Suicidal, stressed Aussie kids flood emergency wards

Lockdowns and online learning are fuelling anxiety among Aussie kids – with some too scared to breathe outdoors due to virus fears.

Suicidal and super-stressed children are flooding hospital emergency wards, as the pandemic pushes patient numbers 25 per cent higher.

Lockdowns, domestic violence and online learning are fuelling Covid-19 anxiety and depression among Australian children – with some too scared to breathe outdoors for fear of getting sick, and others worried about the danger of “red zones’’.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) has revealed that emergency hospital visits from children and teenagers with mental health problems has risen between 25 and 40 per cent nationally since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And an alarming new survey of 25,000 teenagers, by Mission Australia, reveals a rise in anxiety and depression, especially among teenage girls.

“Trying to find reasons not to pull the plug during Covid-19 TBH (to be honest),’’ a 17-year-old girl from NSW told the survey.

“I was contemplating suicide and I thought no one wanted me around,’’ a 15-year-old Queensland girl said.

Nathan Gunn, 19, who had Year 12 disrupted during Melbourne’s long lockdown last year, has now deferred his university diploma in business.

“I felt very isolated – it was a lonely and depressing time,’’ he said.

“I lost a friend to suicide a few months ago.

“So many people have mental health issues and don’t know what to do about it.

“A lot of people who wanted to go to uni, now aren’t, because it’s so hard to study online.

“Making a living has become so much harder.’’

Nathan Gunn, a 19-year-old Melbourne man who has struggled with lockdowns. Picture: @tanyavolt / Tanya Volt

Mr Gunn, who works casually for youth music charity The Push, wants politicians to pay more attention to young Australians’ problems during the pandemic.

“We are the future of Australia but we don’t feel like we have a voice,’’ he said.

Professor Valsamma Eapen, who chairs the RANZCP’s child and adolescent division, has warned that suicidal ideation, self-harm, eating disorders and panic attacks are growing worse.

“One reason is that children need to be out and about and active and engaged with other kids,’’ she said.
“But they are cooped up in a house or apartment and getting on each other’s nerves.

“Families are finding it hard because parents are working from home … the fatigue on the parents’ side is much worse this time (compared to lockdowns last year).

“We’ve had a 25 to 40 per cent increase in ED presentations by children with mental health problems.’’

Prof Valsamma Eapen from the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists

The Mission Australia Youth Survey found that girls made up two thirds of the teenagers reporting mental health issues, and that the pandemic had affected Victorian teens the most.

Mission Australia chief executive James Toomey called for more support to teach young people how to help themselves when feeling overwhelmed and stressed – including more counsellors in schools.

“We are very concerned that the impact of this virus will continue to have flow-on effects on young people’s lives now, and in the future,’’ he said.

Adolescent psychiatrist Michael Carr-Gregg, who has advised the federal government on mental health, said he had seen “terrible cases where kids have tried to take their own lives and overdosed’’.

“All the markers of acute problems for young people are increasing,’’ he said.

ONLINE SEX OFFENCES, ABUSE RATES SKYROCKET

Trolling, cyber bullying and online sex offences have jumped 30 per cent in the past six months as the pandemic locks more Aussies into work and play online, shocking new statistics reveal.

Nearly 12,000 URLs with offensive online content – most commonly child sexual abuse – were reported to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner this year – 30 per cent more than in the first half of 2020.

Almost 1000 adult cyber abuse claims were lodged – a 48 per cent increase – while cyber bullying complaints jumped 30 per cent to 486.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher warned Australians to “be prepared for a likely increase in online harms’’ during Covid-19 lockdowns.

He urged parents to monitor their children’s online activity, and for adults to stay civil online.

“From March 2020, during the first wave of Covid and resulting lockdowns, the eSafety Commissioner experienced an unprecedented increase in reports of all online harm types, including abuse, cyber-bullying, image-based abuse and unwanted exposure to illegal and harmful content,’’ he said.

Tough new laws against online abuse passed through federal parliament last month, but will not take force until early next year.

Cyber bullying is on the rise during the pandemic.

They will give the eSafety Commissioner new powers to deal with cyber-bullying and unmask anonymous trolls.

Adults who post “seriously harmful content’’ online – such as death threats, menacing messages or revenge porn – will risk fines of up to $110,000.

The Australian Federal Police is now using sniffer dogs to detect hidden tech devices containing child abuse images.

Chilling messages intercepted on the Dark Web by AFP officers reveals paedophiles are exploiting Covid-19 lockdowns to groom and entrap

Child abuse material shared online has nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic, with 21,000 notifications flagged to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation in 2020.

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