HOW DOES WARFARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY AFFECT THE GROWTH OF CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH?

Nearly a quarter of the world’s children are estimated to live in countries affected by armed conflict or disastrous warfare. Following the Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine which dated back in February 2022 — the Ukrainian children are experiencing a series of devastating consequences of living in a war zone; the constant threat of shelling, shooting, losing the loved ones, as well as the worry over accessing food, clean drinking water and healthcare, plus the breakdown of their usual routines and structures. Bottom line, the mental health impact of Russia-Ukraine War is likely to have consequences for years to come according to Serhii Lukashov (The Director of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine).

First of all, Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression are the most common mental health disorders in the aftermath of war, both for adults and children. While the incidences of aforementioned disorders are difficult to foresee, most studies have discovered significantly that there has been increasingly levels of disturbance on children’s mental health compared to those who are in controlled populations. What’s more, to have witnessed or experiencing armed conflict during childhood poses "serious mental health risks and threats" to a child's development. Such exposure to different types of violence, the duration of the conflict, and the nature of experienced and witnessed traumatic events, in addition, are all associated with the onset and severity of mental disorders among conflict-affected children. Being frequently deprived of having basic needs, educational and vocational opportunities, and other resources which promote positive psychosocial development and mental health are another contributing factor to the adversity of children’s mental disorder. Overall, the most common type of mental health issue found among children exposed to conflict is PTSD (Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression.

Second of all, the intense level of exposure to conflict, violence and insecurity can have major psychological effects on children. In the study conducted by an international non-governmental organization for children based in UK (Save the Children Fund), it is reported that 84% of adults who were interviewed in Syria and Palestine stated that bombing and shelling as the number one cause of psychological stress in children’s daily lives, in which the state or the condition of their behavior became more fearful, nervous, and were increasingly suffered from frequent bed-wetting and involuntary urination; one of the common symptoms of toxic stress among children.

Toxic stress, from psychological lens, increases the likelihood of negative impacts on children’s development and health problems in their later cycle of life stages. Given the fact that a child’s experiences during the earliest years of life are vulnerable and possess a long-lasting impact on their developing brains, the so-called mental health disorder "toxic stress" has serious and enduring negative consequences on cognitive development and emotional regulation – especially, the prolonged activation of stress hormones in early childhood can reduce neural connections in areas of the brain dedicated to learning and reasoning; affecting the children’s abilities severely to perform later in their lives. At this point, conflict with no doubt imposes a huge impact of social cost on our future generations.

Furthermore, children with mental disorders are often subjected to discrimination, stigma, and victimization. Various mental disorders in children often cause some other serious issues. The way they behave, learn, or tackle various emotions, for instance, can further lead to other causes of acute distress in getting through a day. Many kids often experience worries and some internal fears in particular. As a result, they begin to express these emotions through their disruptive behaviors; displaying explicit signs of suffering from mental disorders.

Meanwhile, PTSD can occur in children even after a single traumatic event. However, repeated or prolonged trauma episode increases the risk as well as the vulnerability of children suffering from serious mental disorder. The symptoms of PTSD typically vary where the sufferers normally exhibit intense fear, helplessness, anger, sadness, horror or denial. While physical symptoms such as headaches and stomachaches can also be developed, children who experience repeated trauma may develop such a degree of sudden and extreme emotional reactions from numbing the trauma to deaden the pain.

Depression, on the other hand, can occur in children as young as three years old, where they can feel sad, hopeless, or show disinterest in things they used to enjoy. Besides, their sleeping patterns and energy levels may also change perpetually from time to time, and some may even self-harm. How a child’s mental health is affected will depend on a large extent of the support level they receive from their caregivers. However, this too becomes increasingly problematic and difficult during the period of warfare as normal attachments are frequently disrupted.

Some children could lose their caregivers and be separated from them, while there are some members of the family flee or stay behind to fight back, or even find that their caregivers are too depressed, anxious or preoccupied with protecting and seeking subsistence for the family to be fully emotionally available. The detrimental effects of war trauma for children are not restricted to specific mental health diagnoses, but also include a broader and multifaceted set of developmental outcomes that compromise relationships, school performance, and general life satisfaction.

As it was exacerbated further by the fact that violent conflict often brutally destroys or significantly damages school buildings and educational systems, without the structure offered by schools, children will need the adults in their lives to provide them with all the essential support system; which is probably the only reason why we often saw videos online of several adults in the underground bunkers who were facilitating Ukrainian children with lessons and designated playtimes during the midst of Russia’s invasion in the year of 2022.