Social media, eco-anxiety and the pandemic have all played their part in a spike in children’s mental health issues, TV GP Dr Amir Khan has said.

The doctor, 42, who works full-time as a GP in Bradford, says that over the last four years he has seen a rise in children’s mental health issues at his surgery.

“When I talk to children here about their mental health issues, whether that’s anxiety or OCD or other things that I look for, like low mood, social media plays a big part in that,” says the TV medic, resident doctor on ITV’s Lorraine and Good Morning Britain, who first appeared on Channel 5’s GPs: Behind Closed Doors.

“The other thread that comes through is eco-anxiety because children are really switched on when it comes to climate change and we are in a really poor place when it comes to climate and environment and biodiversity. That really does worry children, more than we recognise as adults.

“When I speak to my nieces and nephews at home it’s something that is in the forefront of their minds and can cause huge amounts of anxiety.”

Growing up in Bradford as a second-generation migrant – his late father was Indian, his mother is Pakistani – he doesn’t recall how he looked after his own mental health through his childhood and adolescence.

“We didn’t really talk about it in the Eighties and Nineties as much as we do now, but it didn’t mean it didn’t exist,” says Khan, whose new children’s book How Families Are Made (Red Shed) guides children through the evolutions of family life, with a focus on inclusivity, and gently explores how babies are made.

“But I didn’t have as many competing factors that are present now in terms of things that could affect your mental health, with social media and all the external pressure that that brings with it.

“Our idea of hanging out with our mates wasn’t playing computer games with somebody in another house somewhere, it was going outside and playing in parks and woodlands or being out on our bikes. All of that was really great for my mental health. I think children have it harder now than we did.”

The doctor, who lives in Leeds with his partner, says that Covid and lockdown impacted people from poor socio-economic demographics, many of whom are the young patients he sees in Bradford.

“All of them had parents who couldn’t work from home because of the types of jobs they did. We had a lot of patients who got very sick with Covid and some who sadly didn’t survive. That had an impact on families.

“The cost-of-living crisis is a big factor as well. Speaking to children here, they are worried about their parents’ finances.”

What can be done?

“Some children need a lot of support and talking therapy and referring to the mental health services, which I’ve got to say are really oversubscribed.

“Families are waiting a long time to see the child and adolescent mental health services, particularly in our area. Unless it’s a real emergency, they could be waiting months and months.

“That’s really sad because you see not just the deterioration in the children themselves but the desperation in the parents. You are so limited by what you can do as a GP because you can’t prescribe any medication, you don’t want to medicate children. The experts are the child and family mental health services.”

Can parents help?

“Doing things as a family is really important and doing things outdoors and in green spaces, keeping active off screens is really good for your mental health. It’s really good for children.

“If they are worried about specific things like social media, I would be really firm and either take them off social media or really limit screen time and supervise it so that you are fully aware of what they are doing.”

How can we alleviate children’s eco-anxiety?

“I try to get children to become pro-active, to do things that make them feel like they are making a difference in their local area. That could be something simple like litter-picking or joining a wildlife group, but something where they feel they are making a difference. It keeps them active, it keeps them outside and off screens.

“Adults can try to make sure their children get a good night’s sleep which, again, goes back to taking screens away at bedtime and making sure their children are physically active during the day, plus eating nutritionally balanced foods.”

More resources are needed

Ultimately, more resources are needed to deal with children’s mental health issues and faster reactions when referrals are made, he stresses.

“Low mood, anxiety, mental health affects all aspects of children’s lives at that moment and their future prospects as well, it affects how much they can learn at school and how well they study at home. That has a long-lasting impact on their job and financial security going forward.

“And that is really sad to see because I feel a lot of my families and children here are stuck in an endless cycle of poverty, which further detriments their mental health.”

Children’s Mental Health Week runs from Feb 5-11.