On March 18 the president Mattarella celebrated the third day of the victims of thecoronavirus epidemic, recalling that three years ago we experienced “one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Republic”. “On this day – the Head of State underlined – I renew my feelings of sympathy for the pain of the families of the victims and at the same time I express my gratitude to those who have contributed to containing such a serious danger, sudden and pervasive, such as to jeopardize global public health. The efforts made in averting the consequences of the pandemic – not yet fully eradicated – constitutes a heritage of fundamental values to be preserved in order to be in a position to face any challenge of international significance.”
The consequences of lockdowns
Now, beyond the questionable catastrophic interpretation of a virus that has never represented a serious problem for healthy people, our maximum guarantor of the Constitution seems to forget that, in addition to the victims of Sars-Cov-2, i.e. an audience of very elderly poor people suffering from some serious pre-existing pathologies , there are a large number of people even very young who still suffer today the consequences of senseless closures which have paralyzed the social and economic life of the country for a long time.
So much so that almost in conjunction with the sad anniversary of the victims of Covid-19, the “National Lilla Bow Day, dedicated to eating disorders,” was celebrated on March 15th. Eating disorders, especially related to the phenomena of anorexia e bulimiawhich during a pandemic managed with the Chinese method have grown exponentially especially among the younger ones.
Study on eating disorders
According to a study conducted in Italy on a sample of 36,000 subjects, and published a few months ago by theInternational Journal of Eating Disorder, it emerged that during the pandemic he registered a 36% increase in symptoms associated with eating disorders causing a real boom in hospitalizations, which grew by 48% in just a few months. In an article published on the subject by Matteo Balestrieri, full professor of psychiatry at the University of Udine, and by Claudio Mencacci, emeritus director of neuro-sciences and mental health at the ASST Fatebenefratelli-Sacco in Milan, the finger is pointed precisely at the devastating effects of restrictions on the mental health of many, too many people.
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“This altered relationship with food – we read in particular in the interesting comment -, the psychic discomfort, the limitation of access to treatment have been and still are a dramatic “trinomial” for patients with food disorders. We saw it every day in “real life”, today it is confirmed by studies: the pandemic contextisolation, the loss of fixed points, the uncertainty of the future have exacerbated the frailties of this class of patients which have resulted in the daily search for more food, as a compensatory and rewarding act for the inability to accept and manage the sudden change of routine and the consequences that Covid has generated”.
The madness of lockdowns
Well, back to the point, given the size of the phenomenon and considering the great mass of those who, again due to the paralysis caused by the lockdowns and the stricter restrictions imposed in the Westwere unable to promptly access treatment for many other serious illnesses, losing their lives in many cases, perhaps it would be appropriate to commemorate, alongside the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, also the innocent victims of the same restrictions, largely revealed useless and counterproductive.
Germany has made self-criticism. And U.S?
In this regard, perhaps it is appropriate to point out to our illustrious President of the Republic that in several parts of the world, piecemeal, a profound rethinking of the same anti-Covid measures, complete with a public apology addressed to the population. The latest in the series was the German Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach, who at the end of February expressed a sensational self-criticism, declaring that “the lockdown was a wrong measure”, after having been a staunch supporter of it. And he did it precisely by observing the graves psychic consequences that the same measures determined on individuals in training. Aware of the serious mistakes made, Lauterbach stated that “in the future, the defense of children’s well-being must come first”.
The hope, the serious one, is that even within our highest institutions a process of self-criticism will begin to emerge regarding the very avoidable damages produced by the measures imposed to contain a non-fatal disease for 99.9% of the population, painted like the plague of the third millennium.
Claudio Romiti, 19 March 2023