Symptomatology of depression and anxiety doubled among adolescents during a pandemic – CBS Baltimore

Toronto, Ontario (CTV Network) — Researchers have discovered that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many young people around the world home and has a dramatic impact on their mental health.

A study from the University of Calgary (UCalgary) published in the medical journal JAM Pediatrics on Monday doubled the proportion of children and adolescents experiencing depression and anxiety during a coronavirus pandemic.

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Dr. Nicole Racine, UCalgary’s postdoctoral associate and clinical psychologist and lead author of the study, said in a press release: .. “More alarmingly, these symptoms are getting worse over time.”

This study is a meta-analysis of 29 different studies worldwide (16 from East Asia, 6 from North America, 4 from Europe, 2 from Latin America, 1 from the Middle East) and contains data on 80,879 young people. I did. It also showed that older adolescents and girls are experiencing the highest levels of depression and anxiety.

“Other studies have shown that the rate of depression and anxiety in young people tends to decline and flow in a limited way,” said the study’s co-author, a clinical psychologist at the University of Calgary and a child. Dr. Sheri Madigan, a Canadian research chair on the determinants of development, said. “The more restrictions are imposed, the higher the price. School routines and social interactions have proven to be very difficult for children because they are socially isolated and kept away from their friends. “

According to Madigan, the longer the pandemic, the more likely you are to lose your childhood milestones.

“These kids never imagined they couldn’t say goodbye to school, teachers and friends when they graduated, and now they’re moving on to something new without closure.” Racine said. “There is a process of sadness associated with it.”

Laura Young from Sudbury, Ontario. Residents whose 12-year-old daughter Anna was engaged in anxiety and other mental health struggles before the pandemic said school routines were very important to her child.

“Her anxiety was much harder to manage,” Young told CTV News when a pandemic broke out and the school was closed to face-to-face learning.

Due to the stress of the pandemic, Anna roamed around the house, especially experiencing sleep disorders, her mother said. Lack of consistent mental health care and switching to virtual therapy sessions also did not help.

“This is really, really rewarding, and usually the way parents with children suffering from mental health deal with is support and networking, and we couldn’t access them.” Said Young. “It was really long and really hard … and I’m worried that it will take a long time to get back to where we were before the pandemic.”

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According to the latest research, adolescents have been particularly hit because of the age at which more complex social relationships begin to develop.

“In adolescence, family differentiation begins and peers can actually be the most important source of social support,” Racine said. “During the pandemic, that support was significantly reduced, and in some cases completely lacking.”

Kim Moran, CEO of Children’s Mental Health Ontario, said her group has doubled some volume when it comes to mental health care needs at walk-in clinics. She also said experts were “extremely worried” about children with eating disorders who may have deteriorated during the pandemic.

“We need to keep schools open. Schools are the most important protecting factor for children with mental health problems,” Moran told CTV News. She also recommended that anyone eligible for vaccination be vaccinated with a jab to “keep the school open.”

Vaccination programs are carried out around the world and people aim to return to something similar to pre-pandemic life. The question now is whether the mental sacrifice of the past year and a half will be prolonged.

“At this point, I don’t know the answer,” Racine said. “For most children with increased mental health symptoms, I think some of them will be resolved. But there will be groups of children who don’t. For them, this pandemic could have been a catalyst. There are and put them on a potentially difficult trajectory. And there is another group of children who had mental health problems before the pandemic. They may really struggle in the long run. . “

Sara Austin, founder and CEO of Children First Canada, told CTV News that she wasn’t “sadly” surprised to see the numbers in the latest survey. She said her organization was “warning” about the mental health status of young people before the pandemic, and as COVID-19 restrictions continued, “code pink” emergencies affecting children’s mental health. Declared the situation.

“This report is really true because I’m hearing from the front lines of a children’s hospital,” she said.

Based on the results of this study, the authors recommend providing more mental health support to support young people now and in the future.

“Long before the pandemic, we had a stretched and resource-deficient youth mental health system,” Racine said. “If mental health problems could double, they would overwhelm the system without significantly increasing resources.”

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