Richard Hogan: Stop suggesting to children they're anxious — it's doing them no favours

"It’s like having a map, and parts of it are missing, and you have to get to your destination quickly - that would provoke an anxious response, because you would know you don’t have all the information to get to where you want."

Richard Hogan urges caution around the use of the language of mental health. Picture: Pexels

Out of all the modern issues facing our children, anxiety seems to be the one that grips them the most. Why is that? We have never had such awareness of mental health promotion in our schools, messages about mental health are ubiquitous. Is it time to stop and think about the messages we are giving our children?

I have been saying this for many years, children are incredibly suggestive and if we keep mentioning mental health issues to them, and what they could possibly be suffering with, we will have a surge in children presenting with dysphoria (a state of feeling unhappy, dissatisfaction or frustration.)