Psychiatric Disorders and Symptoms in Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has entered our lives unexpectedly and rapidly and has been continuing for more than 1 year, seriously affects mental health as well as physical health. Still, restrictions have been continued in many countries due to the occurrence of new mutations, the lack of adequate vaccination, and the high number of cases and deaths. Although the disease progresses with milder symptoms in children and adolescents, their physical activity has been restricted during the pandemic to prevent the spread of disease, especially with the closure of schools. Children and adolescents continues to develop in physically, cognitive and emotionally, thus the effects of the pandemic can be devastating. Because of the effects of pandemic and fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety and PTSD have been observed more, on the other hand, screen time has increased with the closure of schools and increase of time spent at home, maybe it will be a predictive factor for behavioral addictions. At the same time, some behavioral problems have been observed and increased in children and adolescents especially with neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with special needs have become more sensitive to the effects of the pandemic due to disruption of special education processes. The pandemic, which is not yet clear when it will end, will continue to affect mental health of both children, adolescents and adults in the coming years not only now.