New figures from a company which runs a mental health hospital for young people in Bury has revealed the impact of Covid-19 and lockdown on children’s mental health.

Referrals to Cygnet Health Care’s psychiatric intensive care units in its Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) hospitals more than doubled between 2019 and 2022.

In 2019, 255 referrals of young people were made to the Cygnet intensive care unit compared to 596 in 2022, an increase of 134 per cent.

The mental health care provider, which runs Cygnet Hospital on Bolton Road, saw an increase in the number of young people presenting with issues such as low mood, insomnia, stress, anxiety, anger, irritability, emotional exhaustion, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms following lockdown.

The biggest increase was found to be eating disorders.

Leading psychiatrist Dr Triveni Joshi is a consultant psychiatrist at Cygnet Health Care who specialises in child and adolescent psychiatry and said lockdowns would have played a massive part in the decline in mental health for young people.

She said: “We won’t know for many years whether the virus itself disturbed young people’s neurological development, but we have emerging evidence which tells us about the detrimental impact of lockdown.

“It impacted young people’s mental health and wellbeing severely, particularly those who had pre-existing mental health conditions.

“In my view the biggest concern was the isolation.

"We know that lack of socialisation is a key factor in depression. The young people became trapped in their homes.

“They were missing social contact and no way of engaging in activities which would have previously boosted their mental health such as sports clubs and activities with their friends.

“Not having that outlet, as well as the huge sense of anxiety about what was happening to the world around them, would have been overwhelming and little wonder they struggled.”

Dr Joshi also spoke about the change in approach to mental health services in the community and the impact that would have had.

She said: “Community services had to offer their services very differently so what were face-to-face clinics became virtual appointments and people became less available.

“They were not able to offer sessions the way they would have done.

“From the young people we have admitted, they have found the lack of contact with their community mental health teams was very detrimental.

“As demand started to surge, resources became less available. And so, we had the explosion in numbers.”

Meg, 15, is a service user at a CAMHS Tier 4 PICU service which provides support for young people who have complex needs and require high intensity nursing care.

She said: “I struggle to socialise with people and I got used to not being around anyone during lockdown.

“When restrictions lifted and I returned to school and needed to interact, my problems got a lot worse.

“Even during lockdown, I didn’t have anyone to talk to. You had to be severely unwell to get the right support. That’s the situation I ended up in.

“Without Covid, I might have had the same struggles, but I would have had access to the coping strategies I needed a lot earlier.

“Perhaps then I wouldn’t have attempted suicide and I wouldn’t be on a psychiatric intensive care unit now.”

Similarly, Lily, also aged 15, struggled with her mental health since she was six years old and things worsened for her during lockdown.

She said: “When Covid happened, a lot of the help I was used to receiving was cut back. It was really limited.

“It felt like there wasn’t the space, people or time to help me.

“I was receiving community support when it first appeared and suddenly, my appointments stopped.

“I got less help, and things started to worsen very quickly for me.

“In-person therapy is so important and when people aren’t able to access the care in the community they need, even those with relatively minor mental health problems could spiral.”

Cygnet Health Care offers a range of specialist inpatient CAMHS focused on supporting young people aged between 12 and 18.

If you have a story tweet @BuryTimes or @Alicegerrard157 or email alice.gerrard@newsquest.co.uk.