Our final speaker in this #IEPA12 session of talk is Eric Chen (not on Twitter) from the University of Hong Kong who will be speaking to us about “Youth mental health in troubled times” 
Eric Chen has been leading one of the first early psychosis intervention programmes in Asia: the EASY programme (Early Assessment Service for Young People with Early Psychosis) #IEPA12 www3.ha.org.hk/easy/eng/servi…
Most mental health conditions (75%) start before the age of 25, says Chen #IEPA12
Young people in Hong Kong have similar mental illness prevalence to adults, but only 20% get any help from the health system #IEPA12
A large-scale community youth mental health program was due to launch when social unrest broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, which saw huge increases in mental distress in the population #IEPA12
The subsequent emergence of COVID-19 superimposed a further layer of stressors/difficulties. Engagement with services was hampered by a lack of trust and polarisation in society. Evaluation of mental health was complicated by the persistence of population-level stressors #IEPA12
This social unrest has both positive and negative effects on young people #IEPA12
The #COVID19 pandemic has led to a great deal of uncertainty and negative impact on youth mental health #IEPA12
Ni (2020) @TheLancet Depression and post-traumatic stress during major social unrest in Hong Kong: a 10-year prospective cohort study #IEPA12 thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Like a great deal of research, the YES study (Hong Kong Youth Epidemiological Study of Mental Health) has been affected by the pandemic #IEPA12
The YES study has identified an increase in depression and PTSD prevalence in young people in Hong Kong, due to social unrest, COVID and other life events #IEPA12
Data from an innovative large-scale survey and conventional epidemiological approaches complement one another to provide a more comprehensive picture of the extent of the mental health sequelae, as well as their underlying triggers #IEPA12
Chen’s team observed that (compared to the rest of the population) young people were particularly affected. Exposure to pandemic-related and unrest-related factors interacted in complex ways to aggravate PTSD and depressive symptoms #IEPA12
Given the increasing co-occurrences of pandemic and social protests, these observations may be relevant to understand how population-level stressors impact on youth mental health in other communities #IEPA12
Comorbidity of PTSD AND Depression is common in this Hong Kong population #IEPA12
Lovely to hear the birds singing in the background as Eric Chen presents his research on youth mental health in Hong Kong 🐦🎶 #IEPA12
The way we react to stress can sometimes lead to mental disorders #IEPA12
Social media sometimes makes this rumination much worse, says Chen. Important that we all manage this risk and minimise our reading of online news feeds during pandemics and protests! #IEPA12
Nice talk from Eric Chen at #IEPA12 Great to get a window on what's going on in Hong Kong right now and think about what they have learned that we can apply elsewhere in the world
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