Youth at Risk

Adolescent mental health is emerging as an important discipline within many professional fields, not least within general practice and the launch of youth mental health as an RCGP clinical priority. Improving our understanding of why some young people end up experiencing poor mental health, abusing substances, and getting involved in behaviour which causes them and society misery is increasingly important as we recognise the value of early intervention in those aged 10–24 years.

This book, written by two psychologists, seeks to bring together a synthesis of current scientific findings on effective intervention and prevention strategies in an accessible and concise format. Although billed as appealing to an audience of students and practitioners it is largely geared to those working in academic environments wishing to revisit the accepted frameworks for looking at adolescent behaviour and for seeing at a glance the range of therapies and interventional approaches used in the recent past.

The opening chapters are useful in setting the scene with a review of the many changes occurring during adolescence and the importance of context: schools, families, peer relationships. The authors describe their motivation for writing the book as stemming from wanting to understand more about those teenagers who do not emerge from adolescence ready to be full participants in adult society. This is an important standpoint leading them to look at risk, and how programmes, including universal, targeted, and individual therapies, can address and modify risk with varying degrees of success.

There is much less about resilience and the emerging understanding of the importance of ‘connectedness‘ to support young people exposed to adversity in handling the multiple challenges in their lives and to thrive. Work by Resnick and colleagues in the US has demonstrated the importance of an ‘asset-based approach’, which looks at both risk and resilience.

The book covers the expected areas of ‘externalising problem behaviours’, ‘internalising disorders’ (anxiety and depression) and substance abuse, which of course can, and often do, coexist. There is a lengthy section on the strengths and weakness of evidence-based practices, which would be a useful resource for students new to the area but less appealing to clinicians who may read this book to learn more about what makes a difference in practice.

• © British Journal of General Practice 2014