2023-06-05 10:31:18
No meetings with peers, no hobbies: The corona pandemic has given many young people a hard time. The number of mental illnesses has risen sharply since then. The way back to the old life after the illness is often long.
Munich – Helena* tells soberly about slipping into her illness: At first she could no longer do any sport because of the corona-related lockdown and gained weight. Then she came across workout videos on the internet, which often encourage people to lose weight.
“I had the time, I had no more friends, no more hobbies, that’s why I dealt with my eating disorder,” says the 15-year-old from Allgäu. Helena is one of many young people in Bavaria who developed a mental disorder during the pandemic – and now often struggles against it.
The accounting data from the health insurance company DAK, which is considered representative for the Free State, has shown that the number of newly diagnosed mental illnesses and behavioral disorders among young people aged 15 to 17 years increased massively between 2019 and 2021. Newly diagnosed anxiety disorders increased by 45 percent, followed by emotional disorders (+30 percent) and depression (+25 percent). Compared to the pre-pandemic year 2019, the number of adolescent girls who were newly diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia (“eating addiction”) increased by 130 percent in 2021.
“We still praised it at the beginning”
For Helena, the eating disorder started with healthy eating, but then grew into excessive exercise, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and vomiting after meals. Her family of five didn’t notice at first. Her mother even considered her efforts to exercise and structure a positive sign, “we still praised it at the beginning”. It would never have occurred to her that her daughter was actually slipping into an eating disorder.
Maria, another youngster who developed major problems during the pandemic, showed the first signs of social phobia even before Corona when she no longer wanted to go to the swimming pool or ride bikes with her family during the summer holidays. She withdrew more and more. It was therefore initially a relief not having to go to school during the lockdown, as the 14-year-old explains. But when the easing began, she found it harder than ever.
In the meantime, various studies have shown that the mental health of children and young people has suffered primarily due to isolation and the lack of contact with their peers. The result: The demand for psychotherapists who treat children and adolescents was 48 percent higher last summer than in the pre-Corona period, according to a survey published by the German Association of Psychotherapists at the end of April.
“Very Desperate”
Months of waiting are the norm in many places. There are not enough inpatient treatment places, not enough therapists, not enough therapy places, says the chief physician for psychosomatics and psychotherapy at the Schön Klinik Roseneck, Ulrich Voderholzer. What goes against the grain of the expert for anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, depression and eating disorders is that the young people are often treated with antidepressants, although the focus should be on psychotherapy.
She was “very desperate” because many clinics she had registered with had long waiting times, Maria says. After months of searching, she got a place in a clinic last summer. After a few months, an attempt to return home failed. Since then she has been living in the hospital again. After all, she now attends at least one school nearby – a few hours a day, three times a week. It’s a start.
Normal life?
Helena had to fight against further resistance to get help: her pediatrician misjudged the situation and, in her own words, encouraged the then 14-year-old “that I wasn’t sick enough, so to speak”. She finally ended up in a hospital when she was severely underweight. “Who is supposed to do something if the specialist doesn’t really take it seriously?” her mother asks herself angrily to this day.
In the clinic, Helena practiced eating “normally” again, first alone with a doctor, then in the dining room – and finally at home. Nevertheless, returning home after six months in the hospital was not easy, as the 15-year-old explains. The family have learned “to live without me”. In the meantime, however, she is looking forward to being able to dance jazz and ballet again – and to a time when she can catch up on everything and have fun with her friends again. Maria, who is still in the clinic, is also looking forward to finally leading a “normal life” again. dpa
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