The number of children and young people suffering from an eating disorder has increased during the corona pandemic.
This is shown by evaluations by health insurance companies among their insured persons.
DAK-Gesundheit has found an increase in hospital treatments for eating disorders of 9 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, and among 15 to 17 year olds it is even 13 percent more.
According to the KKH, there was a disproportionate increase of around seven percent among 13 to 18 year olds.
Specialists sense the increase in diseases such as anorexia and bulimia in their facilities.
"Due to the fact that the numbers have increased so much, there are no therapy places," says the chairman Andreas Schnebel of the Federal Association of Eating Disorders.
"It's also getting cramped in the inpatient facilities." And he sees another worrying development: the patients are getting younger.
Anorexia mainly affects girls going through puberty.
According to him, the Munich counseling center that Schnebel heads has been seeing younger and younger girls for a number of years, some of them as young as 8 or 9 years old.
"That has to do with the fact that everything starts earlier today, like puberty and access to social media," says the expert.
Various studies supported these assumptions, says Silja Vocks, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Osnabrück.
The early onset of puberty can mean that physical maturity may not be compatible with mental maturity.
At the same time, children and young people are using social media earlier and earlier, where they are constantly confronted with embellished images.
"The more fragile the body image, the more open you are to this influence."