“Psychological discomfort for young people is an emergency that must be intercepted”

2023-04-18 13:32:50

The Covid-19 epidemic has left us many aftermaths and perhaps the most problematic one concerns the mental health of children. “After the pandemic we have had an increase in the discomfort affecting young people already in the pre-adolescent age range: it is a real emergency. We see kids victims of self-harm, eating disorders, behavior dysregulation. This in a situation where there are no resources in the health service to take these kids by the hand and help them and the families experiencing these problems”. Daniela Chieffohead of the Clinical Psychology Operational Unit of the Gemelli Irccs Polyclinic Foundation in Rome, for the special time.news Salute dedicated to the psychological distress of young Italians.

Was Covid the cause? “There are a series of ingredients and considerations, there was already an implicit undergrowth – replies Chieffo – which was not as colorful and represented as today, the pandemic and the lockdown have fueled forms of alienation and spending a lot of time with the family has allowed parents to understand and understand better the discomfort of the boys and at the same time the young people were ‘forced’ by the closure for the Covid to give space to their emotional difficulties in the family”.

In the Department of Clinical Psychology patients arrive who need treatment, what is the identikit of the boys? “Basically we have two profiles: one form of disorder can be a psychopathology, with depression or anxiety. They are kids who don’t fall within psychotherapy and who have a psychiatric ‘trigger’. Then we have a psychological malaise: these are manifestations that could be intercepted Lately – he continues – we see victims of redundant episodes of cyberbullying, or the increase in eating disorders: not only eating disorders but also the rhythm of food intake, for example eating during the night or overeating with junk food. They are profiles with organic aspects who need personalized treatment paths and not necessarily to take drugs”.

Who are the figures who can intercept discomfort? “In our experience, based on the stories we collect, a personalized approach is important, each patient has his own story and some disorders can arise in different stages. We aim to raise awareness in everyday life, who does this traveling with adolescents has a great opportunity. The school is a fundamental setting, not because we want to load it with responsibility, but because we are with the school. Surely in that context, children have the possibility of expressing malaise. Pediatricians have an already more secondary role at that age, and families also have a great advantage with respect to information, often asking for help in an inappropriate way: it is necessary to report the disturbance when it affects the life of the child”.