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Debate: The toll of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children’s risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors
Author(s) -
Melhem Nadine M.,
Brent David A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
child and adolescent mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1475-3588
pISSN - 1475-357X
DOI - 10.1111/camh.12488
Subject(s) - pandemic , social isolation , covid-19 , poverty , toll , isolation (microbiology) , mental health , psychiatry , medicine , social connectedness , psychology , environmental health , disease , economic growth , social psychology , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , immunology , biology , economics
The consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic on risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in children are still not fully known. However, COVID‐19 and the mitigation strategies to limit its transmission have affected children and adolescents through increased parental morbidity and mortality, increased poverty and financial strain, social isolation, and lost connectedness to school, peers, and afterschool activities. These are all associated with increased risk for psychiatric disorders and STBs in children. Mental health professionals and pediatric primary care settings need to monitor psychiatric symptoms and risk for STBs in children and especially among those who were directly affected during the pandemic in order to reduce the burden of the pandemic on children and families.