Children to be taught 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental health conditions

Daily Mail​

20-07-2025

Children will be taught that 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental-health conditions in an attempt to curb Britain's spiralling worklessness crisis.
Teachers have been told they must avoid encouraging pupils to self-diagnose 'normal feelings' as more serious problems such as anxiety and depression.
The radical change in policy will be issued in new guidance to schools amid escalating concern over the number of young people being signed off sick.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told The Telegraph: 'For too many children today, their understanding of how to manage their mood and regulate their emotions is coming from social media, rather than their parents, teachers or trained professionals.
'Our new RSHE [relationships, sex and health education] curriculum will equip children to develop grit and resilience from the get-go, helping them understand that feeling a little down or anxious for a while is normal and nothing to worry about.'
The Education Secretary said they are also making sure there is access to mental health support in every school and reducing child poverty with more free school meals.
The new strategy comes as the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) has surged to a near-decade high of a million.
A report warned last week that a sharp rise in teenagers and young adults on sickness benefits for mental health problems was behind the trend.
It has caused concern that teaching children about mental health has led to the every day ups and downs of life becoming over-medicalised.
The new guidance says pupils should be taught 'that worrying and feeling down are normal, can affect everyone at different times and are not in themselves a sign of a mental-health condition'.
It adds that teachers should tell students how 'managing those feelings can be helped by seeing them as normal' rather than a symptom of a mental illness.
Schools are told they should teach youngsters the 'characteristics' of common types of mental ill health, including anxiety and depression.
The changes come in new instructions on how to teach RHSE, which were issued last week.
Some of the instructions surrounding mental health had been contained in a previous draft of the guidance, which was drawn up by the last Tory government.
But Ms Phillipson toughened them up over growing concern about worklessness amongst the young getting worse.
In particular she added in the requirement that schools must not teach about mental health in a way that leads to more pupils self-diagnosing with mental conditions.
The change to the guidance comes after she pledged that young people would be taught the value of 'grit' to help them deal with life's 'ups and downs'.
It comes after a report last year revealed 20-somethings are now more likely to be off work sick than adults in their 40s amid soaring rates of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Authors say the 'worrying' trend is harming the economy, with the equivalent of 5 per cent of young adults now signed off ill.
But one critic argued society is to blame for creating the 'mental health crisis', with doctors handing out diagnoses like 'candy'.
Ms Phillipson's changes to the schools guidance are the latest evidence of concern within Downing Street over the growing scale of mental-health claims.
This is despite Labour attacking the Tories when it was still in opposition for suggesting that too many people were being signed off with milder conditions
Liz Kendall branded their comments 'ignorant' and insisting: 'You are not written off long-term sick because you're feeling a bit bluesy.'
But since entering power Labour is now attempting to launch a crackdown on sickness benefits for mental health to get people back into work.
No 10 has argued that there is a 'progressive and moral' case for restricting handouts for those who are diagnosed with more mild mental health conditions.
The figures come after Work and Pensions Liz Kendall and Keir Starmer capitulated to a backbench rebellion and failed to secure reforms to sickness benefits that would have saved £5billion.
Labour's climbdown leaves a bungling hole in the public finances which it is feared Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have to plug with a wealth tax.
Shortly after the climbdown, new analysis revealed that living on sickness benefits will soon pay £2,500 a year more than a minimum wage job.
Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice found that a UC claimant who is not working and takes the average housing benefit and Personal Independence Payment for ill health will receive £25,000 in 2026-27.