podcast
“important today”
Generation Corona: How the children are doing in the pandemic and how parents can help
Hardly anyone suffers from the pandemic like children and young people. One often hears that they still have plenty of time to make up for lost time. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Oliver Dierssen explains why this is wrong and cowardly, and how parents can help their children and themselves.
Schools open, schools closed. Playground open, playground closed. Children supposedly important, children somehow not so important anymore. The Corona policy of the past two years was above all one of adults for adults. Children and young people played a rather minor role, or if so, then to decide on measures so that they do not infect their parents. The sad result: according to studies, twice as many children and adolescents suffered from depression and anxiety disorders in 2021 as before the pandemic.
This is also confirmed by the child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Oliver Dierssen, who has had more work to do in the past year and a half than ever before. He explains the stresses children are struggling with in the pandemic – and what parents can do to help them. “There’s still a big debate: Are school closures good for the children or not? But this debate doesn’t go far enough. There was a very big change in life for children and adults. And this change in life demanded a very big price,” he said dr Diessen.
100 seconds before the apocalypse
This measurement indicates the so-called doomsday clock, which was designed by the US artist Martyl Langsdorf 75 years ago. Langsdorf originally invented the clock for the cover of a journal by nuclear scientists to show, shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how great the danger posed by the new weapon technology was. However, the scientists liked the idea so much that they have reassessed the position of the minute hand every year since then.
It’s that time again this Thursday. In view of climate change, nuclear armament, digital misinformation and, of course, the corona pandemic, the scientists give little hope: the danger of humans becoming extinct is greater than ever, they explained in advance. As early as 2020, they had assessed the dangers for humanity as so great that for the first time they calculated the time until the end in seconds instead of minutes: 100 seconds before midnight. This year, however, a few more seconds could be lost.
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Do you have suicidal thoughts? The telephone counseling service offers help. She is anonymous, free and available 24 hours a day on (0800) 1110111 and (0800) 1110222. Consultation via email is also possible. A list of nationwide help centers can be found on the website German Society for Suicide Prevention.