War In Ukraine: Impacts on Early Emotional Development
For this blog, I will be focusing on children in Ukraine. According to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the country's seven and a half million children. Humanitarian needs are multiplying by the hour as the fighting continues. Children continue to be killed, wounded, and deeply traumatized by the violence around them. Families are terrified, in shock, and desperate for safety.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the children are experiencing the devastating consequences of living in a war zone. There is the constant threat of shelling, shooting, and losing loved ones and the worry over accessing food, clean drinking water, healthcare, and the breakdown of their usual routines and structures.
"The legacy of this war will be a traumatized generation," wrote Serhii Lukashov, the director of SOS Children's Villages in Ukraine.
The mental health impact on children is likely to have consequences for years to come (Al Jazeera).
The consequences of this war on children, among other things, is
Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (PTSD) and depression are the most common mental health disorders in the aftermath of war – for both adults and children. While the incidences of these disorders are difficult to estimate, most studies have found significantly raised levels of disturbance compared with control populations. According to UNICEF, Ukraine children arriving in Poland and other neighboring countries show the majority of the children have an anxiety rate of up to 69 percent, which exponentially increases if at least one parent among those separated from families, those whose fathers have to stay back to defend the country.
Ukraine children who have PTSD show intense fear, helplessness, anger, sadness, and horror. Some develop physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomach aches, sudden and extreme emotional reactions, have problems falling or staying asleep. In addition, they develop some sort of emotional numbing to deaden or block the pain and trauma, called dissociation.
Some children as young as three years old exhibit depression. They feel sad and are disinterested in things kids their age enjoy.
Reflecting on the war and the children's mental health, How a child's mental health is affected will majorly depend on the support they receive from their caregivers (parents and families). But this, too, becomes difficult during times of war as normal attachments have been disrupted. Children who have lost their caregivers are separated from them as these family members flee, and others stay behind to fight. Some of the caregivers accompanying these children are too depressed, anxious, and too preoccupied with protecting and finding subsistence for the family to be fully functional and emotionally available.
For children, the detrimental effects of war trauma are not restricted to specific mental health diagnoses alone. It also includes a broad and various set of developmental outcomes that compromise relationships, school performance, and general life satisfaction. This is exacerbated because violent conflict often destroys or significantly damages schools and educational systems. Without the structure offered by schools, children will need the adults in their lives to provide this; we have seen videos online of Ukrainian children in underground bunkers where adults are facilitating lessons and designated playtimes.
As an educator, I wonder what I could do differently if I were in this situation. For those children coming from the war into the United States, it is important that, as teachers, we are welcoming to these children. As they come into our classrooms, we need to be there for them and their families, support them emotionally, creating an environment of safety and well-being. The community should engage them to help them get back to normalcy as quickly as possible.
References
Al Jazeera. (2022). How is the Ukraine war affecting children's mental health?
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/31/how-is-the-ukraine-war-affecting-childrens-mental-health
UNICEF. (2022)War in Ukraine a 'nightmare for Ukraine's children.'
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/war-ukraine-nightmare-ukraines-children
Thank you so much for haring this point of view. Remembering the intense effects that this could all have on a child;'s emotional welfare and mental health especially is incredibly important. We are seeing the physical and tangible destruction that is happening. The forcible evacuation and fleeing that many have to do, but it is so important o keep reminding ourselves how traumatic this can be on mental health and how long these effects will be affecting these children for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI, too, thought of Ukraine for this assignment. I have multiple friends who live in Ukraine and hearing their trauma as adults, breaks your heart, let alone for children to be experiencing this with little understanding. It is so saddening the physical and emotional strain placed on children by such traumatic experiences. Being welcoming and safe is truly so important. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a war that shouldn't have been in the first place and families, especially children are bearing the brunt of this carnage
ReplyDeleteThis war has my blood boiling every time I read something about it. To hear woman and children being held hostage, taking advantage of, and caged is heartbreaking to anyone. I really feel for these people, especially the children. I don't think no child should ever have to go through this let along see it.
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