“We see calls from parents who already concern children aged 9-10”, warns a child psychiatrist

“It is true that the number of calls concerning children under 14 is much higher”, confides Friday, May 12 on franceinfo Patrick Alécian, psychiatrist, child psychiatrist and at the initiative of the Maisons des Adolescents on the territory. A finding that confirms the barometer of malaise in France published Friday by SOS Amitié. According to this study, between 2020 and 2022, the number of calls made by young people under 14 will increase by 40%. A phenomenon that concerns increasingly young children, according to Patrick Alécian. “We see calls from parents who already concern children aged 9-10”warns the specialist.

The study carried out by SOS Amitié highlights the “direct” calls from children. An element that is all the more important for Patrick Alécian. “When the child calls alone, there is already an element of seriousness in this complaint”he underlines, specifying that this “really questions the family framework, and the school framework, the two most important points of life for children”. For the child psychiatrist, this distress is explained in particular by the health crisis and the multiple confinements, “isolation having revealed difficulties”. “We know, for example, that marital problems came to light during confinement and if there were children with these parents, there were really concerns”, he explains. New fears have also emerged, related “harassment, fear of ill-treatment” in the school environment.

Special attention to social relationships and sleep

Among the signals that can alert parents, Patrick Alécian advises to monitor the “problems relating to others, irritability or sadness. The lack of reaction as much in the family, with the siblings if there is one, or at school”. Other key elements include somatic complaints, not wanting to go to school and sleep quality. “Children who sleep poorly should be more exposed to the attention of their parents”, warns the specialist. If these signals appear, the child psychiatrist recommends “that the child should not consult alone”but with his family and go first to “specialist psychologists”.