Contents
Mental disorders in children and adolescents are becoming more and more common. Young people need help, but receiving it in our country is a big problem. Child psychiatry is a lonely island and doctors have their hands tied.
- Recently, the fact that child psychiatry is in a serious crisis has been loudly talked about. In fact, this crisis has been going on for a very long time
- – Doctors I talk to tell me that they feel like they are working at a gas station. They sit in the duty rooms and watch as more ambulances arriving bringing children. And they are placed against the wall, with no possibility of making any movement – says Marta Szarejko, author of the book «Acute conditions. How psychiatrists treat our children »
- It’s not just money that is a problem. We also have very few specialists who are interested in children
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Child psychiatry in Poland: “fiasco”, “catastrophe”, “drama”
«Psychiatry of children and adolescents in Poland is in decline. The words that are most often described are: fiasco, catastrophe, drama. Psychiatric wards are overcrowded and the treatment of children is hampered by the lack of qualified staff. More and more parents ask for a good psychiatrist, they seek help in dramatic situations. The crisis is deepening »- we read in the description of Marta Szarejko’s newest book,« Acute States. How psychiatrists treat our children ».
The journalist decided to find out about the problem at the source, walking through the corridors of psychiatric hospitals for children, as well as talking to staff – psychiatrists and child psychologists.
- Also check: Almost all doctors have submitted a notice of termination to the only pediatric psychiatric ward in Warsaw. “The Effects Can Be Tragic”
Today, more and more children and young people have to deal with mental disorders. And they bounce off the system walls.
– Left alone (young people, ed.), It is a bit helpless, so child psychiatry and a doctor should actually be the last link in a very extensive chain. However, with us it is the only link, so there is no chance in the run – says Marta Szarejko in the program “Onet Rano #Wiem”.
Especially since the children’s wards are overcrowded and doctors face impossible dilemmas.
– Doctors I talk to tell me that they feel like they are working at a gas station. They sit in the duty rooms and watch as more ambulances arriving bringing children. And they are placed against the wall, with no possibility of making any move, because if they do not take the child, they will probably have it on their conscience. And if they accept them, the child is also in danger, because there are, for example, 24 children out of 40 places – adds Szarejko.
- Read also: Psychiatrist: lockdown increased depressive tendencies in children
It’s not just about money. Child psychiatry is a “separate island”
Contrary to appearances, it is not only the lack of money that is responsible for the deep collapse of child psychiatry. This is a more complex problem.
– There are wards and hospitals where doctors earn much less in Warsaw, which is hard to imagine, because these are often rates in the style of 5. gross for full-time work in very difficult conditions. Without supervision and psychological care, which is beyond my mind, because it is such a monstrous and responsible job that, without some relief, it appears to me as a omen for professional burnout after a year. Maks. The point is that child psychiatry is a separate island. She is completely lonely, there is nothing in front of her, nothing after her. The reform, which was to consist in the fact that in every city and every small town there will be community centers, i.e. those that help children who have problems at school or at home, revealed how few specialists we have who are interested in children at all – explains Marta Szarejko.
The crisis is also connected with the separation of child psychiatry from the system, which should work completely differently.
– Child psychiatry is not connected to the two systems with which it should be connected, namely education and social care. Therefore, as if in a run, there is no chance. And this is a catastrophe that has not been happening for a year or three, but for many, many years. She was always in crisis.
Also read:
- Patients after COVID-19 may experience mental disorders
- Year by year, there are more and more suicide attempts among young people, and the number of children and adolescents who self-harm is increasing. Why? [BOOK FRAGMENT]
- Psychiatrist – what does he do? What does psychiatric treatment look like?
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