During the corona pandemic, the number of young people between the ages of 15 and 17 suffering from depression in Berlin increased significantly according to health insurance figures.
In the first year of the pandemic, 2020, more than 17 percent more 15- to 17-year-olds in the capital were treated for depression for the first time than in the previous year.
This emerges from an evaluation by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, which is to be published on Wednesday morning. The numbers remained constant for five to nine-year-olds, but there was a slight decrease for ten to 14-year-olds.
According to the information provided, the “Children and Youth Report” by the DAK is based on accounting data from more than 41,000 children and young people aged up to 17 who are insured with DAK-Gesundheit in Berlin. The years 2019 and 2020 were analyzed. The report is based on data from around seven percent of all children and young people in the capital and is representative in terms of age and gender distribution.
Increase in depression – “I’m not at all surprised”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Julia Asbrand, child and adolescent psychologist at the Humboldt University in Berlin, with a view to the increase in depression among adolescents. In her everyday work, she experiences an increase in mental illnesses among young people.
“There has been an increased need in recent years, which is constantly increasing,” she explained to the German Press Agency. She thinks it is too short-sighted to relate this only to Corona. “There are many topics that concern young people, for example the climate crisis or global political conflicts.”
In fact, says Asbrand, she thinks the number of unreported cases of mental illness is high – also because stigmatization is still a “very big problem” in Germany. The expert called for more low-threshold offers, especially in schools – such as the increased use of school social workers and school psychologists. “There’s still room for improvement, we have to do a lot of reconnaissance.”
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According to DAK data, the proportion of 15 to 17-year-olds in Berlin who received medical treatment for alcohol abuse increased by twelve percent in 2020. Across the country, there was an opposite trend.
Medically treated cannabis abuse in this age group even increased by fifty percent. According to the data, there was a noticeable increase of 21 percent in obesity among children between the ages of five and nine.