Psychologist says mask mandates are going to “cause a lot of mental health problems”

Karlyn Borysenko is an American psychologist with an MBA and a Ph.D. in psychology, specializing in industrial/organizational psychology. She is also a very popular YouTuber who takes call-ins from audience members on topics that are relevant to the show. Because of this, I was able to ask her opinion on mask mandates and what long-term effects they may have on children – the answer I received wasn’t comforting.

Greg Staley: “From a psychology perspective like how do you look at that (mask mandate for children)… I’ve looked into it like it’s like diction and language development, social development – all these things tied into it and fundamentally the thing that pisses me off if I can say that is that none of the people that are so-called experts here that get trotted out in front of the cameras ever mention the harm that this is doing to kids they say it’s not that big of a deal and they downplay it all of the time. But everything I know about development, social behaviour, the psychology behind it says that this is – I mean we’re coming at 18 months now almost at the two year anniversary… that’s two years of school that kids haven’t been seeing their teacher talk, haven’t been seeing their friends talk been socially isolated so what’s your take on that?

“My take on masks and this has been my same take from frankly the very beginning, I was always very opposed to mask mandates in any form and my take on it is a little bit different in that our mouth is the thing that we use to express ourselves. It’s the thing we use to give value to the world and if we are covering up our mouth every single day that is going to inhibit our ability to express ourselves.

Now separately, from being a psychologist in real life I had a childhood where I grew up not being able to express myself. I know what it means to go for years at a time not being able to say what I think and that had a pretty profound effect on just how I valued myself – my self-esteem, my confidence and so I think in 5-10 years we’re going to see a crisis of mental health of the children that have been forced to wear these masks, I think we’re going to see increased depression, increased anxiety, I think we’re going to have a lot of issues in terms of self-esteem and confidence, I think we’re going to have issues in terms of them even being able to vocalize their thoughts, vocalize their emotions.

I think we’re going to have issues in terms of them being able to read the emotions on other people. I mean this is gonna be a boon for people who work with kids with autism because this is what we’re talking about with autism – not being able to recognize social cues. It’s gonna be the same thing but it’s going to be self-inflicted – so I think it’s gonna cause a lot of mental health problems that people are not talking about.”

It’s puzzling why this hasn’t been discussed by the so-called “experts” here in Canada – after all, there have been many concerning signs about children’s lack of well-being reported on by the mainstream media here in Canada – so why hasn’t anyone discussed the potential long-term effects of masking on children?

CTV News reported in March of 2020 that the kids’ help phone line exploded with phone calls of distraught children. Shelley Richardson, the director of development for Kids Help Phone in Atlantic Canada and Quebec said the service “has seen close to a 35percentnt increase in demand for their services.”

It doesn’t stop there. In July of 2020, Toronto Children’s Hospital recommended that kids go back to school without masks or social distancing. This is because “Increased rates of depression and anxiety” had been observed and “increased rates of substance use and addiction, and suicidal behaviour” were also believed to have occurred.

A survey by Children’s Mental Health Ontario found that one in three Ontario parents reported their child’s mental health has deteriorated due to being home from school and more than half of the parents noticed behavioural changes in their child the report said.

So why hasn’t there been talk of the long-term consequences of the mask mandates on not only children but on society as a whole? Why are the “experts” ignoring the obvious – mask mandates DO cause harm when implemented for prolonged periods.

Diverge Media is an independent Canadian media company dedicated to bringing you the stories that matter. We don’t receive taxpayer dollars from the government unlike many of the mainstream media outlets and therefore rely entirely on the generous donations of our viewers/readers to fund our work. To support Diverge Media please visit our shop or our donate page! All the best – the Diverge Media team.