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The negative psychological consequences of the corona pandemic seem to last a long time, especially among young people, research institute Nivel said on Monday.
Since the start of the corona pandemic, the number of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who are prescribed antidepressants has risen significantly.
There is certainly an increase among young women, Nivel sees in the study that Trouw already wrote about on Monday. Of those, 330 out of 100,000 were prescribed an antidepressant per week in the first half of 2022, up from 262 out of 100,000 in 2019. That’s a 26 percent increase.
An increase was also seen in young men. This one was slightly smaller. In 2019, 122 out of 100,000 young men were receiving an antidepressant per week, in the first half of 2022, it was 138 out of 100,000, an increase of 13 percent. Previous research by Nivel has already shown that young people suffered from anxious or depressed feelings more often during the corona pandemic than in the period before the pandemic.
Nivel has not investigated whether there are really more young people with a depression or anxiety disorder now than before the pandemic. In general, other studies show that physical and psychological complaints among young people decreased as soon as corona measures were relaxed. However, this is not reflected in the number of prescriptions of antidepressants. “This could be because antidepressants are usually used for a longer period of time, or the resilience of young people may have decreased over time, for example due to difficulty rebuilding a social life,” Nivel said.
According to the research institute, other social problems can also play a role. “such as difficulty finding affordable housing, or rising inflation making everything more expensive”. Nivel calls on to “keep an eye on” the mental health of this group of young people, even though most corona measures have been out of force for some time.