One child in ten has a mental health problem

One in ten children suffers from a mental health problem, experts warn the Health Select Committee.

According to independent.co.uk, Maggie Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England, says that council budgets cuts are having a big impact on the treatment of young children. She believes that such cut backs will lead to more children going untreated and therefore developing more complex conditions.

Three-quarters of children with mental health issues never receive any help or support, meaning they continue to have problems as an adult, the Association of Educational Psychologist state. In its submission to the Health Select Committee, which is currently holding an inquiry into the Children's and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), it says cuts to local authority social care services has already had a "significant" effect on services for young people.

"Cuts have led to more children needing to travel hundreds of miles to receive treatment and an increasing number of under-18s with mental health problems in England are now being treated on adult psychiatric wards," the statement claims.

Some 76 per cent of children between the ages of five to 15 with diagnosable depression or anxiety are not in contact with mental health services - a figure that drops to just 35 per cent for adults. Half of lifetime mental illness begins by the age of 14 and yet only six per cent of mental health spending goes towards children's services, reports theguardian.com.