Figures show more than a million children need treatment for serious mental health problems, including eating disorders, in the time since lockdowns were imposed in England.
The England-wide data include children who are suicidal, self-harming, suffering serious depression or anxiety, and those with eating disorders.
Elaine Lockhart, chairwoman of the child and adolescent psychiatry faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the rise in referrals for children and young people reflects a “whole range” of illnesses including psychosis, suicidal thoughts, and severe anxiety disorder.
Lockhart said children and young people’s mental health had been getting worse before the pandemic.
“When the lockdowns and pandemic struck, that really had such a negative effect on a lot of children,” she added.
“Those who had been doing well became vulnerable and those were vulnerable became unwell,” she said.
“And part of that was about children themselves feeling very untethered from the day-to-day life that supports them, but also seeing their own parents struggle, and then that collective heightened sense of anxiety and loss of control we all had really affected children,” said Lockhart.
www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/england-sees-39-rise-children-needing-help-serious-mental-health-problems