Study shows COVID had little impact on mental health. The same isn’t true for kids – GLOBAL

March 15, 2023

COVID-19 has taken a minimal toll on most people’s mental health globally, according to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). But a separate study shows that finding may not hold true for children.

In fact, the pandemic increased mental distress for kids, a newly-published study led by the University of Calgary shows, leading to a sharp increase in emergency department visits for attempted suicide and suicide ideation among children and adolescents under the age of 19 years old.

Nicole Racine, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, said she believes children were forgotten about during the pandemic and they are one of the vulnerable groups that suffered the most from lockdowns.

“They were out of school for long periods of time and there were a lot of closures. And we know that their environments — for many of them who were more vulnerable — were in households, perhaps with increased violence, stress and substance use by parents,” she explained.

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/9547597/suicide-covid-children-mental-health/