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One in 17 (16.9%) youth aged 17 to 19 years had a mental disorder and the highest risk group for mental illness was young women, with nearly one in four of 17 to 19 years old with mental health problems.
Mental disorders have been grouped into four categories: emotional, behavioral, hyperactivity and other less common disorders.
"These new numbers reveal how many of our youth are affected by mental health issues, and they allow us to read serenely, confirming what psychologists working with this group have known for years – that children and young people are increasing, " said Sarb Bajwa, general director of the body of psychologists at the British Psychological Society. "Although progress has been made in recent years, these new figures must now inspire the government and the NHS to act decisively to reach the thousands of children and young people who desperately need support."
Dr. Dennis Ougrin, consultant psychiatrist for children and adolescents and senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, said that despite the overall increase, the prevalence was not as important as expected.
"The increase is almost entirely explained by an increase in the prevalence of emotional disorders, especially among girls," added Ougrin, who was not involved in the report.
"Children with mental disorders are high users of social media and are more affected by social media than children without mental disorders," he added.
The report also found that young women were three times more likely (22.4%) to have emotional disorders than boys in the same age group (7.9%).
Emotional problems, such as depression and anxiety, increased with age and were more common in girls than in boys.
According to the report, youth who identified themselves as LGBT were almost three times more likely to suffer from mental disorders (34.9%) than those who identified themselves as heterosexual (13.2%).
Meera Senthilingam from CNN contributed to this report.
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