Save the Children, Physically and Psychologically

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“Fury’s gonna take me to the glory goal

In my mind I can’t study war no more

Save the people! Save the children! Save the country!

Save the country! Save the country! Save the country!”

-Laura Nero song lyric

This final stanza excerpt from Laura Nyro’s popular song “Save the Country” came out in 1969. It was in the middle of the major social changes and conflicts of the 1960s and 70s in the United States: civil rights, feminism, and more. It was in the middle of the controversial Vietnam War with many young American troops killed and wounded on the ground. It was also a year after the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr and Bobby Kennedy.

I was in my third year at Yale Medical School, just married. My class came to be devoted to a new free clinic to help the socioeconomic disparities in health care in New Haven. Perhaps not surprisingly, well over 10% of our class became psychiatrists, and many later worked in the public sector.

Although the country gradually came out of the tumult as President Nixon resigned under ethical and legal duress, many are seeing similarities in our current political conflicts and wars. This time around, though, it appears that young children are in the most danger. Perhaps that makes our current wars even worse.

Verifiable malnutrition and starvation of children is a current medical and humanitarian crisis. It is seen in Gaza, where it is getting by far the most media attention, but also majorly present in Sudan, Uganda, and other areas. Some is from war, but some from major cuts to aid to Africa from our government, as discussed in the recent Wall Street Journal article, “Refugees in Africa Fight over Food as U.S Aid Cuts Take Hold.”¹ Perhaps, too, racism accounts for some of where children are under the most duress.

In the other major current war in Ukraine, large numbers of Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia. That likely will lead to major loss and trauma, and likely attempts at brainwashing.

Organized psychiatry has been relatively quiet about this current crisis for children. However, besides the immediate starvation, there are long-term risks for later general health, more adverse childhood experiences, and an increase in posttraumatic stress disorder and prolonged grief for those who survive their malnutrition.

From our recent trip to Canada, we also learned about their challenges in addressing the general mental health needs of children, even under their single payor system. A special issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry on “Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” is devoted to the challenge.² This concern is not immediate starvation, but inadequate recourses for rising demand and need for mental healthcare.

In the United States, back in 2021, in a US Surgeon General Advisory on “Protecting Youth Mental Health,”³ psychological distress among youth, especially those most socially vulnerable, was rising even faster as the pandemic began. Now, under the new administration, there is no data that the prevalence of those psychiatric problems has remitted, but rather cuts in Medicaid and a focus on whether antidepressants really work in youth. The children of immigrants seem to be of special risk, too.

The potential good news is that there are obvious solutions to all these threats to the health and mental health of children. Most of these involve the will and desire of the United States to help.

No matter the disputes about blame for this starvation in wars, both external and internal, getting food where it is needed seems eminently possible. In the richer countries like Canada and the United States, another goal is providing more treatment resources. Aid to Africa can be resumed.

History shows a long time of sacrificing children to various degrees at home, work, and wars. Despite the assumption that the suffering of children pulls on our heartstrings, it also seems that they serve as scapegoats in families and countries. That means that a “Call for Children” is needed from psychiatry, locally, nationally, and internationally. It is an ethical mandate to improve the mental health of our communities.

In the song lyric that began this column, Nyro sings that “I can’t study war no more.” We in psychiatry ethically do not have that option. We need to use our “fury” to study it more and come up with the “going goal” of innovative solutions as soon as possible. To enhance that development, our next rally of psychiatrists should be titled:

SAVE THE CHILDREN!

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Bariyo N, Wexler A. Refugees in Africa fight over food as U.S. aid cuts take hold. Wall Street Journal. August 11, 2025. Accessed August 14, 2025. https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/refugees-in-africa-fight-over-food-as-u-s-aid-cuts-take-hold-bfccae49?gaa_at=

2. Mitchell RHB, Ameis SH. Strengthening mental health services of children and youth in Canada. Can J Psychiatry. 2025;70(5):341-346.

3. Protecting youth mental health. US Surgeon General. 2021. Accessed August 14, 2025. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-youth-mental-health-advisory.pdf