Olivia Tocher, 17, who is now a CAMH adviser, is photographed outside CAMH’s Toronto campus on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS
A recent survey reveals a troubling trend in the mental health of Ontario’s middle and high school students. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, over half of the students surveyed report experiencing significant psychological distress, a number that has doubled in the last ten years.
The survey, which included responses from more than 10,000 students in grades 7 to 12 across 235 schools in Ontario, was conducted from November 2022 to June 2023. The findings show that 19 percent of students engaged in self-harm over the past year, and 18 percent had serious thoughts of suicide.
“The picture is that students are struggling,” said Hayley Hamilton, co-director of CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research. Hamilton noted that many students rate their ability to cope with mental health issues as only fair or poor. The survey, which has been tracking student health and drug use since 1977, also revealed that a third of students who felt they needed professional mental health support did not seek it. Reasons varied from believing they could handle it themselves to concerns about what others might think or simply being too busy.
Alexia Polillo, a CAMH scientist, commented on the results, saying, “We know mental health is worse for young people right now than it’s ever been. But seeing the numbers is pretty jarring.” Despite high social media usage among students, with 78 percent spending over three hours daily on screens, there is insufficient data to link online time directly to increased distress levels.
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Tocher, who has sought help for anxiety and depression, highlighted climate change, job uncertainty, and the high cost of living as significant stressors. “We just are a generation who’s grown up in a world where we’re constantly told our future is scary,” Tocher, a CAMH youth adviser, said. The survey also found that 18 percent of students are extremely worried about climate change, and 45 percent feel depressed about their future because of it.
The survey did provide some positive news, including a significant decline in youth drug use over several decades. Cannabis use among students has decreased since 2019, and there has been a steady decline in alcohol use over the past 25 years. However, for the first time, female students reported higher levels of cannabis use, vaping, and drinking compared to male students. Dr. Leslie Buckley, head of CAMH’s addictions division, suggested that this trend might reflect increased pressures specifically faced by girls.
