The Mental Health Effects of COVID-19 Emergency on Children and Their Families

• “Traumatized” refers specifically to people who have experienced traumatic events and are unable to cope. This inability to cope affects their functioning. (A traumatic event is an unexpected, serious, often life threatening event.)
• “The media often uses the word “trauma” in relation to anyone who is disturbed, upset, distressed or shocked by a horrible event. However, a professional mental health worker only describes a “traumatized” person as someone who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
• It is important to understand that only a few people develop PTSD after emergencies. A person, who is stressed, shocked, or experiences nightmares would not necessarily meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.”

• Mental and behavioral disorders are clinically significant conditions characterized by alteration in thinking, mood (emotions), or behavior associated with personal distress and/or impaired functioning.
• Mental and behavioral disorders are not just variations within the range of “normal”, but are clearly abnormal or pathological phenomena. (World Health Organization, 2001)

• There are numerous symptoms of trauma that individuals can develop after experiencing a traumatic event. The symptoms differ from person to person. An individual may experience one or several of the following symptoms:
• Distressing recollections of the event such as images, thoughts or flashbacks.
• Hyper-arousal or hyper-vigilance
• Sense of helplessness and Social withdrawal.
• Increased physical complaints (headaches and stomach aches).
• Substance abuse, anxiety, and depression.

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): is a mental condition or disorder after (post) the trauma where these symptoms become so bad that the person cannot cope with their daily life (e.g., cannot play with friends, cannot concentrate at school, cannot get along with other household members, cannot do their work).
• These symptoms don’t improve over time. A warning sign is if the symptoms are still present a month after the traumatic event.
• People who experience trauma can show symptoms of post traumatic stress but this must not be confused with post traumatic stress disorder.
• PTSD can only be diagnosed after the severity of the symptoms and the period of time for which they persist after the traumatic incident are taken into account.
• Exhibiting some of the symptoms of trauma listed above is considered a normal reaction to an abnormal situation (the trauma). It is only when these symptoms persist or get worse that a clinical diagnosis of PTSD should be considered.

• Refers to a form of counseling targeted at reducing psychological distress and preventing the development of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic events. Affected individuals are asked to recount the traumatic incident in detail and to recall the worst moments.

• However, trauma debriefing, in particular single session trauma debriefing, has been found to offer little ongoing help to victims of trauma. Trauma debriefing may well do more harm than good. This has led to a shift to safer techniques, such as Psychological First Aid.

• Refers to an increase in the frequency or number of symptoms of PTSD. Trauma debriefing can have the undesired effect of retraumatization for people affected by emergencies.

• People will show varied levels of psychological distress (or psychosocial problems) after an emergency.
• These range from mild psychological distress (this can be resolved within days or weeks and people do not need special intervention) to moderate or severe psychological distress. The latter may be resolved with time or become chronic mild distress.
• People who suffer chronic mild distress will benefit from a range of social and basic psychological interventions to reduce distress.
• There will also be people who show signs of having varied levels of mental disorder. These range from mild to severe disorders. Some of these people might benefit from a range of social and basic psychological interventions to reduce distress while others will require specialized psychological care. While most people do not develop mental disorders as a result of emergencies, there has been an increase of about 1% in the affected population in recent years.
• Though this is a small percentage of the population, it is important to identify people with mental disorders since they are highly vulnerable and need treatment and support.
• “In emergencies, not everyone has or develops significant psychological or mental health problems. Many people show resilience, that is the ability to cope relatively well in situations of adversity. There are numerous interacting social, psychological and biological factors that influence whether people develop psychological problems or exhibit resilience in the face of adversity” (IASC MHPSS, 2007, p.3).

Providers of specialised support may include: - Psychiatrist; - Psychologist; - Clinical/mental health social worker; - Psychiatric nurse; - Trained and supervised primary health care worker (e.g. medical doctor, nurse, midwife).

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