The lockdown for Covid and the use of distance learning have caused an "explosion" of eating disorders among young people but also among adults. With anorexia and obesity which are more and more widespread, also involving boys and no longer exclusively girls. This was reported with ANSA by Laura Dalla Ragione, director of the network of the Center for eating disorders of the USL Umbria 1. Service considered a point of reference at national and international level.
"In the last year - emphasized Dalla Ragione - requests for assistance have increased considerably and come from all over Italy. About 20 percent of those who come to us are males, in particular from the 12-17 age group".
The two structures in Todi, Palazzo Francisci and the Le rondini center host 35 girls in a residential way while about 200 are those undergoing treatment from the outside.
The Center for Eating Disorders has another facility in Città della Pieve (18 places that will soon become 25) dedicated to the problems of obesity. It hosts the youngest between June and August and adults the rest of the year.
For Dalla Ragione, a negative effect on eating disorders is also linked to distance learning. "Stress - he explained -, a sedentary lifestyle and a sense of claustrophobia linked to having to stay at home contributed to worsening the situation. Food was a sort of refuge".
Another "very strong" theme is that of bullying. "It is an increasingly evident social problem - underlined Dalla Ragione -, especially among the very young. Those who are 'different' are the object of insults, real forms of body shaming. About 60 percent of eating disorders they are linked to bullying phenomena. It is a social problem - concluded Dalla Ragione - on which we must all commit ourselves ".