Mental Illness in Children
|
|
Childhood mental health interferes with developmental and emotional milestones, creating persistent problems in later life. In the United States, mental illness in children is a common occurrence. Statistics show that 20% of American children get mental illness each year. Meaning, one in every five children gets a mental disorder each year. Furthermore, about five million children have a severe mental illness that interferes with activities of daily living.
When anxiety interferes with everyday activities, it requires a caregiver’s intervention. Symptoms of anxiety include:
Disruptive Behavior
Disruptive behavior is a consequence of biological and physical factors. Environmental factors include exposing the child to alcoholism, drug abuse, or other forms of substance abuse. Absentee parenting, neglect, rejection, exposure to abuse, poverty, lack of supervision, parental criminality, or living in an unstable home also foster this disorder. Having loved ones with disruptive behavior or living with a parent battling severe mental illness can also trigger this disorder.
Eating Disorders
Depression in children starts as early as the age of three. Depression in children does not always manifest as persistent sadness. Persistent irritability can be a sign of depression or other mental illness. Take the child for a mental illness evaluation to ascertain their health.
Childhood Schizophrenia
Symptoms may occur suddenly or progress gradually.
Intrusion Symptoms
New Dimensions Can Help!
Common Mental Disorders in Children
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD symptoms start to manifest before the age of 12. Common symptoms include:- Self-focused behavior - inability to recognize other people’s needs and desires. The child becomes impatient and interruptive.
- Emotional dysregulation- the child has trouble controlling their emotions. They have frequent outbursts over small triggers and throw temper tantrums at inappropriate times.
- Fidgeting - a child with ADHD has difficulty sitting still or focusing for long periods. The child wiggles around or fidgets when required to hang tough.
- Inattention - ADHD interferes with the child’s attention span. The child cannot focus or concentrate for long. They will not pay attention or look at you when you speak to them. The evidence of their distraction is in unfinished tasks, homework, house chores, and projects.
- Errors - the child also has a difficult time doing tasks that require planning and execution. When done, the work usually has a lot of errors. Most of the time, the child absconds their responsibilities, especially when it requires mental resilience and patience, because they are incapable of cultivating these attributes.
- Forgetfulness - the child loses things frequently -toys, keys, equipment, or clothes or misplaces things. However, their forgetfulness or absent-mindedness is not carelessness.
- Disorganization - struggles with keeping up with the timetable, following planned activities, or prioritizing commitments.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorder in children does not always manifest as fear and worry. It also shows up as anger and irritability. Additionally, not all anxiety is bad. It is okay for the child to become anxious because they are starting school or moving to a new neighborhood. That type of anxiety is healthy and necessary to maneuver through life - it can be overcome when the child settles.When anxiety interferes with everyday activities, it requires a caregiver’s intervention. Symptoms of anxiety include:
- Lack of focus - the child gets distracted with their stressor
- Sleep apnea - worry and fear can make the child afraid of falling asleep or rob the child of their sleep
- Nightmares - the child may also have recurring dreams about the thing that is triggering their anxiety
- Irritability and agitation - anxiety causes the child to throw tantrums or have emotional outbursts.
- Poor appetite - anxiety increases nausea, decreases the desire for food, and makes the child’s stomach unsettled.
- Negative thinking - worry and fear leave the child brooding over negative things. It flares their imagination toward the negative
- Clinginess - anxiety can make the child afraid of leaving the caregiver or dread separation
- Frequent bathroom use brought by the unsettledness feeling of anxiety.
Disruptive Behavior
Disruptive behavior is uncooperative and defiant behavior that manifests in a structured environment. The presence of authority makes the child indifferent and hostile. There are different types of disruptive behavior.
-
Disruptive behavior not otherwise specified - without treatment, this disorder breeds antisocial personality disorder.
-
Oppositional defiant disorder - manifests as resentment, temper, disobedience, non-compliance, and intentional annoyance.
-
Conduct disorder - is a repeated infringement of age-appropriate rules or standards - for instance, cruelty to class pets and petty criminal activity.
Disruptive behavior is a consequence of biological and physical factors. Environmental factors include exposing the child to alcoholism, drug abuse, or other forms of substance abuse. Absentee parenting, neglect, rejection, exposure to abuse, poverty, lack of supervision, parental criminality, or living in an unstable home also foster this disorder. Having loved ones with disruptive behavior or living with a parent battling severe mental illness can also trigger this disorder.
Biological factors that contribute to this disorder include low birth weight and neurological damage at an early age. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and mental conditions like ADHD are also causative agents.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders affect children below the age of 12. A child’s risk of developing an eating disorder depends on several factors. Living with a caregiver, sibling, or relative with an eating disorder increases the child’s likelihood of developing the condition.
Children with acute illnesses have a higher likelihood of developing an eating disorder than their healthy counterparts. For instance, a child diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus has a high probability of getting an eating disorder.
Common types of Eating Disorders in children include:
-
Avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder - presents as lack of interest in food and sensory dislike to food. The child becomes reluctant to swallowing food or gets repulsed by food textures. They may also avoid certain foods for fear of vomiting. Feeding restriction leads to malnutrition and weight loss.
-
Pica - constantly feeding on non-foods. The behavior should be beyond the child’s developmental milestone. For instance, a baby chewing on toys is not a disorder because the behavior is age-appropriate. The child could be simply teething. Non-foods eaten include hair, ice, dirt, paper, chalk, and soap.
-
Anorexia nervosa - false perception of weight makes the child obsess over their food intake to lose weight. The child is often underweight because of overeating and vomiting.
Depression
Depression in children starts as early as the age of three. Depression in children does not always manifest as persistent sadness. Persistent irritability can be a sign of depression or other mental illness. Take the child for a mental illness evaluation to ascertain their health.
Depression symptoms in children vary. Additionally, all the symptoms will not appear at the same time.
Irritability occurs with withdrawal, misery, absence of pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, and excessive guilt. Depression symptoms also depend on the age of the child. For instance, in preschool children, symptoms are masked. Somatic symptoms - sleep and appetite disturbance, fatigue, or memory loss, and aggression are expected for this age group. The child is not verbally expressive or mature enough to internalize thoughts and emotions.
Other symptoms of depression in children include:
-
Crankiness - a fuss with an odd disposition
-
Heightened sensitivity to rejection
-
Vocal outbursts and crying
-
Lethargy
-
Head and stomach aches that do not respond to treatment
-
Impaired concentration or thinking
-
Trouble socializing in social events, school extra curriculum activities or interacting with friends. Pursuing hobbies and activities of interest becomes problematic.
-
Suicidal ideation
Childhood Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia in children is uncommon, but it can manifest as a severe illness. Symptoms in pediatric schizophrenia are divided into two groups. Positive symptoms (the first group) include delusion, hallucination, and eccentric behavior. The negative symptoms include emotional blunting, withdrawal, emotional unresponsiveness, and disorganized speech. The child also shows catatonia, where episodes of sudden aggression are followed by a lack of movement and staring.
Early warning signs include:
-
Distorted perception of reality - difficulty distinguishing dreams from reality
-
Confused thinking - unable to differentiate the virtual images from reality
-
Having strange thoughts and ideology
-
Paranoia - fear that something or someone is going to harm them
-
Severe anxiety and fear
-
Difficulty performing tasks
-
Social withdrawal
-
Moodiness
Symptoms may occur suddenly or progress gradually.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
According to DSM-5, PTSD in children can occur from age one. Symptomology is differentiated between children below age six and those above. For instance, preschoolers are incapable of self-accusation, and negative self-belief because they cannot articulate cognitive constructs and intricate emotional fluctuations.
DSM-5 also includes caregiver-related losses as a traumatic event. The death of a parent, separation through foster care, and abandonment are distressing to a child because the parent-child bond is essential at their age. When there are threats to sever this bond, the child may become traumatized and relive the ordeal throughout their lives.
Young children also have nightmares not related to the traumatic event. The child may lack fear during exposure and re-exposure to the trauma, but symptoms manifest in play. Additionally, the child develops a wide range of emotional and behavioral changes following exposure to the trauma.
For children six years and younger DSM-5 criteria of diagnosis include,
Exposure to The Traumatic Event
-
Direct exposure to the traumatic event
-
Witnessing a traumatic event
-
Learning about a loved one, caregiver, or a friend’s traumatic event
-
Repeated exposure to a traumatic event
Intrusion Symptoms
Intrusive reminders relating to the traumatic event are evidence of PTSD. The intrusions can be in the form of involuntary memories, dreams, and nightmares, and vivid flashbacks that make the child relive the trauma. Persistent psychological distress and marked reactions triggered by the trauma are also part of the symptomatology.
Stimuli Avoidance
Efforts to avoid thoughts, memories, feelings of the distressful event show the child is battling PTSD. The child also avoids people, places, activities, and conversations associated with the trauma.
Negative Alteration in Cognition
The memory becomes juggled up - to the point of forgetting certain aspects of the ordeal because of dissociative amnesia, injury, or substance abuse. The child may also have extreme negative beliefs and expectations of themselves or remain in a persistent negative state, unable to delight, become content, or enjoy loving feelings. They also become disinterested in important activities that occur.
Marked Alterations
-
Angry outbursts with little provocation
-
Self-destructive behavior
-
Hyper alertness
-
Inattention
-
Sleep apnea
New Dimensions Can Help!
New Dimensions specializes in mental health issues in adolescents and adults. To learn more about our services, including Psychological Testing, Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), and Interventions for Substance Abuse, contact us at 800-685-9796 or visit our website at www.nddtreatment.com. To learn more about individual, family, and couples counseling visit www.mhthrive.com.
Online Treatment Programs |
15 January, 2025 |
Latest articles
Share on