Political Violence And Mental Health Of Thai Children

[webfact]

Special Report: Political Violence and Mental Health of Thai Children

Violent behavior among children has been one of the facing challenges for the Thai society. According to the recent survey by the Department of Mental Health, 30% of Thai children are found to have aggressive behavior while 27% are found to have short concentration. Mental health problems of Thai children have been more fragile after the recent political unrest following news report on the domestic political mayhem.

Rajanukul Institute Director, MD Panpimol Wipulakorn, narrated about the visits of psychiatrists to 50 children residing in Din Daeng district of Bangkok that children aged between two months to 13 years were found to have been suffering from mental health problems such as waking up in the middle of the night and difficulty to sleep, due to the trauma they received during the political mayhem in April-May 2010. She said some of the children still could not sleep well although the incident finished several weeks ago. These children require close care before the condition develops to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could cause slow development in children and lagging intelligence accordingly.

MD Panpimol explained that mental rehabilitation for these children could be made by keeping them in conversation, boosting their morale, and training them to do meditations. She said rehabilitation must be made directly and continuously.

As for children and youth receiving news reports about political violence, the director said too much news consumption without contemplation or suggestions from adults might lead to some negative impacts to mental health of children and youth. She noted that they would gradually absorb and mimic those brutalities seen in media later on; therefore, adults must help children have correct understanding in the news reports about political fights.

In short, some parents might want to turn a blind eye to political hostility as well as its news reports to prevent children from being aggressive. Filtering away violence from children can be one of the ways to prevent terror and sense of insecurity. Nevertheless, parents can walk together with their children to face with the world of reality and teach them how to deal with both external violence and internal frustration affected by political brutality.

-- NNT 2010-06-14

[animatic]

Seems that no one here gives a hoot about childrens mental health...

Granted this woman stating 2 month olds will be tramatised by the red chaos,

is not exactly logical. Only if the babies mother or father is acting mad as a hatter over it,

would the baby even notice.

Certainly preteens and teens would notice, and hopefully ask a parent and get a decent explaination.

But no doubt some get absolutely zip for feedback from parents, and some partents will rant and rave

right in front of the kids over any manner of issues they would be better being more circumspect about.

[xminator]

Its got absolutly nothing to do about intake of fast carbohydrates. Sugar and noodles. Perfect food for a healthy child...

Edited June 14, 2010 by xminator

[rkidlad]

Just release a song about how we want Thai people to be united again. No more disagreements, let's all think the same. Oh hang on a minute, they did.

[LuckyLew]

I do not think the political issue is the cause of most issues with kids in Thailand

The suffer the same issues as kids the world over. It is down to crap parenting skills,

parents who do not take an active interest in the kids, parents who do not monitor what

their kids do. Too may parents today prefer to leave their kids at the grand parents then

disappear or to drop their kids of at the internet cafe.

[Bagwan]

If anybody is concerned about children's mental health I suggest that they drag them (screaming if necessary) away  from the crap TV they watch.  It has already apparently affected the parents so what chance have the kids got?

[animatic]

I do not think the political issue is the cause of most issues with kids in Thailand

The suffer the same issues as kids the world over. It is down to crap parenting skills,

parents who do not take an active interest in the kids, parents who do not monitor what

their kids do. Too may parents today prefer to leave their kids at the grand parents then

disappear or to drop their kids of at the internet cafe.

Yes, and also the 10-15% sugar in ever thing they consume.

before gradualting to liquid sugar in alchole.

[zydeco]

Just get them back to video games and action films. That ought to restore things back to normal.

[chainarong]

I do not think the political issue is the cause of most issues with kids in Thailand

The suffer the same issues as kids the world over. It is down to crap parenting skills,

parents who do not take an active interest in the kids, parents who do not monitor what

their kids do. Too may parents today prefer to leave their kids at the grand parents then

disappear or to drop their kids of at the internet cafe.

To true, to true.

[mrtoad]

A load of nonsense. Better that the so called Mental Health professional actually concentrated on their job, rather than politicising stuff. This sort of unsubstantiated BS is not productive in making people aware of the real issues about childrens development.

[mrtoad]

If anybody is concerned about children's mental health I suggest that they drag them (screaming if necessary) away  from the crap TV they watch.  It has already apparently affected the parents so what chance have the kids got?

By the looks of it, it has also numbed the senses of this particular Doctor.