Youth mental health: risks and opportunities in the digital world

Abstract

McGorry et al1 present a call to action to redesign youth mental health care and conceptualize youth psychiatry as a distinct discipline. Their proposed framework for youth mental health care contains four key elements: a) a focus on prevention and early intervention, with youth mental health services embedded in primary care and community settings; b) services co-designed with young people to be accessible, engaging and destigmatizing; c) blending the benefits of digital technology, to provide accessibility and scale, with human online and face-to-face support to promote youth engagement; d) extending the age boundary of youth mental health provision to cover the period of extended brain maturation in the “new adolescence” and the peak risk period of onset of mental disorders up to age 25.