(ANSA) - ROME, JANUARY 26 - A global mental health crisis is underway, especially among the very young: the incidence of depression and anxiety among adolescents has doubled compared to before the pandemic and a large meta-analysis just published in JAMA Pediatrics, which included 29 Studies conducted on over 80,000 young people, has shown that today one in 4 adolescents, in Italy and in the world, has the clinical symptoms of depression and one in 5 signs of an anxiety disorder. This widespread mental distress risks placing a serious risk on the future health of children. This was stated by experts at the national congress of the Italian Society of NeuroPsicoFarmacologia.
The probability of mental disorders is particularly high among older boys who more than children, psychiatrists explain, have been affected by the restrictions that have not allowed them to share the fundamental moments of growth in serenity and together with their peers, from the first relationships to the final exams.
All this is also confirmed by a second study, on 1500 children and adolescents, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. A situation that can unfortunately have negative consequences in the long term: it has been shown that suffering from depression during childhood and adolescence is associated as adults with worse health, mental and not only, and with greater difficulties in relationships and in life in general. This is especially true for those who have persistently suffered from depressive symptoms: being constantly 'subdued', especially during adolescence, experts warn, has more negative repercussions than a single depressive episode, even very early, if this is then resolved. It is therefore necessary, is the warning of the specialists at the congress, "intercepting mental distress in children and intervening, using the most appropriate tools for the individual case and taking into account the peculiarities associated with young age ". (ANSA).