Number of children hospitalised with mental health conditions has increased

The impact of lockdowns on parents is having an alarming affect on their children’s mental health, a leading children’s doctor says.

The number of children going to hospital with mental health conditions has increased “substantially” due to the pandemic, a leading Victorian children’s doctor says.

Professor Sharon Goldfeld, director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), said the consecutive and cumulative effect of lockdowns had caused an increase in parental distress, which is being passed on to children.

“We know that there’s a big mental health load on parents and that if parents have mental health distress, the children are likely to be more distressed as well,” she said.

The RCH conducted three national polls between June last year and July this year to measure the mental wellbeing of families, which found distress had increased.

“Lockdowns have an effect on parents for a whole range of reasons, one of which is the ­financial effect for many of them losing their jobs, then there’s homeschooling … and there’s the effect of the pandemic itself and staying home,” Prof Goldfeld said.

The number of children going to hospital with mental health conditions has increased.

“Robust data” on children’s mental health was not yet available, Prof Goldfeld said, but one recent report showed a 30-40 per cent increase in children aged up to 17 attending hospitals with mental health issues.

“That is going up and up … so that’s a real concern,” she said.

On Sunday, Prof Goldfeld spoke on a panel of leading researchers and professionals at a virtual World Mental Health Day meeting hosted by the Mental Health Foundation Australia.

The meeting is one of several events and forums organised by the foundation during October, which is National Mental Health Month.

Before the meeting, ­Prof Goldfeld told the Herald Sun there was hope the return of children to school would lead to a decrease in mental distress, as children could socialise normally and learn face-to-face. As for parents, she said it was important that they looked after their own mental health in order to best support their children.

For parenting resources visit: rch.org.au/ccch/covid-19/

For more information on National Mental Health Month visit: mhfa.org.au/cms/national-mental-health-month-2021

Originally published as Number of children hospitalised with mental health conditions has increased