Young people frequently present to us in the context of the breakdown if their parents' relationship.

It can be a very sad time and have an enduring emotional impact on a young person for many years.

In the United Kingdom all children are back in school after about six months absence during the Coronavirus pandemic. It is good to see that children and teachers are back. In the last few months there have been concerns of young people getting more stressed and being more susceptible to depression.

Education is the gateway to our future in an uncertain world. However we need to learn and develop our skills in order to go out into the world and meet its challenges.

Our children, families and society need to have hope for a good future.

We have all been under pressure during the Coronavirus pandemic that causes the potentially fatal disease covid-19.

Just under 1 million people have died from this disease and we hear of a resurgence of the virus within different national populations. The disruption to life around the world has been profound, with the impact of bereavements, poverty, economic hardship, people not being able to work in certain sectors like the airline industry and children not being able to go to school for several months.

After a person has committed suicide, everything stops. We can no longer see them and our relationship with their relatives transforms somewhat. We share their pain and suffering, which they carry on long after the coroner's inquest into their lives.

Relatives will feel anger and sadness, which never seems to end. They have to face life without their lives one, often not knowing what they left. Other family members and friends may find this loss is too much.

There is always hope and there is always a way back in life, even in this present age.

I will outline some of the thoughts I have in relation to antidepressant drug prescribing for young people wit severe depression.

A depression care pathway is enclosed to help show the path a young person might take through a child and adolescent mental health service.

After about four and half months of working as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist I have relocated my home office at work, In the last few months we have had to set up home offices and work remotely during the viral pandemic. Although the Health Secretary in the UK stated last weeek that GPs should resort exclusively to video consultations, I disagree. 

In December 2019 the infection of SARS-Cov-2 , transmitted from bats and pangolins to man in Wuhan, China, was accounting for sickness. This illness had presented with fever and cough and then after 7-21 days with a severe illness affecting the lungs and breathing characterised by the cytokine storm, in which the body's response to inflammation causes a sudden, further decline in the patient's condition.

In practice less than half of young people affected by severe depression in the the UK get seen and most of these young people have to wait  few months for therapy. This not an acceptable situation.

Neuro-imaging cannot reveal a characteristic representation of the depressed brain for all young people with depression. Although the diagnosis of depression can be made clinically there are other factors at play within the individual like the presence of other physical or mental health problems and adverse or challenging social circumstances. 

It is now 2020. Happy New Year to you all!
In the last 25 years there has been remarkable advancement in telecommunications over the internet. Emailing and internet chat rooms have now joined with instant picture messaging and vlogs. You Tubers and celebrities and politicians have been able to harness the power of the internet to project their images, strengthen their message and enhance thier popularity. Through the internet some people can influence the world.

Child Maltreatment by way of emotional abuse, neglect, physical and sexual abuse is common in the world. In the UK at least 10% of children have suffered one or more of these forms of maltreatment or abuse and in the USA five children die each day from abuse.