Children developing behavioural problems

In spite of the relatively short duration of their dislocation, children who have been displaced from their homes in the wake of the military operation around their homes in NWFP, are exhibiting behavioural problems and experiencing sleep disturbances.Talking to ‘The News’ here on Tuesday, Dr. Rizwan Taj, focal person of the mental health programme of the Ministry of Health and head of the Department of Psychiatry at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), shared that parents of children as small as a few months to 11 years of age are complaining of the sudden development of behavioural problems in their children, not to mention frequent sleep disturbances. “Living in tents, these children represent the real short- and long-term horror of this tragedy,” he commented on his return from a camp. He said, “A majority of the displaced children is aged between 3 months to 11 years. These children can, over a period of time, develop a wide range of psychological problems including depression, phobias, acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and poor academic performance,” he calculated............

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