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BERLIN (AP) – Pollina Dinner returned to school in Berlin for the first time this week after two months of lockdown. The third 9-year-old student was delighted to see her classmates and teachers again, but is concerned about the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on her life.
“I’m not scared of the coronavirus, I’m scared that everything will continue like this – that my school will close again, I won’t be able to see my friends, and that I can’t go to the movies with my family,” said the girl fingering her blue medical mask and sighing deeply. “And wearing that mask is even worse than closing all the stores.”
Psychiatrists, psychologists and pediatricians in Germany have expressed growing concern that school closures, social restrictions and other precautions are amplifying fear, disruption and stress from the pandemic among the 13.7 million ‘German children and adolescents, raising the prospect of a future mental health crisis.
“We don’t have long-term studies yet, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of an increase in hospitalizations and psychologists overflowing with the crisis,” said Julia Asbrand, professor of psychology at child and youth at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The Associated Press.
A recent survey by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found that around one in three children suffer from anxiety or depression related to a pandemic or have psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches. Children from poor and immigrant families are disproportionately affected, according to the survey.
Pollina, who immigrated from Russia with her family in 2019, worries that she will forget much of her German since she only speaks Russian at home. She is one of 150 young people from disadvantaged families who, before the pandemic. regularly spent time after school in a youth support program in the eastern outskirts of the German capital.
Arche – Ark in English – is based in the Hellersdorf district of Berlin, an area of drab concrete buildings constructed under the former Communist regime in East Germany. Some children are still allowed to come in person, but only once every two weeks. The rest of the time, social workers and educators try to stay in touch through video chats while helping their young clients with distance learning.
“Many have completely withdrawn and no longer want to leave their rooms. They have gained a lot of weight, play online games without interruption and no longer have any structure in their daily life, ”said Bernd Siggelkow, founder of Arche.
The second major lockdown in Germany began before Christmas. Students in grades 1 to 3 were allowed to return to class this week with small classes and limited lessons. The government hopes to ease further restrictions in the coming weeks and has said reopening all schools is a top priority.
However, there are fears the country could slide into a third wave of infections due to more contagious variants of the virus. Virologists have repeatedly said that it remains unclear to what extent the virus is spreading from schoolchildren in homes and communities. More than 2 million people have contracted the virus in Germany and nearly 70,000 have died from COVID-19, although only 10 are under the age of 20, according to the country’s center for disease control.
Even though children are not at as much risk of serious complications from COVID-19 as older adults, they may be more vulnerable to the mental health collateral effects of the pandemic, experts say.
An analysis of the German health insurer DAK of psychological problems in young people confirms the first-person observations of Arche staff.
The assessment, obtained by the German news agency dpa, showed that the number of children and adolescents hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in Berlin nearly doubled in the first half of 2020, when schools were closed for more than two months during the country’s first lockdown. with the first six months of 2019.
The statistic underlines the psychological strain the pandemic is putting on young people but does not illustrate the scale of the problem, Christoph Correll, director of child and juvenile psychiatry at Charite Hospital in Berlin, told dpa.
“Hospitalizations are the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
Adolescents, especially girls, are more prone to eating disorders and self-harm, and many children’s psychological problems go undetected as parents are overwhelmed and teachers, social workers and children are overwhelmed. pediatricians do not have regular contact with students, clients and patients, experts warn. .
Psychology professor Asbrand fears the mental health of children and adolescents has not received enough attention during the pandemic. Along with other professionals in the field, she wrote an open letter to the government this month to lobby for the needs of young people to be better addressed in the current health crisis and prioritized when society reopens.
One immediate action that government authorities could take to help alleviate any possible problems would be to allow groups to assemble for school sports and for young people, in accordance with hygiene and distance precautions.
“We don’t all know yet how it’s going to play out in the long term, but we need to focus on youth mental health now,” she said.
As he attended Arche this week for help with homework assignments online, Robin Reyer, 16, said not being able to hang out with friends was one of the hardest parts. restrictions on the pandemic.
“I want to celebrate birthdays again, go out and play soccer with my friends in the park or meet them at the Burger King,” he said, taking a break outside in the spring sun.
“Now I’m only allowed to meet one friend at most,” he said. “It really sucks.”
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