LONDON: In a very sharp foreword to a new Policy Exchange report, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warns of perhaps the newest trouble that has come to the British society: the over-diagnosis of children with both mental health conditions and neurodevelopmental conditions. Hunt contends that, by labeling into disorders what have increasingly been viewed as regular developmental challenges, the policymakers ignore basic truths about maturity being “messy and uneven.
Mr. Hunt- now a Conservative MP- said that the rise in diagnosis of anything from anxiety to autism and attention-deficit disorder does not all come down purely to improved detection. Rather, he suggested, it reflected an increased desire to medicalize childhood normality-a development that threatens undermining children’s resilience, distorting supportive frameworks, and straining public resources.
Against Overdiagnosis
The report “Out of Control,” which has Hunt as one of its sponsors, underscores how the growing rise in diagnoses and bureaucracy within the Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCP) system is literally breaking the backs of local governments and welfare programs. Over one in five children in England presently now access SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services-which is quite beyond the phenomenal numbers that annual costs have driven into the billions of pounds.
This, Hunt asserts, is a symptom of a wider disorder systemically:
“Our laudable desire to ensure young people are happy and well supported at times manifests itself in excessive impulses to medicalize and diagnose the normal, in a manner that can undercut grit and resilience.”
Among the reports called for a radical overhaul of the SEND framework: children’s EHCPs will be entirely limited to those who attend special schools, while mental health resources will be diverted towards targeted interventions rather than blanket funding.
The Human and Financial Costs
Advocates for the current system tend to agree that it might do something for someone but at a great cost: as diagnosis draws support farther along into the system, so it stretches thinner-the net result being reduced help for the truly neediest children. The effect of this flood of labels is likely to be that children and families are encouraged to see normal variations in development as pathology.
“During 2024, mental health services in England could nearly reach referrals of almost 1 million children-about 8% of those in the welfare system. The growing number of referrals and SEND cases, with rising pressure on local budgets and health services, is becoming heavy”.
A Developmental Perspective
Studies highlight that development is very complex regarding children. The great diversity in behavior-from age to setting, from social contexts into establishment-makes distinguishing between the ordinary-fluctuation-type and real condition in numerous cases extremely complicated. Diagnosis rates vary tremendously, with some being attributed to above factors-like being the youngest in the school cohort, informant biases, or inconsistent adoption of diagnostic criteria.
However, it is not like physical illness that a person diagnosed mentally would base their diagnosis on opinion and subjective interpretation more influenced by social and institutional forces than clinical criteria.
The Policy Crossroads
Policymakers looking after the young are faced with a dilemma: how to usher the needy in the society without tarring all developmental struggles a clinical label.
Hunt recommends a recalibration that favors social and environmental interventions: stable routines, access to nature, and community support, which in his contention are often sidelined for quick fixes through diagnoses.
However, his position is controversial: Disability advocates as well as mental health specialists argue that overdiagnosis allegations will be used to withdraw supports that are important and also to create stigma against children who need real assistance.
A Pressing Momentum for Reform
The urgency of this discussion is without question: SEND spending increased £4.5 billion since 2015, reaching combined costs of about £16 billion a year across education, health, and welfare systems.
Many of course base financial arguments on this case, arguing that expanding the access to mental health support is highly necessary- especially mighty because the post-pandemic era has witnessed cataclysmic increases in anxiety and stress among young people.
Towards a Balanced Approach
In advocating reform, Hunt was for a more nuanced system:
Tighten criteria for educational and mental health plans, focusing on those with the most pressing needs.
Nonclinical support systems- peer networks, counseling, recreation-strengthen.
Holistic evaluations rather than default labeling.
Re-evaluate benefit systems to discourage unnecessary diagnoses driven by financial incentives.
“To issue a label that may cause such differences in children’s self-perception will cloud efforts to build healthy resilient adults,” Hunt writes.
Final Word
Jeremy Hunt’s caution is highly relevant within today’s multifaceted, complex social environment: modern childhood may well get messy and uneven and demanding, but it is not always broken. The way forward is not to medicalize every aspect, but actually to discern which children, in fact, require clinical support, from those that benefit far more from connection, compassion, and space for growth.
SEND reforms will occur later this year; therefore, the country must make a particular important decision on a sustainable, responsible pathway going forward-or risk tiptoeing into unsustainable dependence on diagnostic labels. The stakes are high, and children deserve no less than thoughtfulness and clarity.
