The pandemic increases the number of eating disorders in Catalan adolescents

The increase in cases of eating disorders (TAC) in adolescents detected in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, maintains a worrying evolution over time. hike this 2021, as reflected in a survey carried out by the Association Against Anorexia and Bulimia (ACAB) a 5.135 ESO students – from 12 to 16 years old – from schools of Catalonia. Although they do not have official figures, the association has gone from attending to some 2,000 cases per year in 2019 to attending to more than 5,000 in both 2020 and 2021. Likewise, as highlighted by Sara Bujalance, director of the entity, in the Catalan hospitals revenues have increased by 20% and beds are lacking to treat these patients. “There are more cases and are more severe“Bujalance pointed out.” The fact of having been isolated at home, with stressed primary care centers, has aggravated the cases. In the specialized units the beds are full and there is a waiting list “, he summarizes.

The survey also reflects an increase in the young people’s dissatisfaction with their own body and an increase in dI want to lose weight, as well as the initiation of behaviors, such as diets without medical supervision, which can be the gateway to an eating disorder. Before the pandemic, 32% of the girls wanted to lose weight, while now the percentage has risen to 47%. In boys, it has gone from 15% to 21%.

The initiation of uncontrolled diets is a phenomenon that has alarmed the ACAB. “If in 2019 34% of girls admitted to having dieted without supervision, now it is 41%”, explained Bujalance, who points out that “not those who start a diet will have a disorder, but a large majority of young people with TAC started with this behavior. ” And he warns against the tendency to downplay these attitudes. “Families and even pediatricians see diets as something of age, which will pass. This normalization is dangerous,” underlines the entity.

Another element that has set off alarms is the teasing that young people receive from classmates and that mostly are related to the body and especially to weight. Thus, 86% say they have received ridicule for their physique (in 2019 there were 76%). Bujalance recalls that negative comments about an adolescent’s physique, both from his family and from peers, are a risk factor when developing a TAC.

Networks and social isolation

In the opinion of the ACAB, the prolonged exposure of young people to social networks and the Social isolation At very vulnerable ages, two factors linked to the pandemic have caused this “increase in body dissatisfaction and have been a triggering factor in the increase in ED cases in adolescence.”

In general, all the indicators in the survey have deteriorated. Thus, if in 2019 4.5% of young people believed that they could be suffering from an eating disorder, now it is 8.7%. And if before the pandemic 29% suspected that a colleague could be in that situation, now the figure is 32%.

A positive a priori fact is that 70% of respondents say they carry out at least one daily family meal, a practice that is considered a protective factor against eating disorders. However, this family meal must be carried out without interference that alters the moment of communication and the reality is that 75% of young people recognize that at that moment there are mobile devices (phones, tablets …). “Family food has protective effects, it is a time to chat, create emotional ties. But if there are mobiles or tablets on the table, that is a clear interference,” says Bujalance.

Performance in schools

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Faced with this scenario of worsening mental health of young people and the increase in cases of eating disorders, the association has called on the administrations for a “firm commitment” to combat these disorders through a Prevention Plan for eating disorders. This plan contemplates, for example, providing schools with an action protocol so that they know how to detect the first warning signs of a case of eating disorder and thus be able to warn the family to act as soon as possible. In this sense, the ACAB has announced that it has already begun to work with the Department of Education to train the professionals of the Psychopedagogical Advisory Teams (EAP) in schools with the aim of detecting this problem in schools.

The ACAB has denounced that the public health system does not identify “neither fast enough nor well” these disorders. “They are not detected or they are detected late,” laments Bujalance, who reports that the first visit with a mental health specialist usually takes more than a month and that when young people receive this care, the visits are reduced and short. “Resources are lacking and specialists are lacking,” he claims, emphasizing the importance of early detection.