Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

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Infectious diseases remain one of the biggest threats to the health and well-being of the human race. Since December 2019, novel COVID-19 infection has spread rapidly all over China and internationally. The pandemic resulted in not only the risk of death from the viral infection but also psychological consequences among people. Particularly because of the long-term nature of the pandemic which is still developing. The psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents seem to be far greater than the impact on adults because they are more vulnerable to the negative effects of stress. One of these psychological impacts is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It is characterized by unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive compulsive behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions).  The more effort put into controlling the obsession, the more frequently and intensely it intruded the patient’s mind. Compulsions can make intrusive thoughts become more frequent, repetitive, and disturbing. The performance of repetitive behaviors  are generally related to a fear of negative events. Individuals manifest OCD symptoms only under certain situations that usually invoke a fear of negative events. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, national school closures had been implemented, and students were required to stay at home. Reduced social interaction, stay-at-home restrictions, difficulties in schoolwork, substantial changes to daily routine and boredom can create dramatic psychological effects on children and adolescents. Developmental motivations and hormonal changes make children and adolescents highly attuned to peer groups, making it challenging to isolate at home. All of these triggers repetitive behaviors to respond to an internal compulsion to reduce anxiety. In this study, the occurrence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among primary school students in Lenjan city in dealing with e-learning caused by the Covid-19 epidemic has been reported. Some major patterns of this disorder such as; ruminating thoughts, pathologic doubt, compulsive checking and obsession with order/symmetry, for a population of children in this city in dealing with virtual education mentioned by their parents with educational counselors in the comprehensive counseling center. The parents of this student population have stated; their child's homework stays unfinished because of repeats for fear of not doing something right. After sending homework, their child is not sure did it correctly. Their child feels compelled to check their homework over and over. Their child even when has answered the teacher's questions correctly is not sure has done it correctly. Their child does not throw away the crafts provided because afraid, it will be need in future.  Their child is very worried about the homework cleanliness. Their child gathers things that really does not need while attending in the virtual classroom. Their child constantly thinks about the bad aspects of virtual education and can not stop them. Their child immediately aggressive when the order of equipment is disturbed while doing homework. Therefore, as children are the future owners of society, their health and illness will have significant effects on the health and illness of tomorrow's society. so, it is necessary to pay more attention to their mental health during this quarantine period, when the irritability of this important group increases due to the mentioned reasons.
 

Keywords: iCOVID-19, Epidemic, OCD

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