The psychological distress of adolescents in Bologna is growing due to the pandemic. And an alarm bell also comes from the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic in Bologna, which from June to December 2020 reported an 18% increase in requests for help for eating disorders.
This is said by Leonardo Sacrato, a psychologist of infantile neuropsychiatry of Sant’Orsola, who spoke today in the School Commission of the Municipality of Bologna. “For eating disorders – explains Sacrato – from June to December 2020 we recorded an 18% increase in accesses for the first visits compared to the previous year. For us this is already significant”, but in reality the numbers “could be even much wider – warns the psychologist – if we had not had to reduce the activity of the clinic “in recent months due to the anti-covid restrictions.
In addition to eating disorders, Sacrato also reports requests for help related to episodes of depression, greater closure or even aggression. “We have also seen recurrences of previous situations – explains the psychologist – with patients who worsened after reaching a balance and we had to take back”.
Eating disorders increase
After all, Sacrato underlines, in this year marked by the pandemic “there has never been a recovery of energy. It is like always being in apnea, the breaths of air have been very few”. In reality, on the part of the adolescents “there was no single answer” to this situation, explains the psychologist.
“Isolation and discontinuity have led to very different responses in the boys – Sacrato affirms – and someone who managed to organize themselves is also happy with this situation”. But many others suffer from profound unease, as confirmed by Gloria Bergamini, contact person for the listening desk of the Fermi high school in Bologna.
“This year I have had more than double the requests for an interview compared to last year – he explains – at the moment I am following 101 children and 53 parents and to date I have done 252 interviews”. The children, Bergamini confirmed, “are very tried: much more than adults”. They suffer from a lack of relationships with peers, but also not being able to play sports “undermines their self-esteem”.
“Dad is very heavy”
The dad “is very heavy – continues the Ferman teacher – at first they held up better, while now it has become a routine and hinders the relationship between the children and the professors”. Teaching the PC involves “difficulty concentrating” and “more performance anxiety”, but also “headache and burning eyes”. However, it is always the psychological aspect that worries the most. “Some young people, who were erupting volcanoes, are dying out more and more and are at risk of social withdrawal – explains Bergamini – others, on the other hand, are increasingly nervous and aggressive. Many are lost, depressed, anxious to carry the covid at home and fear of the future. They struggle not to collapse. ” (San / Dire)
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