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Picture: Save The Children ()

A generation of聽Syrian children are facing 鈥渃atastrophic鈥� psychological damage聽with one in four inside Syria at risk of developing a mental聽health disorder from witnessing traumatic events, a global聽children鈥檚 charity said today.

The psychological needs of children fleeing four-and-a-half聽years of war remain largely unmet due to lack of funding,聽spiralling numbers of refugees and over-stretched resources in聽host countries, said in a report.

鈥淭he repercussions for the future mental health of an entire聽generation could be catastrophic,鈥� Ian Rodgers, country director聽for Save the Children in Lebanon, said in a statement.

鈥淚n addition to the obvious psychological damage caused聽by witnessing traumatic events and extreme violence, there are a聽myriad of secondary, under-funded and often over-looked, daily聽causes of psychological and social damage once a displaced聽child arrives in a new community.鈥�

Some 10% of children participating in Save the聽Children programmes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region had lost at聽least one parent, while in Lebanon a 鈥渃onsiderable portion鈥� have聽been out of school for at least three years, the charity said.

鈥淔or children 鈥� being out of school for months or years,聽dealing with the acute tension and anxiety at home, as well as聽separation from friends and relatives, daily discrimination,聽child labour, early marriage, and living in insecure, poor parts聽of cities or towns, has a serious and profound impact on their聽mental and physical health,鈥� Rodgers said.

Normal routines, such as being able to go to school and聽seeing their parents carrying out regular household duties, are聽crucial for children, Rodgers said.

Among teenagers acute stress is leading to suicidal thoughts聽and self-harm, with a few suicides documented in some locations,聽said Save the Children. Other widely reported issues include speech disorders,聽problems with hearing or vision, and bed wetting.

聽鈥淟eaving children untreated has a negative impact later on 鈥撀爐hey can become aggressive, depressed, and acquire phobias,鈥澛燫eem Nasri, Save the Children psychologist said.

Syria鈥檚 war, which erupted in 2011, has killed some 250,000聽people and created more than four million refugees.

The , the charitable arm of Thomson聽Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women鈥檚 rights,聽corruption and climate change.