April 20 & 22 2021. Gen C, the COVID generation, has childhood experiences unlike any in 100 years. We started the DMM Coffee House looking at how to manage the pandemic, and now, as we start year two, we’ll look at the impact on children by sharing stories of what our clients and their children are experiencing.
The DMM views attachment as a system designed to help people cope with danger, whether objective such as death or relational and subjective such as not being around friends or in school. It describes how children and adults develop patterns of self-protective strategies to survive dangers. Beyond the obvious dangers posed by the pandemic, what are the pandemic dangers and how are children surviving them? Are children developing new, unexpected, and/or more intense self-protective strategies in response? How are families being impacted? How are helping professionals changing their approaches to meet the needs of Gen C? How can we help families as we move in the second year of the pandemic?
In early 2020, in our managing pandemic trauma session, Siw Karlsen, Norway, described a case where a child who was isolated because of mental health issues reported reduced symptoms as the realities of the pandemic set in. While many studies on pandemic effects have found problems, some research studies in 2021 are reporting similar results to Siw’s client. Why is this and what kinds of cases are improved outcomes seen in?
We might talk a bit about eating disorders. Several pandemic research studies have noted a remarkable increase in eating disorders.* Ringer and Crittenden** found that traditionally defined eating disorders were correlative with three types of DMM patterns. Two of those were affectively-oriented (C patterns) and a small group were cognitively oriented (A patterns). Haripersad et al. (2020) found an outbreak of anorexia nervosa admissions during the pandemic. Dr. Mike Blows has discussed in previous DMM Coffee House sessions how eating disorders can be related to DMM self-protective strategies. Have you seen an increase in these issues and how, if at all, do you see them as functioning to help children get their attachment system needs met?
Join us in this no-host session to share your experiences. DMM Coffee House is a place to share, listen, explore and find serendipity.
Pandemic Parenting articles
Catherine Shoichet describes Gen C in her CNN article, Meet Gen C, the Covid generation. Hillary Hoffower describes Gen C in her BusinessInsider.com article, Meet “Generation Covid” – the newest cohort on the heels of Gen Z. Brian Wheeler and Sean Coughlan describe Gen C in their BBC article, Coronavirus: How will “Generation Covid” catch up?
National Geographic has a series on Pandemic Parenting (the easiest way to find the articles are to search the term on their site).
See also the articles cited below.
Session details
Date session A: Tuesday, 20 April 2021 (live, recorded)
Date session B: Thursday, 22 April 2021 (video replay)
Length: 60+ minutes
Price: Free
Host/Facilitator: No-host, group sharing and exploration
Platform: Zoom meeting
Sponsor: Conflict Science Institute
Multiple sessions: Each session will be unique, please join both! Invite your colleagues.
Session times:
Session A (US/EU/Africa/India): Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. Seattle (UTC -7) (noon in Miami; 5:00 p.m. in London; 6:00 p.m. in Finland/EU; 6:00 p.m. in Cape Town; 9:00 p.m. in New Delhi; midnight in Bangkok.)
Session B (US/EU/AUS/Asia): Thursday, at 1:00 p.m. in Seattle (4:00 p.m. in Miami; 9:00 p.m. in London; 10:00 p.m. in EU; and (in Australia/Thailand/China on Friday) at 8:00 a.m. (?) in Sydney. (AUS/ASIA participants should confirm their local start time against Seattle time.)
* Christie, Deborah and Elliott, April (2021). A year supporting youth within a pandemic: A shared reflection. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Online at A year supporting youth within a pandemic: A shared reflection – Deborah Christie, April Elliott, 2021 (sagepub.com). Citing: Davis, C., Chong, N. K., Oh, J. Y., Baeg, A., Rajasegaran, K., Chew, C. S. E. (2020). Caring for children and adolescents with eating disorders in the current COVID-19 outbreak: A Singapore perspective. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(1), 131–134. Gordon, C. M., Katzman, D. K. (2020). Lessons learned in caring for adolescents with eating disorders: The Singapore experience. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(1), 5–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.041. Haripersad, Y. V., Kannegiesser-Bailey, M., Morton, K., Skeldon, S., Shipton, N., Edwards, K., Newton, R., Newell, A., Stevenson, P. G., Martin, A. C. (2020). Outbreak of anorexia nervosa admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Archives of Disease in Childhood. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-319868. Termorshuizen, J. D., Watson, H. J., Thornton, L. M., Borg, S., Flatt, R. E., Macdermod, C. M., Harper, L. E., Furth, E. F., Peat, C. M., Bulik, C. M. (2020). Early impact of COVID -19 on individuals with self-reported eating disorders: A survey of ~1,000 individuals in the United States and the Netherlands. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(11), 1780–1790. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23353.
** Ringer, F. and Crittenden P.M. (2006). Eating disorders and attachment: effects of hidden processes on eating disorders. European Eating Disorders Review. 14, 1-12. See also, A new perspective on personality disorders, PowerPoint presentation by Patricia Crittenden.