‘It’s going to take some work to unlearn’
Carleton psychologist says distancing teaches small children ‘fear of others’
OTTAWA — Physical distancing is teaching young children that people around them are dangerous, which may affect their mental health for years to come, a Carleton University psychologist says.
Tim Pychyl calls the journey through the pandemic “a living experiment” with an unknown future.
“Certainly, younger children are learning different things about social relationships at this time, including this fear of others (not just strangers),” he said.
“The effects on children vary by age, personality and circumstances, but all of our children are experiencing psychological effects because of COVID isolation.”
Humans need three things for good mental health, he said: “We need to feel that we’re in control of our own lives, that we’re good at what we do, and that we have meaningful, successful relations with others.”
Those relationships are now in doubt.
“You learn from others around you. You learn how they react to the world. If they’re afraid of other people, I’m afraid of other people. So, I’m quite worried about very young people because they can’t put any more cognition to it than just (thinking) ‘Oh, that person’s frightening.
And that person’s frightening.’
“So yes, they’re going to internalize that the world is a scary place.”
He worries this mindset will make it harder to feel close to others as people grow up.
“We are social beings and we need other people, and if we don’t satisfy those needs we are going to have problems with our functioning.”
It’s not easy to un-learn the things we learn when we’re young, he said.
“Nothing is destiny, but it’s more difficult to do” in later years. “Some people spend years in therapy to get rid of phobias and fears.
“It’s impossible to know the outcome in the future because we don’t know how long this is going to last, but yes, it’s going to take some work to unlearn” childhood fears.