Experts report increase in kids showing signs of depression due to Covid-19

Childhood depression is different from the normal “blues” and everyday emotions that children go through as they develop.

Just because a child seems sad doesn’t necessarily mean they have significant depression.

But if the sadness becomes persistent or interferes with normal social activities, interests, schoolwork, or family life, it may mean they have a depressive illness.

These were the words of Child Protection Hotline founder Danie van Loggerenberg.

According to Van Loggerenberg, one in two young people between the ages between six and 16 are at risk of developing a mental disorder, of which mood and anxiety disorders are the most prevalent.

He said that they were currently seeing a trend of children suffering from depression or rather depression like traits in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We as parents need to remember that our children see and hear what we see and hear about Covid-19.

“We tend to find that our own negative words or our actions influence that of our children, but where we are able to bisect what we read and hear, our children do not have the ability to understand what is happening or even remotely interpret it.

“They are at school one day off the next, then they practice sport then it is taken away again.

“Birthday parties are now limited to mum, dad, brother and sister. Parents had a Covid-19 interaction at work and they need to isolate for 10 days.

“Children then hear and see how devastated their parents are when there is death in the family. They hear the conversations around money drying up and reduced salaries. They see food becoming less and no new clothing or toys being bought,” he said.

Van Loggerenberg said that this led to children trying to understand their new world, without talking to their parents, as they were dealing with enough stress already.

“Unfortunately, this sees what can only be described from the outside as odd behaviour among children, including acting out among friends. Discussions about suicide and how that would be easier.

“Bullying behaviour as children feel the need to act out.

“Can you imagine being nine years-old-and not have seen the mouth and smile of your friends for more than a year? We always teach parents that children act more on what they see than what they hear. Not seeing emotions, a smile is all of a sudden a bigger deal than you could ever imagine,” he said adding that the pandemic has unfortunately left children behind.

“We do not see their depression, we find it out after an action, and that includes bullying, suicide, not doing well in school work, etc.

“The increase in depression among our children is at alarming levels, the concern however is that we as grownups have not even started dealing with it yet and thus where we need to lead our children, we are still learning with them,” Van Loggerenberg said.

During this year’s child protection week, that ran from May 30 until June 6, the South African council for social service professions said the focus this year would be on protecting children during Covid-19 and beyond.

Chrinsa Shmidt, a local social worker, said the lockdown had raised a major concern about children’s mental well being.

“There has been an increase in depression amongst children and also cases of abuse since the lockdown. Most of it could be because the children had to be around their abusers more and there was no way for them to seek help,” said Schmidt.

She said depression and sexual abuse were the two key issues.

“They tend to withdraw or don’t enjoy activities that they would normally find exciting. Sometimes it also manifests itself physically through stomach aches or tiredness,” she added.

“There is a lot of help available for children who need it. In the Moot we have the Rata Social Services, CMR and many other avenues for children and their parents to seek help,” concluded Schimdt.

Bullying can have many negative impacts on a life of a teenager. The education department seeks to raise awareness in schools by getting teachers and parents more involved.

The department recently held a “school safety, violence and bullying prevention initiative” anti-bullying campaign which ended on Sunday.

It provided ways for parents and teachers to find different ways to communicate and deal with different situations by visiting schools across the country.

The department believed that parents should try and be more involved in their children’s school activities. A learner’s mental and emotional well being is crucial because it can affect their education and their general views about life.

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