Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stated, “Previous generations grew up amidst difficulties, but the current generation is growing up in abundance. Therefore, we cannot administer a stress vaccine to children. However, today, there is a need for a stress vaccine in childhood. A childhood without stress makes a child selfish, conformist, and an entity that only thinks of their own interests.”
“A childhood without stress brings selfishness”
Speaking on TV Journalist Emel Özuğur’s Instagram live broadcast, Tarhan expressed his views on the feeling of guilt in children; “The feeling of guilt, jealousy, and regret is like a vaccine. With a vaccine, a weak virus is given to a person, and the immune system gets stronger. When a major virus epidemic comes in the future, there are antibodies, and nothing happens. That's why vaccination is a scientific fact. Now, there is a need for a stress vaccine in childhood. A childhood without stress makes a child selfish, conformist, and an entity that only thinks of their own interests. Previous generations grew up amidst difficulties, but the current generation is growing up in abundance. Therefore, we cannot administer a stress vaccine to children. Years ago, many professors of Jewish origin came from Germany to Turkey, and most of them died of typhoid. Because there was no typhoid in Germany, but there was in Turkey. Our children developed immunity by growing up with typhoid, but when people who had never encountered this disease came, they started dying from typhoid. That's why we cannot be naturally vaccinated; we need to be artificially vaccinated against stress. The COVID stress vaccine is resilience training; the ability to delay gratification, pain, and suffering is a part of it, but it doesn't happen willingly. For example, a child went to the market and stole a candy. When he came home, if his father said, ‘My brave son,’ the child would not feel guilty. But the child normalizes stealing. For this, the father needs to take the child to the grocery store, explain that what they did was wrong, and say, ‘Let's pay for it.’ This way, the child learns wisdom at that age. But what do we do? We say, ‘Oh, don't do this,’ ‘Oh, don't do that.’ Everything in excess causes harm. This world is a world of balancing emotions.”