Covid, two years later: in Spain, the emergence of a “mental pandemic” among the youngest

Emma, ​​12, has been anorexic since the summer of 2021. Albert, 14, sees a psychologist every Monday, his parents having noticed that he was indulging in scarification. Jordi, 10, threw himself from the tenth-floor window of the family apartment in January

. If the health crisis has had serious consequences for some Spanish children, others are fortunately doing much better. Their luck? The fact of not having been away from school for too long, unlike their other European classmates. All in all, primary and secondary establishments on the Iberian Peninsula will only have closed their doors for 45 days during the health crisis. This parenthesis, which dates back to the spring of 2020, at the height of confinement, was very badly experienced at the time – the children were the last, when summer came, to set their noses outside. Reason for which the government of the socialist Pedro Sanchez fought, thereafter, to maintain the open schools.

The Spanish administrative organization being very decentralized, this guideline could have turned into a real headache. But the 17 autonomous communities, which have full powers in education, have all played the game well. “Great coordination was immediately put in place between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, in each region. This mobilization made it possible to put the problems on the table very quickly”, confirms Encarna Cuenca Carrión, president of the State School Board, an advisory body made up of representatives of the teaching staff, students, parents of students and local elected officials.

In the process, the government called on the Spanish Pediatric Association to develop health protocols in schools, colleges and high schools in the country. A crisis unit has been set up under the leadership of epidemiologist Quique Bassat. “After confinement, various scientific studies, carried out in particular in summer camps in Catalonia, allowed us to see that the transmission of the virus between children was very low, even non-existent, once we managed to form small groups. separated from each other”, says this expert.A system of “bubbles” (burbujas

) has therefore been put in place in the establishments, so that the pupils of the same class do not meet the others in the corridors, the playground or the canteen. “When a positive case was identified, he was isolated for ten days and PCR tests were performed on the other children in his class, says Dolors Orta, school doctor at the French high school in Barcelona, ​​which has 2,980 students. “Those who contracted the Covid-19 were actually contaminated outside the school”, assures the specialist. Another key element of the health system: the wearing of a mask compulsory from the age of 6. The mild climate has also often made it possible to open the windows to ventilate the premises.

An increase in self-harm practices

At the start of the school year in September 2021, the school system thought it was out of the woods… But that was without counting on the Omicron variant which blew up the contamination threshold in January 2022. This time, the schools did not not been spared. “Today, the health situation is normalizing. One would think that everything is better for the children … But that’s not true”, warns Quique Bassat, who points to the emergence of a “mental pandemic” among the most youth. An unmistakable sign: requests for consultation in child psychiatry, linked to sleep or anxiety problems, are up by 15% to 22% depending on the region.

From her office at the French high school in Barcelona, ​​Dolors Orta agrees: “It’s now that we have to be attentive. At the moment, in the infirmary, we receive a lot of primary and secondary students for disorders related to anxiety and stress.” The doctor also notes an aggravation of the problems that already existed before the health crisis: school phobia, eating disorders, parental conflicts, alcoholism or drug addiction. A report by the Suicide Observatory shows that the passages to the act have broken historical records. In 2020, suicide was the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds, after cancer, and fourteen children under the age of 15 killed themselves. Unheard of in Spain. The Ministry of Health also indicates that the number of self-inflicted skin lesions has quadrupled compared to the beginning of the 2000s among 10-24 year olds. “This increase in self-harm practices and suicide attempts is due to the deprivations young people have suffered, such as birthday parties or sports activities. So many essential parentheses for their mental health”, believes Dolors Orta.

The pandemic will also have brought to light the weaknesses of the Spanish health system. “We are suffering from a real divide between pediatrics and adult medicine. In the 12 to 20-year-old bracket, care is almost non-existent,” laments Manuel Franco, spokesman for the Sociedad española de salud publica y administracion sanitaria (Sespas), which brings together public health professionals. In response, the Sanchez government has just adopted a mental health plan for the period 2022-2026. This initiative will make it possible to strengthen psychological and psychiatric support for minors. In particular, a reform of the training of specialists is planned.

In addition, the application of a new orientation law on education should help teachers to better detect students suffering from delays in their learning. The scoring system will be relaxed and priority will be given to the continuous monitoring system. “The pandemic affects the schooling of all children. But those from disadvantaged backgrounds are even more affected. Their grades have dropped significantly from spring 2020”, argues Manuel Franco. In kindergarten, the Covid-19 had an impact on the learning of speech. “We observe major language problems in children aged 2, 3 and 4. The mask prevents them from seeing the mouths of adults and understanding the articulation process”, confirms Encarna Cuenca Carrion. The crisis has also forced teachers to reinvent their teaching practices: many regions of Spain have experimented with outdoor classrooms. Bamboo pergolas have been erected in some playgrounds, with the help of parents. A new habit that could well last.