Many more young people are still struggling with thoughts of suicide than before the corona crisis. The number of young people who sometimes no longer see life has increased sharply during the last lockdown. Since then, the percentage of young people with “serious suicidal thoughts” has barely fallen.
Of the young people between the ages of 12 and 25 who took part in a study by, among others, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 16 percent suffered from these kinds of thoughts in the last measurement round. That is only 1 percent less than in December last year, when the country was locked due to the high number of corona infections. The study was conducted in June and the results appeared on Thursday.
GPs also still see significantly more young people who think about suicide, or have even attempted suicide, than before the corona pandemic. The number of consultations is still 39 percent higher than before.
Consequences of the corona pandemic
Many young people indicate that the corona crisis still has major consequences on their lives. For example, because they fell behind in their studies. “In addition, they had the feeling that they had missed important years of their lives,” according to RIVM. Social contacts decreased and a large part of the young people experienced mental and physical complaints, from fear to fatigue. Of the more than 4,000 young people who took part in the survey, 37 percent reported psychological problems. Almost half (49 percent) sometimes experience loneliness, an equal proportion of those surveyed suffer from stress.
GGD GHOR Nederland, research institute Nivel and ARQ National Psychotrauma Center are also participating in the study. Together they form the GOR Network. The poll was conducted by I&O Research.