Armed conflicts carry not only the risk of mortality, but have serious consequences on the mental health of children. The latter may concern not only children and adolescents directly involved in the tragedy of war, in Ukraine as in other parts of the planet, but also for those in Italy and around the world, already severely tested by the effects of the pandemic.
The Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry (Sinpia), with a note, expresses deep concern for the effects of the war in Ukraine on the physical, mental and social health of the most fragile subjects such as children and adolescents, even more so if they suffer from any type of disability. "They are highly vulnerable to stress and with less ability to adapt to trauma, with devastating consequences on their development and therefore on their future which is the future of the world", explains Elisa Fazzi, president of Sinpia and director of the Child Neuropsychiatry Unit and adolescence ASST Spedali Civili and University of Brescia.
"It is with infinite discouragement, disbelief and pain - he continues - that we witness, after two years of the pandemic, which has severely tested the entire global community and specifically the mental health of minors, of the emergence of the winds of war on the European continent with a scenario that we never expected to see again after the Second World War. We didn't think this would ever happen again in Europe."
The war, clarifies the note from the Scientific Society, arrives at an already critical moment for the well-being of the most fragile subjects. According to data from a large international study on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of minors (children and adolescents) recently presented at the Sinpia Congress, Children's mental well-being has declined by more than 10% globally, with the number of children needing specialist support doubling, and with an increase in anger, boredom, difficulty concentrating, sense of loneliness and impotence, stress, sleep disturbances.
To this scenario are now added the consequences of the war that broke out in Europe. The medical literature reports
numerous studies on the consequences of armed conflicts on individuals in developmental age, such as a higher
risk of premature birth and an increase in infant mortality as well as an increase in the number of orphaned children.
"During childhood and adolescence, a higher incidence of anxiety and mood disorders is reported, with evolution, in 30-40% cases, into post-traumatic stress disorder - explains Alessandro Zuddas, vice president of Sinpia and director of the Childhood and Adolescence Unit of the A Cao Hospital, University of Cagliari - This psychopathological condition determines an important impairment of mental health even in adulthood".
Recent research also highlights how the psychological consequences of war persist in subsequent generations, resulting in negative transgenerational repercussions on mental health. This applies to children in countries where war is underway, but to some extent it also applies to children who see the war on television or through adults' stories.
For Sinpia, as well as at a European level for the European society for child and adolescent psychiatry (Escap) of which they do
many specialists, including Ukrainian and Russian ones, the first objective must be to protect psychophysical health as much as possible
of every child and adolescent and therefore of every human being, to allow children and young people in Italy, Europe and around the world to grow up safe from the threats and consequences of armed conflicts.
"In this time of great uncertainty - underlines Antonella Costantino, past president of Sinpia and director of the OU of
Child and adolescent neuropsychiatry (Uonpia) of the Irccs Ca' Granda Foundation Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan - it is essential to do everything possible to protect our children, loudly calling for an end to war, every war. Unfortunately, this war will add many more to the number of children who will suffer life-threatening injuries or future disabilities, as well as trauma that will affect their mental health."
An anticipatory thought, finally urges Sinpia's note, should also be addressed to what is already happening in all European countries, including ours, with thearrival of refugee and/or orphan children from the areas involved in the conflict. Traumatized children who have been denied a future and who risk being further traumatized by reception systems
unsuitable. Children who will meet other children, our children, who will also question the reasons for this tragedy
and how we will be able to provide answers. We will have to think about everyone and we will have to teach everyone how to live in peace.
