Syrian children in state of “toxic stress”, Save the Children says
Millions of Syrian children could be living in a state of “toxic stress” due to prolonged exposure to the horrors of war, aid group Save the Children says.
The damage to an entire generation of children could soon become irreversible without immediate help, it adds.
The stress of war has led to increased bedwetting, self-harm, suicide attempts and aggressive behaviour among many children, according to a new report.
The findings are based on hundreds of interviews in Syria.
Save the Children says its study is the largest of its kind into the mental health and well-being of Syria’s children amid the war, which began in 2011 and has left more than 300,000 people dead.
Save the Children spoke to more than 450 people in seven of Syria 14 governorates as part of its study, including children of varying ages, parents, caregivers, social workers, aid workers and teachers.
It found:
• Almost all children and 84% of adults said that bombing and shelling was the number one cause of psychological stress for children
• Two-thirds of children have either lost a loved one, had their house bombed or shelled, or been injured as a result of the war, according to adults interviewed (some had suffered more than one of these traumatic events)
• 71% of interviewees said that children were increasingly suffering from frequent bedwetting and “involuntary urination” - symptoms of toxic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• 48% of adults said they had seen children who had lost their ability to speak or begun to suffer from speech impediments since the war began
• Nearly half of those interviewed said children “regularly or always have feelings of grief or extreme sadness”
Hisham (not his real name) is a school teacher from the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, which is partially held by IS and partially by the government.
He, his wife and five children have now fled to the al-Hol refugee camp.
When the war first started, he said, children in Deir al-Zour found the sounds of shelling entertaining, like a game, until their relatives and people they know started dying.
Soon, they were spending all their time on the streets “because there was nothing to keep them occupied”, including schools.
His oldest child is nine, but “doesn’t even know how to add one plus one”.
BBC - 7 March 2017
Hisham’s oldest child:
