The first cases of an infection called COVID-19 were reported and described in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a pandemic. According to the WHO, as of December 1, 2020, the number of people infected with the COVID-19 virus worldwide amounted to 68,838,273, including 1,568,512 deaths. In Russia, the incidence rate for this period was 2,322,056 people, deaths — 40,464.
In connection with the rapid spread of COVID-19, quarantine measures were introduced to combat the pandemic: movement restrictions, a ban on public events, self-isolation, expanded sanitary and hygienic standards, the mandatory wearing of personal protective equipment, the closure of shopping and entertainment centres, theatres, cinemas and places of public catering. These forced measures significantly worsened the quality of life of the population and harmed the psyche of people, entailed socially stressful mental and behavioural disorders. Such disorders are described under the influence of various psychogenic factors in the works of Yu.A. Aleksandrovsky [1] and many other authors who studied borderline and social stress disorders.
The development of the COVID-19 pandemic can even be compared to an emergency, since in this case there is also a tremendous speed and scale of spread, damage to health and material loss. Emotional reactions of the population, as the studies show, demonstrate typical phases of reaction to a natural disaster with a gradual increase in the severity of mental disorders [2].
The emergence of induced reactive states of the population [3] was facilitated by social isolation, separation from family members, loneliness, uncertainty, a significant duration of quarantine and fear of infection. Under the influence of the above factors, the risk of developing morbid mental states in the population has increased significantly. And those with pre-existing mental illnesses were at the greatest risk of developing mental disorders. There is no doubt that children and adolescents represent the most vulnerable group of the population concerning any diseases, and such a radical change in the way of life in connection with the pandemic cannot but affect the mental state of the child and adolescent population.