A New Way to Understand Youth Mental Health
Despite 75% of mental disorders having their onset in early adulthood, assessment tools commonly used by healthcare services to index mental illness are depression and anxiety centric, were developed for adults or children, and do not consider youth-specific mental health needs (e.g., early stage bipolar or psychotic illness). The Mechanisms of Mental Health lab has partners with Orygen and an advisory group of young people to develop the Youth Mental Health Map, a self-report assessment tool that can index a wider variety of symptom clusters which better capture the developmentally unique characteristics of mental ill health in youth.
The Youth Mental Health Map
The Youth Mental Health Map is a data-driven assessment tool developed by a team of mental health researchers and clinicians to help better understand the mental health profiles of young people and improve clinicians’ abilities to identify appropriate treatments.
Traditionally, mental health has been divided into categories like depression, anxiety, or psychosis. But in real life, people often experience a mix of symptoms that don’t fit neatly into one label. That’s why researchers have started using a transdiagnostic approach, which looks at patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that are common across many different mental health conditions.
In our first study, young people completed a battery of questionnaires that measured mental health problems, including PTSD, sleep, psychosis, disordered eating, emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, intolerance of anxiety, depression and anxiety. Our research team used a dimensionality reduction technique that identifies patterns in large datasets and groups related symptoms together to identify a small number of core transdiagnostic dimensions. The dimensions identified using this technique were unhelpful thinking patterns, difficult life experiences, rigid beliefs, and emotional agency. Using a machine learning technique, the team identified a subset of question items that could be used to measure the four transdiagnostic dimensions more efficiently. These are the 34 question items that make up the Youth Mental Health Map.
In our second study, the Youth Mental Health Map demonstrated good test re-test reliability, indicating that scores on each of the symptom dimensions tend to be consistent over time when administered to the same individuals. Scores on the four dimensions correlated with scores on current gold-standard measures of psychological distress, and correlated with scores on a self-reported scale assessing symptom severity, supporting the construct and criterion validity of the questionnaire.
The Youth Mental Health Map was developed and refined in collaboration with young people and clinicians. It has been designed to be brief, easy to use, and relevant across a wide range of experiences.
Take part in Million Minds Study 3
We are inviting mental health clinicians to use the Youth Mental Health Map in our next study. To use the tool, we just ask that you take part in our study, completing two short feedback surveys, before and after using the Youth Mental Health Map with your clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
We answer some common questions about this research project below.
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The Youth Mental Health Map is a short questionnaire that helps to identify the mental health challenges that young people may be experiencing, to help clinicians and individuals better navigate the treatment journey.
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The Youth Mental Health Map has been made to identify common challenges for young people aged 12–25, but anyone is welcome to use it. Youth research advisors helped create the tool, making sure it actually speaks to what matters to them.
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Rather than focusing on specific diagnoses like depression or anxiety, this questionnaire assesses transdiagnostic dimensions — patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that cut across traditional mental health categories. These dimensions provide a more complete view of one's mental wellbeing.
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The four transdiagnostic dimensions measured using the Youth Mental Health Map were identified using factor analysis on a large mental health dataset. Each dimension reflects a pattern of thoughts, emotions, or behaviours that commonly co-occur.
Each individual's scores on the four dimensions are presented to support formulation and clinical conversations. Scores are standardised for interpretability and should be understood as relative to one another, rather than against an external benchmark.
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No. This is not a diagnostic assessment. It’s designed to support clinicians and young people in understanding clients' mental health more deeply, but it doesn’t replace a clinical evaluation.
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The Youth Mental Health Map is currently being used as part of an ongoing research study. Once development and testing are complete, we hope to make a version of the tool publicly available. If you are a clinician who is interested in using the tool in your practice, please get in touch with the research team.
For any general enquiries about this project, please contact Dr Alicia Smith, alicia.smith@unimelb.edu.au