Dr Max the mind doctor: Why I'd ban all children from using Instragram

A study published this week ranked Instagram, pictured, as the worst social media platform for youngsters' mental health. Photo / 123RF

People often ask me if mental health problems are really on the rise among youngsters, as we hear so much more about it compared to years ago.

I do think this is largely due to improved understanding of the conditions, meaning that children who would have suffered in silence years ago are now picked up.

There's also an element of medicalising normal childhood difficulties and behavioural problems as mental illness.

However, these things do not account entirely for the increase, reports Daily Mail.

Without doubt, there is one aspect of modern society that's directly contributing to the spike in mental health problems among the young: social media.

For some time now, I've been witnessing the effects of the increasingly connected and visual world that youngsters now live in.

Many are obsessed with social media, and obtain their sense of self worth through their online lives. But they fail to realise how much of that world is not real.

A study published this week ranked Instagram as the worst social media platform for youngsters' mental health - and I have to agree.

This site is particularly worrying as it consists entirely of user-generated photographs which are largely contrived or airbrushed and which promote an impossible ideal: fantasy served up as reality.

Much of this relates to people's bodies and how they look. It is of no surprise that in recent years there's been such a rise in eating disorders and youngsters with body image disorders.

Of course, there will be some who point to "body positive" users who try to promote the message of celebrating who you are and being positive about differences in appearance.

But they are a whispering voice compared to the cacophony from the images that counter this message.

While adults on the site might be able to take it all with a pinch of salt, realising that what they see might not necessarily be the whole truth, youngsters struggle with this.

What's more, between the ages of 14 and 18 is a key developmental stage where young people start to look outside of themselves and at their peers to develop a sense of identity.

They're particularly impressionable and susceptible to malignant messages about their bodies - yet sites such as Instagram are inundating them with images that set up unrealistic ideas about physical appearance.

But my objection to the site is more than just about how being bombarded with images of perfectly sculpted bodies can lead to mental health problems.

There is also a pernicious and hateful one-upmanship that the site engenders, creating a sense of failure in youngsters before their life has really even begun.

The site is awash with people showing off - posting images of their supposedly perfect lives.

With the exposure and scrutiny that sites like this bring, their peers feel under pressure to present overhyped versions of their own lives: fun holidays, meals and parties they go to.

But worse still are the wealthy socialites and celebrities, with millions of followers - most of them youngsters, who are hooked on their every post.

They bombard followers with pictures of unspeakably glamorous nights out, diamond jewellery, designer shoes and exotic holidays.

It is a revolting orgy of brash consumerism, teaching youngsters that in order to be seen as successful, they must look, dress and behave in a certain way.

It's this gross consumerism that promotes feelings of failure and missing out.

And what is all this teaching our teenagers? That in order to be considered a success, you need a have the latest handbag rather than to study and do well in your exams?

While parents and teachers are trying to encourage girls to consider a career in engineering or the sciences, they're being told that to be really popular, they just need to be rich.

It's a cynical, impoverished view of the world, where traditional attributes such as kindness and compassion and humility are entirely disregarded.

There's no escaping it: Instagram promotes feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, and should be banned for children under the age of 18.

Thanks to incredible advances in medicine and public health, the population is living longer - but the unintended consequence of that is extra strain on the NHS.

According to research from the University of Liverpool, the NHS could become entirely overwhelmed if things don't change.

Their figures suggest that the number of over-65s needing care will leap by a quarter in a decade.

The researchers' suggestion is that to help the NHS, we should consider it our duty to live as healthy a life as possible.

That's great in theory, but it's not going to be enough. The problem is the NHS is from a different, simpler time, when life expectancy was 13 years shorter than now.

There's no easy answer, but it's clear that we, as a nation, have to take a long hard look at the NHS and how it should change.

If not, it's only a matter of time before it collapses under the pressure.

Diabetes stigma cuts lives short

There's a surprising amount of stigma around injecting insulin, and it causes real problems. Photo / 123RF

Theresa May did much to endear herself to me this week when she spoke candidly about how she has to inject insulin five times a day.

I wish more people would talk so openly, because there's a surprising amount of stigma around injecting insulin, and it causes real problems.

In a recent survey, more than half of patients said they actually skipped their injections to avoid the embarrassment of doing it in public or because they worried about having public "hypos" (low blood sugar episodes that can lead, in severe cases, to seizures).

In the short term, skipping your insulin might not cause any obvious problems, but in the long term it does huge damage, with complications including kidney failure, blindness and foot wounds that can lead to amputations.

The figures are stark: people with diabetes tend to die, on average, ten years sooner.

It's a particular issue in the UK as diabetes patients have some of the worst blood sugar levels in Europe.

Research shows even modest improvements could help prevent almost a million medical complications.

But for this, people need to feel able to be open about their injections.

Mrs May has shown it's nothing to be ashamed of, and it certainly doesn't have to limit your life.