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How did the Covid-19 pandemic alter the emotional environment of young children? Between masked faces, social isolation and parental anxiety, the foundations of infant psychological development were shaken. This psychoanalytic reflection explores the challenges posed to the identity and relational construction of children born during this exceptional period.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted societies on an unprecedented scale, deeply altering ingrained customs and daily social interactions. Children, navigating crucial phases of their psychological and identity development, were confronted with a world of masked faces, limited social interactions and new anxieties.

For infants, the human face is the first territory of exploration and recognition, a fundamental mirror in which they discover and begin to construct themselves. The facial expressions of the adults around them, especially those of their primary caregivers, gradually enable them to decode the emotional world and adjust their own responses.

In this context, the widespread use of masks introduced a major disruption to this emotional and relational learning. By concealing a large portion of the face, masks significantly reduced children’s ability to interpret the expressions of those around them. Early interactions with parental figures are crucial for identity formation. Through these exchanges, the child develops their primary narcissism, the foundation of their psychological security. The absence of the full maternal or paternal face can therefore disrupt this narcissistic construction and generate a form of emotional insecurity, making it difficult for the child to internalize stable reference points.

Child psychoanalysts have emphasized the importance of gaze and facial expressions in emotional communication between mother and child. Research has shown that infants, from their earliest weeks, perceive facial expressions with remarkable acuity and adjust their emotions based on these subtle cues. By obscuring these crucial signals, masks risk hindering this essential nonverbal communication.

Although some studies conducted during the pandemic suggest a surprising adaptability in certain children, early childhood professionals have reported increased difficulties in language acquisition among those primarily exposed to masked faces during critical periods of linguistic learning.

This issue naturally leads to Lacan’s concept of the “mirror stage,” a decisive phase in which a child, between six and 18 months old, begins to recognize themselves in their reflection and construct their identity by identifying with an external image. This crucial step marks the moment when the child achieves an initial unification of their body image, previously experienced as fragmented. This recognition is not only mediated by a literal mirror, but also, and more importantly, by the “mirror” provided by parental figures through their gazes, expressions and reactions.

These figures play a central role in the child’s self-recognition and ego structuring. With masks obscuring significant portions of their faces, a key part of this image is hidden, which can affect the child’s ability to establish continuity between their own body and the image they perceive in others. This disruption could lead to several potential consequences: difficulty in forming a cohesive self-image, delays in differentiating self from others or challenges in acquiring language.

Lacan also highlights that the mirror stage involves the formation of the “ideal ego,” the idealized image the child projects onto themselves, which nurtures their sense of self-worth. If the faces that serve as models are partially masked, the child may struggle to construct this idealized image. In a world where interactions are altered by mask-wearing and social distancing, children may face additional obstacles in their identity development.

The resulting identity ambivalence manifests as a lack of stable visual reference points, which are essential for understanding others’ emotions and adjusting one’s own reactions. Deprived of these cues, children may develop a sense of uncertainty about their own feelings, potentially hindering their ability to form secure interpersonal relationships. This difficulty in establishing stable relational frameworks may also reinforce feelings of isolation or anxiety, especially among children already predisposed to psychological vulnerability.

Beyond the issue of masked faces, the pandemic imposed an unprecedented level of social isolation, deeply altering the quality and frequency of children’s interactions with their broader social environment. Lockdowns, the closure of childcare centers and schools and restrictions on contact with extended family significantly reduced the variety of social exchanges available to children. Yet, these interactions are essential for communication and impulse regulation. Deprived of these structuring interactions, children risk encountering difficulties in managing emotions and expressing needs appropriately. Clinical observations made during and after lockdown periods have indeed noted an increase in oppositional behaviors, temper tantrums and emotional difficulties in many children.

Françoise Dolto reminds us that language acquisition and social skills depend intimately on diverse interactions with others. The absence of regular exchanges with figures outside the immediate family circle can slow linguistic development and the child’s ability to decode complex social signals. Language is not just a communication tool, but also a psychological organizer that allows the child to symbolize their experiences and make sense of their emotions. A reduction in linguistic interactions risks compromising this process of symbolization, which is crucial for psychological balance.

Donald Winnicott demonstrated that playing with peers is fundamental for emotional development and socialization. Through free play, children explore boundaries, express emotions and learn to engage with others. The British psychoanalyst viewed play as a “transitional space” between the internal and external worlds, where children can safely experiment with different psychological and relational situations. Pandemic-related restrictions severely limited these learning opportunities, potentially leading to delayed social skills, increased social anxiety or withdrawal in some children.

This deprivation of diverse interactions may have also contributed to deeper emotional disorders. Isolated within family environments already under significant stress, some children exhibited signs of childhood depression, heightened anxiety or behavioral issues. The lack of stimulation typically provided by varied social environments (school, extracurricular activities, cultural outings) may have further impacted children’s psychological development, especially among those without a sufficiently stimulating home environment.

The pandemic also profoundly disrupted the separation-individuation process, through which a child gradually distances themselves from parental attachments and gains greater socio-emotional autonomy. The pandemic upended this balance by reinforcing proximity with parents while drastically reducing opportunities for independent exploration of the outside world.

This disruption manifested differently depending on the child and family context. Some children developed excessive dependence on parental presence, experiencing significant distress even during brief separations. Others, as a compensatory mechanism, exhibited premature pseudo-independence, masking an unresolved separation anxiety. Though seemingly opposite, both reactions reflect difficulties in internalizing a secure attachment that allows for both emotional closeness and autonomous exploration.

Another critical aspect is the transmission of parental anxiety, leading to psychosomatic manifestations in children. Highly sensitive to their parents’ emotional states, children absorbed ambient anxiety—even, and perhaps especially, when it was not explicitly verbalized. This anxiety was communicated through imperceptible nonverbal signals and profoundly influenced children’s psychosomatic development. This unconscious transmission may have caused children to develop hypervigilance or a fear of the external environment, perceived as threatening. Clinical observations during the pandemic reported a significant increase in childhood anxiety disorders, often mirroring parental concerns.

This internalized anxiety frequently manifested through physical symptoms: recurrent stomachaches, headaches, sleep disturbances, appetite changes, psychomotor instability or regressive behaviors, such as a return to bed-wetting in previously toilet-trained children. Lacking the verbal resources to express distress, children often translate emotional turmoil into bodily symptoms. Some developed obsessive hygiene rituals, internalizing, to an excessive degree, the sanitary precautions modeled by their parents and transforming legitimate caution into pathological anxiety. In such cases, the somatic symptom becomes a symbolic expression of an unresolved psychological conflict or anxiety.