I think the article is too vague.
I do agree with some aspects. There is a lot of talk about mental health and mental illness as if it is something intrinsic within the person, a fault if you like, that needs to be diagnosed and then treated, maybe with medication.
But from what I can see, there seems to be a range of different stuff that comes under the umbrella.
To me, there are definitely some people who have mental illness ie the problem is within them. It's like any physical condition you can be born with, sometimes I think something is just a bit haywire in the body system. In those cases, sometimes medication can help, sometimes it can't.
Then we come to conditions in children. Again, a (very) few are mentally not right or may have other problems. It's not necessarily the parents or the teachers or anything else causing it.
Then there are others who are diagnosed as eg oppositionally defiant. I believe in some cases these are behaviour issues rather than mental conditions as such.
Then there is depression. Again, often treated with medication. But in my experience with people (and I have known a few depression), even people with diagnosed mental conditions such as bipolar, there are often triggers in the environment and those triggers are often linked with economic circumstances. Being out of a job or worrying about how to pay the next bill can be enormously stressful times for anyone and it is no wonder suicide rates go up in times of unemployment etc
It is that aspect i don't think is addressed enough. To relieve the depression, the stresses need to be lessened. I know someone at the moment who is almost breaking down under severe economic pressures and has been offered counselling when what she really needs (in my opinion) is economic help.
I have noticed one thing. You're not going to like it though.
I think quite a bit of the trouble in today's society is the sense of isolation, being alone, having to cope with problems alone, and also a lack of a sense of purpose or some people feeling they are needed. Some people feel rudderless.
I have noticed that often those who have strong ties with another group-and this is often a religious group- are much better off.
They feel they are part of a community with shared values. They have a clear vision, they often have support outside the family in tough times, they have a sense of purpose.
I'm not saying their beliefs are necessarily 'true', but it provides them with that view of an orderly world.
And that's part of what is lacking in our society. It is fragmented, no clear sense of a social group for a lot of people.
I always remember my mum telling me that during WW2, the community came together. They were different times and hard times and there was stress but it says a lot that suicide rates in the 1960s were much higher than during the war.
Don't try to tell me things were harder in the 1960s. They most definitely weren't. The people of the 1940s had just gone through the Great depression then were thrust into war.
And there was suicide then too. But probably the rates were not quite as high as the people had a sense of cumminity and purpose.
The bit about needing to cut the working week down to 3 or 4 days is not necessarily correct either. If people like their work then they can often cope with 5 days. I think having too little to do can be just as much a problem as having too much to do.
But if you want to lessen depression in kids & teens, I think you need to bring them up with clear values and be in some outside community groups that give them a sense of belonging and some rites of passage. They often need that.
Martin, I don't know how you have survived all that you have. But you are here and you are aware of how the human condition and human nature can and does work from all sides of the spectrum, both dark and light.
That is monumental courage xxx
You may not recognise your courage Martin, but the fact that you are here says it all ... 
Tears can be healing and very refreshing.
