When we look at what causes poor mental health, we often think of stress, genetics, poverty or loneliness. These are all contributing factors, but there’s another, more hidden cause that isn’t talked about enough: abuse, especially during childhood. I recall Chad Varah, the founder of Samaritans, reflecting that there were many things that drove people to call the charity’s suicide helpline. But abuse was a prominent reason.

Abuse isn’t an easy subject to raise or talk about. It brings up issues of gender dynamics – a colleague studying global sexual abuse told me: “The vast majority of perpetrators are men; the victims are equally boys and girls.” These are hard issues to think about, harder still to discuss and difficult to address. They challenge notions of safety, trust, family and community. But if we want to make progress in addressing poor mental health, we have to start here – with the truths we’d rather avoid.

The internet has fundamentally changed our world. Where once we worried about a child walking home from school alone or sleeping over at a friend’s house, now we have the entire online world to contend with. Grooming and exploitation no longer happen only in person – they happen on smartphones, in video games and through tablets handed over to keep kids entertained. And too often, the adults meant to protect children are far behind.

Recent research from Childlight, a child safety charity at the University of Edinburgh, has shown a steep rise in online grooming cases. It estimates that about 830,000 young people worldwide are at risk of social exploitation and abuse every day. This includes explicit photo sharing, sexual extortion, solicitation, deepfake images, pornography and grooming. Social media platforms, messaging apps and multiplayer games have become common avenues for abusers to target youngsters. They’ve been designed to be attractive........

© The Guardian