid-19.

Just under 1 million people have died from this disease and we hear of a resurgence of the virus within different national populations. The disruption to life around the world has been profound, with the impact of bereavements, poverty, economic hardship, people not being able to work in certain sectors like the airline industry and children not being able to go to school for several months.

After a person has committed suicide, everything stops. We can no longer see them and our relationship with their relatives transforms somewhat. We share their pain and suffering, which they carry on long after the coroner's inquest into their lives.

Relatives will feel anger and sadness, which never seems to end. They have to face life without their lives one, often not knowing what they left. Other family members and friends may find this loss is too much.

There is always hope and there is always a way back in life, even in this present age.

I will outline some of the thoughts I have in relation to antidepressant drug prescribing for young people wit severe depression.

A depression care pathway is enclosed to help show the path a young person might take through a child and adolescent mental health service.

After about four and half months of working as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist I have relocated my home office at work, In the last few months we have had to set up home offices and work remotely during the viral pandemic. Although the Health Secretary in the UK stated last weeek that GPs should resort exclusively to video consultations, I disagree.