Millions of young people across the UK were hit hard by the pandemic with leading mental health charities reporting heightened levels of anxiety and depression. Mental ill-health was triggered by the uncertainties surrounding Covid19 and lockdown, social isolation and the fracturing of friendship groups, the accentuation of peer comparison and perfectionism driven by an over reliance on social media, and an increase in ‘catastrophising’ and ‘fortune-telling’.
While we take time to recover, a focus on wellbeing is more important than ever. Although life is returning to a more recognisable normal, without support and advice, the resulting patterns of anxiety and isolation may continue.
Anxiety is multifaceted with many triggers - internal anxiety surrounding self-image, exacerbated by the pressure social media exerts on young people, can manifest in a constant and exhausting over-comparison to peers, destroying confidence and resulting in eating disorders or other types of self-harm.
Social media’s ‘perfect, rose tinted’ version of reality is an unattainable goal and we need to dispel the illusion of ‘perfection’ – it is like trying to compete in a never-ending marathon that is mentally exhausting and extremely damaging to young people’s self-image and self-esteem. Judging themselves and their success on the number of ‘likes’ or ‘followers’ creates a false perception of what really matters, and this reliance on how others view them can have crushing effects on individuals.
External factors also create anxiety – for example the changes to exams - which have always been an assured academic process - part of every student’s academic career - were unexpectedly disrupted from the norm, creating uncertainty about what to expect in the future.