A global study has revealed that mental disorders comprise 45% of the disease burden among young people in the age group of 10-20years. One in every two adolescents globally are reported to suffer from neuro-psychiatric diseases. This is the first study that offers a comprehensive picture of the global causes of disability in adolescents. People in the age group mentioned above represent 27% (more than 1.8 billion) of the world’s population. Their number is set to rise to about two billion by 2032. The main global risk factors for future disability in all age groups are underweight, unsafe sex, alcohol use, unclean water, poor sanitation and unsatisfactory hygienic conditions. The risk factors increase in late adolescence and early adulthood.
The scientific findings may not cause universal concern as these are based on selective samples and may not be immutable. But what is really alarming is the simple and bald statement that one in every two adolescents globally suffers from neuro-psychiatric disorder. That is a huge figure. Such mental disorder is not easily curable as medical science is not advanced enough to ensure it. It not only defeats the purpose of the growing stress on education. It also threatens to destabilise social order causing violence and criminality. What has not been emphasised, however, is that such mental disease is more prevalent in affluent countries though the causes seem to be typical of underdeveloped economies. Poverty may be the worst blight on society. But it does not usually encourage this spread of such mental diseases. Hunger may be a cure of idle brains which fall prey to depression. Alcoholism is also an expensive vice.