Pandemic and Mental Health. Attention, Assistance and Support for Children, Adolescents and Young Adults in and after Societal Crises

Published: 28 November 2022

Research shows that the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of emotional and existential crisis for almost all young people, characterised by loneliness, isolation and fear, excessive media consumption and a lack of external structures that usually support one’s life. As time went on, quite a few children, adolescents and young adults developed manifest mental illnesses such as eating, anxiety, addictive or depressive disorders. In this publication, the German Ethics Council recommends rapid and sustainable improvements in the provision of psychosocial, psychotherapeutic and psychiatric services for young people.