The 607-page report, commissioned by the government and published on Thursday, examined the sharp increase in demand for help with mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions over recent decades. It found that the number of people suffering mental distress has risen significantly across all age groups since the 1990s, with the sharpest increase among 16- to 24-year-olds — from about one in six to one in four.
“The rise in mental health problems is real, is affecting everyday functioning and cannot be explained by greater awareness alone,” the report said. Fonagy, a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist at University College London, dismissed the notion that young people were “snowflakes” who lack resilience. He pointed to increased uncertainty, financial pressures, insecure work, unaffordable housing, and “a lack of hope among young people that their lives will be better than their parents — the first time since the second world war that surveys have noticed that.”
At the end of 2024, more than 560,000 people in England were waiting to be assessed for ADHD — 17 times more than in 2019. A further 254,000 were waiting for a diagnostic assessment for other conditions. The inquiry warns that many patients are turning to private clinics because they cannot get quick NHS assessments, and it urges ministers to toughen regulation of those clinics to prevent overdiagnosis of autism and ADHD.
The review also recommends that access to care should be based primarily on a person’s needs rather than on a formal diagnosis, which could help reduce waiting lists. Professor Simon Wessely, vice-chair of the review, said sceptics who question young people’s struggles are wrong: “That’s sometimes been attributed to personal failures, people being told they’re making it up, it’s all in their head, which is absolute nonsense.”