Dear Colleagues,

Although physical health is understandably the priority during a pandemic, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent measures to protect mental health should be a major concern, particularly for adolescents, as compared to adults, the mental health of young people is often disproportionately affected by disasters.

Furthermore, the developmental characteristics of adolescence along with the psychological vulnerabilities of this stage make adolescence particularly important to study in light of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From a worldwide estimate, in the year 2020, between 10 and 20% of adolescents suffered from mental health problems, but in our opinion, few studies have taken into consideration changes in psychopathological aspects, quality of life, hospitalizations due to psychiatric emergencies or suicide attempts in adolescents already suffering from psychiatric disorders, focusing mainly on the use of substances, on anorexia nervosa and obsessive–compulsive disorder. Furthermore, there are no studies on how psychotherapy already underway could have attenuated or stabilized psychopathological conditions or quality of life. New research is needed to fill the gaps in the current research.

Due to dramatic and sudden changes in their lives during the pandemic, thousands of teenagers around the world could still be at risk for psychopathological disorders, creating a mental health “pandemic” scenario. We believe they deserve an inclusive response in terms of global health measures to avert potentially serious and long-lasting effects in terms of marginalization, stigma and psychopathological developments.

The aim of this Special Issue is to receive new proposals, ideas and practices used or to be implemented for the future in order to improve the mental health of current adolescents and young adults.

Prof. Dr. Stefano Marini
Dr. Tiziano Acciavatti
Dr. Alessandro Gentile
Guest Editors

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• youth mental health
• multidisciplinary interventions
• prevention
• innovations
• treatment projects
• multidisciplinary interventions