A forthcoming UK review into the possible overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in children risks overshadowing the crisis of a deprived generation. A pediatrician and inequality researcher in the UK's most deprived areas sees children whose health deteriorates due to poor living conditions and a lack of support. Children suffer from sleeplessness after years of communal violence or racial bullying in hostels and among young people. Their suffering maps directly into their lives. Public discussion of the youth mental health crisis often approaches the problem as if it arose separately from the material and political conditions of young people's lives. Children from materially advantaged backgrounds also experience increasing anxiety associated with academic pressure, performance culture and social environment.