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Overmedicalization of young people’s distress is undermining and disempowering families

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Cases of mild or transient distress in young people are increasingly viewed as problems that require medical intervention. As CAMHS clinicians, we argue that this overmedicalization undermines the value of social support within the family and community, and funding cuts to nonmedical support services have only compounded the problem.

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Acknowledgements

L.F. is a Prudence Trust Research Fellow (grant ID: CQR02370).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Oxfordshire, Oxford, UK

    Emma Fergusson

  2. NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Oxfordshire, Abingdon, UK

    Shona Reed-Purvis

  3. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Lucy Foulkes

Authors
  1. Emma Fergusson
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  2. Shona Reed-Purvis
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  3. Lucy Foulkes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lucy Foulkes.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Fergusson, E., Reed-Purvis, S. & Foulkes, L. Overmedicalization of young people’s distress is undermining and disempowering families. Nat. Mental Health 1, 381–382 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00071-7

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