Dad for PiS, mom for PO – how politics influences young people. Psychologist about threats
– Observing what is happening in politics, young people are not only discouraged from social issues, but also react with withdrawal, depression, anxiety disorders, and an increasing number of suicides. This is not only the effect of COVID and the war in Ukraine, says Dr. Aleksandra Piotrowska, a child psychologist. We cannot cope with this in families and the help is definitely insufficient.
Katarzyna Pinkosz, “Wprost”: Children and teenagers are increasingly more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety disorders. All this is compounded by the COVID-19 epidemic, now the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel, but also electoral tension in Poland. How does this affect the children and young people who witness it?
Dr. Aleksandra Piotrowska: The perception of this situation depends largely on the child and what adults have interested him in life. A large proportion of children and young people show no interest in the social and political situation at all.
It is good or bad? It sometimes happens that even at school, teachers believe that young people should not deal with politics, but with peer contacts.
If we think that a young person should only be interested in school and youth issues: music, movies, YouTube, then it’s probably good; However, it seems that we want to raise an aware person, a citizen who wants and is able to understand what is happening around him and have an influence on it.
Keeping a school-going child, especially a teenager, away from social issues is raising a person who will be easily manipulated in the future and will be classic “election fodder”. I guess that’s not what we should care about.
When adolescence begins, almost the entire psyche of a young person is focused on the peer group and coping with peers.
