Stress is a natural phenomenon that helps us address the challenges and alerts us for a potential threat. It is a feeling of mental tension or worry in the presence of a difficult situation. Each one of us experiences stress to some extent and our inbuilt capacity to handle the stress or resilience to face difficulties determines how much stress would impact one’s mental state and health.
One may experience stress mentally, emotionally or physically. For example symptoms like restlessness, reduced productivity and concentration, emotional overwhelm, feeling of tiredness, frequent aches and pains especially headaches and backaches, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea etc., to name a few. Any or all of them could be present in different degrees in each individual.
If stress continues to impact an adult it leads to changes in their coping capabilities and behavior. And children’s mental health is directly linked with the mental health of the adults around them.
Transactional model of development is used to understand the impact of environment on children and it asserts that a child's development is not the sum of individual mechanisms but a sum of ongoing interactions between child and the environment; Belsky 1984
Some of the signs in children which could be a result of living with a stressed parent are :
In young children, infants and toddlers, parental stress can lead to developmental delays. Their mental and physical growth reduces in comparison to the expected milestones.Irritability and restlessness: One can notice the child becoming increasingly irritable, difficult to deal with, argumentative, and sometimes starts avoiding being around the parent.Clinginess, especially in young children. The need for love and attention and the deprivation of it causes the child to be clingy and may annoy the parent even more. Sleep disturbances, nightmares or night terrors. Change in appetite and food eating patterns.Mental health disorders: Exposure to long term stress in childhood especially infancy increases the risk of developing mental health disorders later in life. Low self and confidence.Behavior and personality changes, isolation or secretiveness.
It is important to understand that stress can affect a child in multiple ways and if we want to help the child first the parents need to reduce their own stress levels and learn healthy coping mechanisms.
If the situation becomes unmanageable, it is important to seek help from a mental health professional as early intervention can prevent a lot of potential damage.
By : Dr. Ruhi Satija, Consultant Psychiatrist, Therapist, Mind Transformation Mentor, Cloudnine Hospital, Mumbai
