The COVID-19 pandemic has totally changed our way of life, and in many cases this has brought with it concerns and fears that have increased the risk of developing psychological problems. And not only in adults. A revealing report by Save the Children has revealed the increase in mental disorders in Spanish children and adolescents, which have tripled due to the coronavirus crisis.
‘Grow up Healthy (mind). An analysis of mental health and suicide in childhood and adolescence’, this is the title of the report that has been carried out through a survey of 2,000 fathers and mothers in Spain on the mental health of their children during this period global health crisis generated by COVID-19.
The main data show that mental disorders such as anxiety or depression have increased from 1.1% to 4% in children between 4 and 14 years of age, and from 2.5% to 7% behavioral disorders -such as deficit of attention or hyperactivity–, compared to the data prior to the pandemic that were collected in 2017. These problems seem to be more aggravated, their impact being up to three times greater, in families without a job due to the pandemic than in those who have been able to keep it .
Medical diagnoses of childhood mental disorders decline
Despite these data, Andrés Conde, general director of Save the Children, has reported that only 8% of parents believe that their children have been able to feel regular or bad during the COVID-19 pandemic, since the majority say perceive that their children are in good or very good health.
The problem is also that medical diagnoses of mental and behavioral disorders have decreased. Regarding mood, 19.5% of children and adolescents were restless or very worried, a figure that has risen to 30.2% after the pandemic. In addition, unhappy children or those who felt discouraged accounted for 8.4% in 2017, and in this year 2021 they are 18.1%, a figure that worries experts.
In 2020, 61 children and adolescents committed suicide, and 3% of those under the age of 18 acknowledge having had suicidal thoughts
Regarding the registered data on suicides among boys and girls up to the age of 18, Andrés Conde has declared that “today there are much fewer suicides of boys and girls than 30 years ago. The good news is that Spain is one of the OECD countries with the lowest suicide rate”. Only below Turkey, Portugal and Greece.
Considering age, and always according to the report, in 2020, 61 children and adolescents took their own lives, and 3% of those under 18 years of age acknowledge having had suicidal thoughts. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that girls are usually the ones who most think of self-inflicting death, however, it is boys who end up doing it in greater proportions.
To deal with all these devastating data, Save the Children proposes a series of measures, such as an investment of 44.6 million euros for the special training of teaching staff, the launch of a mental health care telephone children and adolescents, and doubling the number of annual vacancies for Resident Internal Psychologists (PIR) to 400, among other measures.
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