WHILE the nation has been preoccupied with Brexit and Love Island, we have failed to notice there is a mental health crisis affecting our young people – in particular, our girls.

New research reveals that the number of girls aged 13 to 16 reporting self-harm to GPs has increased by 68 per cent over just three years.

It’s a staggering rise — and that is just the reported cases.

Given that self-harm tends to be a solitary pursuit, I think it’s realistic to assume that there are many, many more unreported cases.

Self-harm among young people aged ten to 19 is three times more common among girls than boys. Bearing in mind that those who self-harm are at much greater risk of suicide, this is not a problem to be taken lightly.

For some young people the act of cutting, or otherwise inflicting pain on themselves, is a way of relieving — albeit temporarily — mental pain and torment by converting it into something more visible and tangible.

It’s a way of relieving tension and an attempt to clarify a confusing mental swirl into something that is easier to understand in its simplicity. It’s also a way of punishing yourself.

So why the sudden, huge, increase in girls taking this path?

Psychiatrists commenting on the research blamed a combination of academic stresses and body-image issues triggered by the use of social media.

There’s no doubt that social media, which barely existed ten years ago, has, along with all the good stuff, brought with it a whole new set of pressures.

Women’s appearances have always been scrutinised, but that unique equation of the selfie generation plus Photoshop plus the sheer variety of ways to propel your image out into the world has created a series of impossible standards.

It’s also created a whole generation that is convinced that everything is going brilliantly for everyone else.

When teenagers look at their friend’s social media feeds they see apparently perfect lives, bodies, homes and jobs.

And then they feel inadequate.

There are other pressures: Pressure to do well in exams; have amazing friendships; and be brilliantly successful. And, for some people, the relief to those pressures is to hurt themselves, which is surely the saddest and one of the most difficult problems any parent can deal with.

After all, it’s our natural instinct to protect our children from harm. But what can we do when the harm comes from within themselves?

All teenage kids have intensely difficult phases. And the pressures at school can feel unbearable.

If someone doesn’t like you, it feels like the end of the world. If you fail an exam you can feel doomed to failure. School feels like it will never end.

Our job is to try to help our children get perspective.

Despite the downsides of excessive social media being well documented, it seems that most young people would rather end up with mental health problems than give it up. So maybe they need a helping hand.

We need to talk more to our kids about the reality of social media — and limit their time on it.

And we need to coax them out of their screen-sized comfort zone.

One of the best things kids can do is some volunteering.

That way they can meet kids from different backgrounds and people with real problems — such as children born with disabilities who are still making the most of their life.

Sport is also brilliant for getting kids to enjoy being part of something bigger than their bedroom, and for celebrating their bodies for what they can do rather than what they look like.

The big question is, how can we get them to talk about their feelings, instead of engraving them into their skin until they draw blood?

Be kind, patient but determined and, most importantly, we need to talk to our children, ask them how they are feeling — and listen to the answers without judgment.

If they won’t talk to you, find someone else they can talk to, either a family friend or even a counsellor if you’re worried about self-harm.

But the Government also needs to invest more money into care.

Less than one per cent of the NHS budget is spent on children’s mental health, and most of that is on acute care rather than preventative or early intervention services.

That needs to change.

Most of all, we need to accept that there is a problem and find ways to address it. Because if we don’t, things are going to get much, much worse.

Pink ladies

DID you see the Kardashian and Jenner sisters at Kylie Jenner’s 21st birthday party?

What is most striking – other than them all being drop-dead gorgeous, of course – is that they each have totally different body types.

I guess what they DO have in common is an unlimited budget for personal trainers and chefs . . . plus the fact that looking this good is their full-time job.

Freezing eggs is not the answer

THE latest advice from fertility specialists to women who want to “delay motherhood” is for them to freeze their eggs in their early twenties.

At the moment, the vast majority of women who go through the procedure do so in their late thirties – by which time they have little chance of success. But who is going to freeze their eggs in their twenties?

I was fortunate to meet the right man in my twenties – and had children once I was married because I wanted to have a family.

But plenty of women don’t meet the right partner that early in life, or simply don’t want to have children until they are older.

One reason for that is that they want to have a career – and they know babies can seriously damage their chances of promotion or even a pay rise.

But the solution is not for women to freeze their eggs.

The real solution is a shift in the division of labour between mothers and fathers.

So long as the children are not the sole responsibility of just one person in the family, things can work well.

If both partners are equally involved, nobody has to totally compromise their life and put their career on hold.

As things stand, no wonder women are putting off motherhood. But if more men pulled their weight, maybe women wouldn’t have to worry about freezing their eggs.