KARACHI, Oct 30: At least 50 per cent schoolgoing children feel insecure in the presence of the personnel of law-enforcement agencies.

This was stated by Dr Aisha Mehnaz on Wednesday morning at a workshop organized by the Pakistan Association for Mental Health in connection with the Mental Health Week, which is being held from Oct 27 to Nov 3. The workshop was titled “The effects of trauma and violence on children and adolescents”.

The president of the Pakistan Association for Mental Health, Prof S. Haroon Ahmed, said that it was a misconception that children were less sensitive than others. “As a matter of fact, children are greatly affected by violence. They are also greatly traumatized by incidents of violence.”

He said the WHO defines violence as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group that either results in (or has a high likelihood of resulting in) injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.

He added that a child watching TV for 2-4 hours a day would witness 8,000 homicide and 100,000 other acts of violence by the age of 18. “According to an estimate, 20 million children have been made homeless by war and four million made disabled by armed conflict or political violence.

Paediatrician Dr Ayesha Mehnaz spoke about a study she conducted with the help of psychiatrists a couple of years back when the city was in throes of ethnic violence. “The study was carried out in five schools: a government-owned boys school in Lines Area, a private school in Clifton, a private school in Nazimabad, a government-owned girls school in PECHS and a government-owned boys school in Liaquatabad. The localities were representative of a cross-section of society. At least 250 students were questioned in the study.”

Talking about the results of the study, she said that 24 students in Lines Area, 23 in Nazimabad, 25 in Liaquatabad, 15 in Clifton and 12 in PECHS had witnessed acts of violence. “At least 28 students had themselves seen firing or had been caught in crossfiring, 5 students had seen a person being shot dead or murdered and 4 students had seen a bomb blast.”

She added that 26 per cent of children had felt insecure at home, 19 per cent at school, 78 per cent on the roads and 50 per cent in the presence of the police and other law-enforcement agencies.

Psychiatrist Dr Unaiza A. Niaz said that the early recognition of a psychological problem was very important. “Only teachers and parents could detect psychological problems.”

She added that parental conflict, death, bereavement, illness or addiction in parents, physical or sexual violence were some of the problems that had profound influence on the psychological development of a child during peacetime.

Dr Niaz pointed out that at times favouritism, sarcasm, extreme criticism and insensitivity on the part of a teacher deprived a student of his self-esteem.