The ongoing stress and uncertainty created by COVID-19 pandemic have weighed heavily on children and teens. Many are having a tough time coping emotionally.
A CNA report details how the pandemic has changed the lives of the youth in China.
In December of last year, Zhang Meng had a breakdown. After experiencing multiple COVID-19 lockdowns on her Beijing university campus, the 20-year-old found herself sobbing on the steps of her dormitory.
She had been largely isolated in her room due to the lockdowns and unable to meet up with friends. Additionally, there were tight restrictions on when she could use the restroom or take a shower. Zhang claimed the limits had "removed the safety net that was holding me up and I felt like my whole being was falling down."
She described herself as someone who seeks in-person social engagement. She was given a serious depression and anxiety diagnosis that month.
Yao, 20, who requested that his first name not be used, experienced his first breakdown while a boarder in high school and couldn't understand why lockdown procedures were so strict. He claimed that on one occasion, he was forced to seek solace in a school bathroom while sobbing because "it felt like my insides were crying".
Unable to overcome his despair and anger that he had not enrolled in the courses he wanted to for fear of upsetting his father, Yao made an attempt on his life in the early months of 2021 while attending university in Beijing.
In its mission to end every COVID-19 outbreak, China has implemented some of the harshest and most frequent lockdown measures in the world, claiming that doing so saves lives and pointing to its low pandemic death toll of only 5,200 so far.
The policy's effect on mental health worries medical professionals, and as Zhang and Yao's experiences have revealed, it is already having an impact. Nevertheless, it has shown little sign of giving up on this attempt.
"China's lockdowns have had a huge human cost with the shadow of mental-ill health adversely affecting China's culture and economy for years to come," a June editorial in the British medical journal The Lancet, argued.
Experts are especially concerned about the mental health of adolescents and young people, who are more susceptible due to their youth and lack of adult supervision, as well as having to deal with much larger economic and educational pressures than previous generations.
There could be a sizable number of young individuals affected. According to a 2020 estimate from the Education Ministry, almost 220 million Chinese children and teenagers have been imprisoned for an extended period of time as a result of COVID-19 limitations.
