ACCORDING

to a survey by Lady Gaga’s charity, the Born This Way Foundation, most young people are struggling with their mental health. The study of 2,000 children aged 4 to 13 found that 55 per cent were stressed and a third felt sad. Well hang on a minute, feeling sad or stressed isn’t having a mental illness, it’s life. Surveys like this do more harm than good. They incorrectly portray normal distress as mental illness. It does those with a genuine mental health problem a great disservice, and helps to perpetuate unrealistic expectations of what life should be like: always rosy and fine. We all know that life is tough and it’s normal to feel down sometimes. that is what we should be teaching children.