The impact of the pandemic on the mental state of adolescents

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic does not only affect physical health, but also the mental health of adolescents. How will changes in daily activity during this pandemic affect the mental health of adolescents?

The impact of the pandemic on the mental health of adolescents

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost every aspect of life, including the daily activities of people, especially groups of children and adolescents. How could I not, application physical distancing and school closures have rendered them unable to carry out normal activities.

If normally they spend more time with friends and activities at school, now they are forced to be at home indefinitely.

At first, maybe some teenagers feel this is their chance to take a vacation. As time goes by, the impact of the pandemic has an impact on the mental state of adolescents.

Reporting from NYU Langone Health, most teenagers look gloomy, sad, or disappointed when undergoing home quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reason is, some of these teenagers may miss the moments they are waiting for, such as watching a school art performance or just meeting friends.

In fact, not a few of them feel anxious and wonder when this pandemic will end and everything will return to normal. Although some teens fill their gaps and worries by playing on their cell phones or on social media, this is not enough.

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According to dr. Aleta G. Angelosante, PhD, assistant professor of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, there are several factors that underlie this.

The sadness and disappointment experienced by teenagers during this pandemic is normal and normal. Social media and games on their cell phones cannot replace social interactions at school from chatting in class, laughing at something funny during class, to hearing all the conversations that are going on around them.

Meanwhile, the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of adolescents, including underprivileged families and belonging to ethnic minorities, is quite large. They may lack the resources to continue their studies from home, such as internet access.

In addition, youth in this group may have to think about the fate of their families as this pandemic has deprived them of their source of income. Therefore, parents and the surrounding community need to pay special attention to this issue.

Symptoms that need to be watched by parents

The impact of the pandemic is indeed quite influential on the mental state of adolescents to make them stressful. Not a few of them may “act up” because they are bored and want to get your attention.

However, there are some symptoms related to teen mental health during a pandemic that you may need to be aware of, such as:

• physical complaints such as stomach pain, dizziness, or other physical symptoms
• isolate yourself from parents, peers, to changing friend groups
• interest in studying fell dramatically which causes academic achievement to also decline
• often self-critical

Some of the above behaviors you may occasionally see in your teens. However, parents should care more when changes occur in a short time and at once.

That way, mental health problems during the pandemic in teenagers can be avoided and they can undergo a healthy home quarantine.

The good news is that so far researchers have not found data on how the impact of quarantine during a pandemic can affect the mental health of adolescents and lead to depression.

Experts have some evidence to suggest that children deal well with traumatic events.

This is probably because most children are quicker to adapt and strong. Meanwhile, even children who experience terrible events may experience short-term problems related to depression and anxiety.

However, most of them do not experience psychological effects in the long term.

Tips to help maintain the mental health of youth during a pandemic

In fact, the mental impact of adolescents during this pandemic can be minimized with various efforts that are also made by parents. Fortunately, there are many things you can do as a parent to support the mental health of your teenager.

Here are some tips that might help you in maintaining the mental health of teens according to WHO.

• maintain a daily routine or create new activities
• discuss COVID-19 with children in an honest and understandable language
• Supports youth learning at home and makes time for play
• help children find positive ways of expressing feelings, such as drawing
• helps teens stay social with friends and family members online
• make sure children don't spend too much time playing gadgets
• invites teenagers to seek creative hobbies, such as singing, cooking, or writing

The impact of the pandemic on mental health is quite large, including for adolescents. Therefore, the role of parents is very important to keep paying attention to children. Even though they look fine, it doesn't hurt to regularly ask about teenage children.