BY JULIA PASSARELLI

Jane Symonds*, a nurse and mother of two, watches her 16-year-old son go to the bathroom for the 50th time in three hours to wash his hands.

He re-emerges with his forearms upright. His red, inflamed hands facing inwards to avoid touching anything. As soon as his hands make contact with a surface, he quickly makes use of hand sanitiser.

“My husband brings home little bottles and I have to hide them. It’s like he’s a drug addict for the hand sanitiser,” Ms Symonds tells me.

Later that day, her son gets in the shower and after an hour, plus half-a-litre of body wash, the water finally stops running. 

“He was like this a little bit [prior to COVID-19], but now it’s just really bad,” she said.

“If you were to ask him, he’d try to deny it because he doesn’t want to admit that his behaviour is odd or that there is something wrong.”

According to a joint report by Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute, almost one quarter of 15 to 19 year olds were experiencing mental health challenges prior to the pandemic. 

For many adolescents, like Ms Symonds’ son who has been living with anxiety for two years, COVID-19 has exacerbated their mental health challenges. 

While, for many other teenagers, COVID-19 has triggered a surge of fresh mental health issues.

Psychologist Jessica Levetan said her workplace, Wattletree Psychology, has seen an influx of calls as lockdown continues to remove people from their usual daily routines, coping mechanisms and social outlets.

“There’s been a big escalation in anxiety and depression especially in teenagers,” Ms Levetan said. 

“A lot of parents have been calling about their teenagers who have been feeling socially isolated, struggling with motivation and there’s been a lot of academic pressure,” she said.

“For people who were already suffering from anxiety or depression, they seem to have been more affected by the isolation.”

Single parent and nurse Sharron Smith*’s 16-year-old son was diagnosed with anxiety and minor depression prior to COVID-19. 

During the lockdown he experienced difficulty finding the motivation to get out of bed. 

“I was concerned at one stage…It was a good couple of days, maybe even four days straight of him literally not being able to get out of bed and just sleeping,” Ms Smith said. 

“And I was really trying to encourage him to do anything, even just get online and talk to his friends. Just do something. But he just couldn’t get out of bed.”

Her son is currently on antidepressants and has started using a weighted blanket which is “helping a lot”, she said.  

According to research by Headspace, more than 50 per cent of young Australians felt their mental health began to spiral during the first lockdown. 

The research also discovered that despite big changes young people are facing, they are not seeking help. One in five young people reported needing support for their mental health, but failed to attempt to access it.

Mother of six Helen Jones* said her 13-year-old daughter was apprehensive to seek help, even though she was struggling mentally during lockdown.

“When the information hit to say that everyone’s going to be in lockdown and you can’t see your friends, which is basically what she heard, it was almost like she had been grounded but hadn’t done anything wrong,” Ms Jones said.

“She actually started to sneak out of the house without us knowing,” she said.

“We’ve had episodes with her where she’s actually gone out and got drunk for the first time and I’ve had to go pick her up, because she’s one street away. Literally around the corner in a gutter, drunk, vomiting everywhere.

“She also became unmotivated for wanting to do her schoolwork.

“She became very, very withdrawn from the family and we’re still feeling the repercussions of that now, where she comes in and out of wanting to be involved with the family.”

Ms Jones’ daughter has “finally” agreed to speak to a counsellor, which her mother said  “will be helpful, to work out what the underlying issues are for her”. However, she refuses to speak to anyone at her school. 

“She doesn’t like or trust the teachers, I guess. That’s her view of school.

“I think there’s a lot of stigma around children at school who need to go into wellbeing, because it’s called ‘wellbeing’ at school. So, for her, it needs to be kept completely separate from the school.”

Elwood College counsellor Caitlin Ridgway agrees with this sentiment.

Although a large number of adolescents have a need for mental health support, they are not accessing it due to stigma, lack of education and bad experiences surrounding help seeking, she said.

“Some kids think their problems may not be big enough to access support,” Ms Ridgway said. 

“Also, some people have had bad experiences. I’ve spoken with a few students who have seen other psychologists or social workers and they’ve had a bad experience. 

“So that’s kind of led to them generalising about everyone in the field. Then they meet someone else, and they just do things a little differently, and it works.”

Given the widespread mental health implications of lockdown, Ms Ridgway plans to deliver workshops centring on the importance of seeking help.

“I know a lot of people are worried about accessing the services because they aren’t sure of what’s going to happen, but the only way to really know is to do it. And a lot of people are in the same boat, so I would normalise that they’re not alone,” she said. 

For parents too, it can be a challenge trying to support their teenagers through these unprecedented times. 

Ms Symonds said she feels “frustrated and sad” for her son. 

‘‘I can tell by the look of him, and he mumbles too, when he’s not in a good head space…sometimes he’ll cry. He’ll just start sobbing, and then he sort of hyperventilates along with it,” she said. 

“So I just rub his back and give him a hug and let him have rest and hopefully feel better. So yeah, it’s pretty heartbreaking, to see your kid go through that.

“It’s like I’m just constantly thinking about all these things I should do. I need to get him back to the doctor to see what I can do to try and help him.”

Experts say parents can help their children by having regular chats, actively listening to their concerns and by providing empathy. 

It is also important to establish a regular routine, focusing on the things they can control in their environment such as nutrition, exercise and sleep.

Ms Levetan said the pandemic is a huge moment in history and is going to affect everyone to some extent. 

“I think when there is some type of crisis or trauma it does affect people psychologically,” she said.

“It might be an ongoing concern about hand-washing and hygiene but, beyond that, feelings of concern around the state of the world, around the sense of control they have in their environment.”

If you or somebody you know needs assistance, contact Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, Headspace on 1800 650 890, Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

* names have been changed to protect the family’s privacy