Back to class, the psychiatrist Lucattini: “The inconstancy and uncertainty can undermine the mental health of students”

“The inconstancy, constantly changing the situation creates a state of confusion and exhaustion, to the point of undermining psychological health”.

So Adelia Lucattini, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (Spi) and of the International Psychoanalytical Association (Ipa) says no to the split return to face-to-face lessons, for lower and upper secondary schools.

“The greatest danger is emotional instability, not the relative loss of notions, because the latter can be recovered, while if in children the security and stability are undermined, the structure for thinking is damaged – explains Lucattini – The first consequence may be problems of attention and concentration with a lower learning capacity and therefore a lower academic performance; the second are mood instability and transgressive or ‘withdrawal’ and avoidance behaviors, such as organizing parties with too many people or not leaving the house at all while waiting for the emergency to end “.

“Continuously changing the cards on the table without a precise time perspective instead leads to a feeling of danger, multiplies uncertainty and fear – needs Lucattini – therefore it would be better to keep a single reality once it has changed, that is, possibly choose a situation that remains the same for the duration of the emergency ”.