Tel-Hai Magazine 2022

Research on ‘Running Therapy’ that has been conducted on adults has shown significant

improvement in depression and

preliminary data from around the world, 82% of children and adolescents partic ipating in the study reported that their feelings worsened during the pandemic. When comparing data from before vs. during the pandemic, findings indicate that the overall stress experienced by families at the beginning of the pandem ic, with the initial lockdowns, affected the participants' ability to regulate their emotions. An increase in levels of de pression, emotional and behavioral prob lems, and difficulty with emotional regu lation amongst children and adolescents was reported. Interestingly, and contrary to most other studies, the findings did not indicate, however, an increase in anxiety levels during the pandemic, yet, stratifying samples by gender and age, revealed a significant difference between boys and girls, and between children and adoles cents. Boys and adolescents reported a significant increase in difficulty with emotional regulation, whereas girls and children reported an increase in behav ioral problems. symptoms of anxiety, a decrease in the need for psychiatric medication, and a significant reduction in dosages.

challenges, and even more so when par enting a child with mental health issues, which may naturally increase stress and anxiety levels. One approach in assisting parents to reduce anxiety and stress, so they may better support their child, is through emotional regulation. There are several strategies for achieving emotional regulation, some of which have been linked to negative influences on wellbe ing. However, examining a different ap proach, research conducted at the center on the effects of self-compassion, in par ents of children dealing with mental health issues, produced groundbreaking results. Dr. Uri Yatzkar explains the importance of the findings: “Recently, as part of the joint study, data was collected from a large number of parents with children with significant mental health issues. The data indicated self-compassion as

cal condition. These findings were rein forced by another joint analysis showing that working with parents on improving the capacity for self-compassion, rather than emotional regulation, was signifi cant for personal well-being. After this breakthrough was presented at the annu al conference of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Israel, many centers in the country reconsidered The aftereffects of Covid-19 pandemic are still present and are a matter of con cern among families, researchers, thera pists, and policy makers. The timely establishment of the research center, two years prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, provided the possibility of conducting comparative research throughout the pandemic, and enabled comparisons with findings from before its outbreak. In research led by Dr. She naar-Golan and Prof. Meirav Hen of the Department of Psychology, Tel-Hai, im portant data was collected on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health. Confirming their entire treatment strategy.” Covid-19: the aftershock

a significant factor in sub jective well-being and the level of parental stress and anxiety. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the capacity for self-compassion is even more significant than the severity of the child's clini

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