The Yangtze River Delta Region Children and
Adolescents' Mental Health Enhancement Alliance was recently established
in Shanghai, aiming to help youths manage their emotions and stress
levels when dealing with others.
Experts from the alliance, based at Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai, said
there has been a rising need for children to obtain psychological
support over the past few years and that the COVID-19 pandemic is one of
the main reasons behind an increase in mental health problems.
Sixty-three hospitals and some teachers in charge of students' mental
health from educational institutions in Shanghai and the provinces of
Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui became inaugural members of the alliance.
They hope to provide early detection and intervention for children who
have psychological difficulties and improve the overall mental health of
those under 18.
Zhang Jinsong, director of the clinical psychology department at
Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of
Medicine, said there are currently fewer than 20 psychiatrists
specializing in children's mental problems in Shanghai. She said most
hospitals treat adult cases but lack experience in dealing with
juveniles.
Within the alliance, experts from the children's psychology
department at Xinhua Hospital and the children and adolescents
department at the Shanghai Mental Health Center have teamed up to design
mental health intervention plans for children in kindergartens, primary
schools and middle schools in line with their ages.
"The participants will learn how to help children recognize and
understand their own emotions and deal with various situations, such as
conflicts between peers, academic pressure, conflicts with parents and
public emergencies, in appropriate and positive ways," Zhang said.
She explained that some children may suffer from violent emotional
outbursts while taking more classes online and spending more time at
home with parents due to the pandemic.
Research conducted by Xinhua Hospital showed that children suffering
from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder experienced a
deterioration in their emotional states, had more conflicts with their
parents and increasingly struggled to focus amid the pandemic.
Zhang said that teachers and parents usually pay more attention to children's behavior rather than their emotions.
"But very often, problematic behavior such as skipping school comes
from their emotions when they encounter a difficult situation-for
example, a conflict with a classmate," she said.
Children aged between 7 and 12 screened for emotional and behavioral
issues accounted for between 4.7 percent and nearly 26 percent of all
children exhibiting such problems, according to research released by the
Shanghai Mental Health Center in 2018.
The alliance will hold seminars, workshops and lectures online and
offline every month for more than 100 front-line doctors who are members
to help them screen and treat children with mental challenges.
Zhang said that the teachers in the alliance will be asked to pass on
skills to those in charge of students' psychological health in schools.
"We remind parents and schools to pay attention to children's
holistic, long-term development and help them learn to adapt to social
changes and new environments instead of encouraging them to focus only
on academic learning and competitions," she said.