Lasting Mental Health Issues?

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Children's mental health issue from Pause

One or more of my children who did not have previous mental health issues attempted suicide

[ 0 ]

One or more of my children who did not have previous mental health issues was admitted to an inpatient facility

[ 2 ]

One or more of my children who did not have previous mental health issues began taking psychiatric medications

[ 1 ]

One or more of my children who did not have previous mental health issues started therapy

[ 2 ]

One or more of my children who had previous mental health issues had those issues worsen, so that they attempted suicide

[ 1 ]

One or more of my children who had previous mental health issues had those issues worsen, so that they needed additional meds or interventions

11%

[ 4 ]

One or more of my kids required mental health intervention, but is doing better now

[ 1 ]

It was stressful for my kids, but long term psychological intervention is not required

47%

[ 16 ]

Other

20%

[ 7 ]

Total Votes : 34

amother

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 5:34 pm

NYC is about to enter Phase 4 of reopening, which the rest of the State already reached. Stores are open. Playgrounds are open. They've even replaced basketball hoops. So now is the time to reexamine the claims that so many of our children would have serious and lasting mental health issues. Take the poll. How much permanent damage was done to your kids?

amother

cornflower

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 5:42 pm

Much damage was done. My sn high functioning child couldnt deal without structure and missed school and attemped suicide. Another child without mental health issues made disturbing comments which never had b4 covid. Life sux. Corona made everything harder for me. I lost my job. I think im gonna need meds soon to cope

amother

Ecru

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 6:11 pm

There was no option for this on the poll but...my child with mental health issues (severe anxiety) has done really well under quarantine. Perhaps surprisingly, this has actually been a common outcome (for people with anxiety, specifically).

amother

Coral

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 6:17 pm

I chose "other" because you have no option for children who are not suffering mental health issues or any issues a result of the lockdown.

That in itself skews your poll and makes its results completely unreliable. You are no longer examining whether the lockdown caused mental health issues; you are now examining what the background of those suffering mental health issues due to the lockdown is.

Meaning, you have a group of mentally unwell people and you're finding out how many of them had mental health issues before the lockdown versus how many were mentally well before the lockdown. And you are also examining how many of those who were mentally fine before the lockdown required this kind of help or that kind of help.

Even the options you gave for kids with pre-existing mental health issues are more limited than those you gave for no pre-existing mental health issues.

You also gave no options for those with mental health issues doing better due to lockdown than they would usually be doing. I'm not a child, but my own mental health improved during the lockdown, tremendously. And I know that I'm not alone.

Nor did you give any option for children without mental health issues doing better with lockdown than they do usually.

In sum, this is not a poll that any scientist would use to determine anything more significant than whether white chocolate or dark chocolate is the tastier choice.

At any rate. My kids LOVED the lockdown and are praying for a new one. They are kind of mad about not being able to go anywhere they want, they are upset because they want to visit people, but lockdown? They LOVED it. (They are also smart enough BH to understand that the only way to eradicate covid is to stop the chain of infection, so they get mad when "stupid people" don't wear masks or keep SD protocols.)

Mama Bear

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 6:39 pm

*IF* the playgrounds would not be opened by now then yes there would be a lot more mental health issues.
Also, dont forget that many kids are upstate now for the summer. My son has a vast open playground to him. A mechaya.

amother

Brown

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 6:58 pm

I don't appreciate your tone. My lovely 9 year old daughter who had some anxious tendencies that did not cause us any problems developed full blown anxiety as a direct result of the lockdown, school shutdowns and the stress that went along with it all. It's not a joke or a political statement. Obviously Hashem runs the world and in the long run I think we will all be fine but many children absolutely have long-term effects from this situation. And if you feel otherwise, you don't have any understanding of how our environment shapes our psyche. By the way, that doesn't mean that every child is damaged chas v'shalom nor does it mean that children will be crippled by a stressful situation- just that many will have to deal with the fallout of the tension and other things they were dealing with for so long.

amother

Ginger

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 7:01 pm

What about parents? My chronic illness worsened from the stress and not having the time (with kids around) to care for myself.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 8:41 pm

amother [ Ecru ] wrote:

Same here. My DD's anxiety was better with the lockdown. Same with my own anxiety. Yes, there have been difficult aspects of this whole thing for us, but overall it has improved our mental health.

Now, going back to school (for both me and the kids - I am a teacher) with masks and probably some sort of crazy hybrid schedule, THAT is going to be a real hit to our mental health.

amother

Olive

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 9:01 pm

1) the whole world doesn't live in NYC.

2) my child's social anxiety got way worse. She doesn't do well calling friends, her social interactions tend to be her hanging in a group enjoying the social environment.
She lost out on 3 months of that and only phone therapy.
She's not on medication, but the fallout is big and stressful.

3) the sn child in our family lost most gains and skills acquired this year. Zoom and tele-sessions do nothing if the child is not capable of focusing on the screen and following directions without adult manipulation.
The other children in the house suffered when the adult was needed for their SN child. Their resentment towards having a "special" sibling is quite high. Not to mention lack of respite, lack of attention from sibling groups.

4) the child who was forced to have a Zoom bar mitzvah. Sure we tried to make it up. But you can't erase the pain of a child who was looking forward to something and had it taken away.
And many people minimized his pain, made him feel even more misunderstood.

5) the financial toll is huge. We had saved $6k to cover braces for our child with social anxiety. Not medically necessary but cosmetically and we deemed it necessary for this child. Well that money's gone to pay rent, groceries, etc and we need to start again.

No, none of this is permanent. And no one attempted suicide or is on psychiatric meds. But quite frankly OP, I found the post's tone to be quite dismissive of the collateral damage.

amother

Natural

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 9:39 pm

This poll is so disturbing on so many levels. And so confused. From the op it seems as though the goal is to show that everyone exaggerated the possibility of suicide, and yet there’s no option for kids who Baruch HaShem stayed healthy. Beyond that as I’m an adult with suicidal tendencies this poll has determined that I’m invisible. My kids respectfully disagree.

amother

Rose

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 9:52 pm

One of my kids had a relapse of anxiety issues that had been slowly improving. It undid years worth of work and we are back to square 1.

One of my children suffered from vision problems as a result of spending so much time indoors and on screens. That is a permanent erosion of vision which can never be regained. Glasses don’t help completely.

I wasn’t one of those who predicted doom and gloom but my kids have suffered and I didn’t expect it at all.

amother

Olive

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 9:53 pm

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

That was a genuine hug from me.

amother

Jade

Thu, Jul 16 2020, 10:38 pm

My kids were ok, although a bit bored. I enjoyed not having to socialize. They are going to look back at this time with no school fondly, no doubt. I wish the school day would be shorter for mesivta boys when school reopens.

amother

Coral

Fri, Jul 17 2020, 12:31 am

amother [ Jade ] wrote:

I hope mine will, too.

Really, whether or not kids look back at this period fondly rests mostly with us parents and how we are handling this crisis.

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