BERLIN (AP) – Pollina Dinner returns to school in Berlin for the first time this week after a two-month lock-up. The 9-year-old third learner was delighted to see her classmates and teachers again, but was concerned about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on her life.
“I’m not afraid of the coronavirus, I’m afraid that everything will continue like this – that my school will close again, that I will not be able to see my friends and that I will not be able to go to the movies together. my family, ”the girl said, fingering and sighing deeply with her blue medical mask. “And wearing this mask is even worse than all the stores that have closed.”
Psychiatrists, psychologists and paediatricians in Germany have increasingly raised the alarm that school closures, social restrictions and other precautions will increase the fear, disruption and tension of the pandemic among Germany’s 13.7 million children and teenagers, raising the prospect of a future mental health crisis .
“We have no long-term studies yet, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of a crisis-driven increase in hospitalizations and overcrowded psychologists,” Julia Asbrand, a professor of child and adolescent psychology at Humboldt University in Berlin, told The Associated Press .
A recent survey by University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found that about one in three children suffers from pandemic-related anxiety or depression or exhibits psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches. Children from poorer and immigrant families are out of proportion, according to the survey.
Pollina, who emigrated from Russia with her family in 2019, is worried about forgetting much of her German as she only speaks Russian at home. She is one of 150 young people from underprivileged families that took place before the pandemic. regularly spent time after school on a youth support program on the eastern outskirts of the German capital.
Arche – Ark in English – is based in the Berlin Hellersdorf district, an area of pale concrete buildings built during the former communist rule of East Germany. Some children may still come in person, but only once every two weeks. The rest of the time, social workers and educators try to keep in touch through video chats while helping their young clients with distance education.
‘Many have withdrawn and no longer want to leave their rooms. They have gained a lot of weight, play online games non-stop and no longer have structures in their everyday lives, ”said Bernd Siggelkow, founder of Arche.
The second major exclusion in Germany began before Christmas. Students in grades 1-3 were allowed to return to classrooms this week with less class size and limited lessons. The government hopes to ease further restrictions in the coming weeks and said the reopening of all schools is a top priority.
However, there are concerns that the country is declining in a third wave of infections due to more contagious variants of the virus. Virologists have repeatedly said that it is still unclear to what extent the virus spreads from children going to school in homes and communities. More than 2 million people have contracted the virus in Germany and nearly 70,000 have died from COVID-19, though only ten are under the age of 20, according to the country’s disease control center.
Although children do not have as many risks with serious COVID-19 complications as older adults, according to experts, they are more vulnerable to the consequences of the mental health of the pandemic.
An analysis by the German health insurer DAK regarding psychological problems concerning adolescents confirms the observation of the staff of Arche in the first person.
The evaluation, obtained by the German news agency dpa, showed that the number of children and teenagers hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in Berlin almost doubled during the first half of 2020, when schools were closed for more than two months during the country ‘s first closing, compared to the first six months of 2019.
The statistics highlight the psychological strain the pandemic places on young people, but do not illustrate the extent of the problem, Christoph Correll, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Charite Hospital in Berlin, told dpa.
“Hospitalizations are the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
Teenagers, especially girls, are more prone to eating disorders and self-harm, and many children’s psychological problems are not detected, while parents are overwhelmed and teachers, social workers and pediatricians do not have regular contact with students, clients and patients, experts warn. .
Psychology professor Asbrand is concerned that the mental health of children and teenagers did not receive enough attention during the pandemic. Along with other professionals in the field, she wrote an open letter to the government this month to strive for youth needs to be better addressed in the ongoing health crisis and prioritized when society reopens.
An immediate action that the government can take to help alleviate potential problems is to allow groups to meet for school and youth sports, in accordance with hygiene and remote precautions.
“We all do not yet know how it will develop in the long run, but we must now focus on the mental health of the youth,” she said.
While attending Arche this week for help with homework assigned online, 16-year-old Robin Reyer said the fact that it was not possible to hang out with friends was one of the most difficult parts of the pandemic restrictions.
“I want to celebrate my birthday again, play football with my friends in the park or meet them at Burger King,” he said as he took a break in the spring sun.
“Now I can only meet at most one friend,” he said. “It really beats.”