Editorial: Prevention is the best cure – or is it? A cautionary tale

Abstract

In large parts of the Western world prevention is considered a necessary, core component of successful youth care practice. Yet, mental health problems in young people do not appear to have declined over the past decades. How to explain this paradox? In this editorial for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, several possible explanations are explored, one of which centers around how prevention is being operationalized—primarily, nowadays, as a screen-and-resolve ‘troubleshooting’ approach, rather than as an approach that supports the development of good health, competence, and resilience.