[ Tunisian revolution in the eyes of children]

ABSTRACT

The child uses drawing as a language. By reflecting faithfully all that is involved in the psychic life of the child, the drawing participates in the diagnosis and plays a role in the therapeutic management of young people suffering from psychological difficulties. To analyze the drawings of children and adolescents followed at the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, further to the events of the Tunisian Revolution. It is about a cross sectional study conducted among outpatients consulting the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Razi hospital in Manouba during the period from January 25 to February 28, 2011. These patients were divided into two groups with a specific instruction for each, to represent the events experienced by the patient and his family for the first group and to do a free drawing for the second. Both groups consisted of 16 patients each with successively average age of 10, 5 and 10.33 years and sex ratio of 2.20 and 1.25. Patients in both groups were exposed to different stressors. The first group of children used in their drawings few colors, mostly black and red. The instruments of war such as bullets, guns, tanks and military helicopters were well represented. The characters were mostly male who were angry and looking for leakage. The drawings depicted scenes of war and conflict with people in distress or dead. The drawings of the second group were essentially about nature. We find that the instruction has significantly changed the behavior of children from the sheet. The instruction in this context seems to be a necessary to help these children overcome their concerns and express their pain