Children with emotional disorders due to studying too much and playing too little

Recently, the number of students with emotional disorders, anxiety, studying too much or poor academic performance being treated at the Institute of Mental Health, Bach Mai Hospital has increased.

A child patient is being treated for emotional disorders at the Institute of Mental Health, Bach Mai Hospital - Photo: P. Chinh

Within just 1 week, 6 students with emotional disorders, anxiety, and declining academic performance were treated at the Institute of Mental Health, Bach Mai Hospital.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Dung, Deputy Director of the Institute of Mental Health, the number of children showing symptoms of this disease coming for examination is increasing.

Worried about studying too much and playing too little

One of the patients who came to the hospital was NND, a 6th grader in Hai Phong. D.'s mother said that before coming to the hospital, D. had strange symptoms such as ringing in his ears, numbness on one side of his body, dizziness, and headaches. D.'s daily schedule, outside of bedtime, was to study all the time, and when he had free time to play, he would play with his younger siblings. On Saturday afternoons and Sundays, when he had time off, he would worry about homework for the following week.

Another student, ML, a 10th grader in Thanh Hoa, said that recently he has been focusing on taking the 10th grade entrance exam. L.'s relatives said that he usually talks to everyone in the family, but now he talks less and often shows signs of fear.

According to psychologist Pham Mai Lan, too much pressure can cause children to show strange symptoms, especially a constant feeling of anxiety, which manifests in the body as shaking hands and feet, restlessness, poor academic performance, fear when going to class or school, at school just needing the teacher to call their name and the child will tremble...

Know how to play to prevent disease

According to Dr. Dung, in the past, families often paid little attention to this disease. However, in the past 5 years, parents have paid more attention and if their children show symptoms of the disease, they immediately take them to a specialist. Therefore, the number of school-age children with emotional disorders has increased.

In addition, many families also want their children to succeed and get into good schools, beyond their children's abilities, causing psychological pressure on the children. If not treated, these children may suffer from mental health problems in the future.

Doctor Dung said that in a 24-hour day, children need to sleep 7 hours, and younger children need to sleep about 10 hours. During non-sleep hours, children should spend 1/4 of their time playing, especially active games and sports. Study time, both in class and at home, and extra classes of all kinds, should never exceed 12 hours/day.

However, through monitoring patients recently admitted to the hospital, doctors have noticed that some students are burying themselves in studying more and sleeping very little. That is why after exams, the number of children with hand and foot tremors and emotional disorders coming to the hospital for examination has increased.

According to TTO