Shortness of breath, tremors and crying spells were some of the symptoms that affected 26 students on April 8 at the Ageu Magalhães school in Recife. An episode of collective anxiety crisis is “an atypical situation”, according to Guilherme Polanczyk, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of São Paulo (USP).
“When we look at someone in crisis, we get anxious, it’s an acute and intense situation, it’s very particular, we can only make assumptions about what happened, eventually everyone was exposed to an extreme situation of stress and probably already had some emotional fragility” , said Polanczyk to CNN.
According to Polanczyk, several factors contribute to the evolution of anxiety, “situations in the environment, family, school, exposure to traumatic situations count a lot”. The psychiatrist stressed that identifying cases early is essential for the child or adolescent to receive medical care.
“Anxiety and depression are emotional experiences that people often don’t share with those around them, but fear and worry show up in behavior, parents need to be attuned to identify these behaviors.”
“The school also has a very important role, it promotes the development of people, mental health is a fundamental part of this development, so that they have this idea of promoting mental health, identifying problems”, he added.
The specialist also reinforced that there are national and international studies that point out that the most acute period of the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the increase in cases of anxiety and depression in the general population, and especially in young people.
According to the World Health Organization, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in the first year of the pandemic. The survey shows that young people and women were the most affected.
Signs that may indicate mental health problems
Source: CNN Brasil
