In The Venue

Mental problems in children is a painful thing and is often a source of stress for them. These days, we are seeing that there is an increase in the number of children who are affected by mental health problems and need mental health counseling . In an estimation, one of the five children may have a mental health disorder, which can be treated and rectified.

Various biological and environment condition can be the reason of mental health disorders in a child. If it is a biological problem then genetics and chemical imbalances could be the possible factors behind it. Exposure to violence, stress and loss of an important thing can also be some environmental factors behind the poor mental health.

Mental disorders can seriously affect a child’s overall health. Depending on the type of disorder, the condition may range from mild to severe. If your child is suffering from a mental health problem, nobody other than family and community can help him in coping with it. In most of the cases, a child suffers from more than one disorder like:

Anxiety Disorders

If your kid has excessive fear, worry or uneasiness, he might be suffering from anxiety disorder. It is the most common childhood disorder found in 13 of every 100 children (from 9-17 years). Anxiety disorder includes:

• A feat of unrealistic and overwhelming objects and situations.
• A general anxiety disorder, where child shows excessive worry that can not be connected to any of his recent experience.
• Panic disorder, where children get panic attacks like a rapid heartbeat or dizziness.
• Obsessive- compulsive disorder in which the child gets trapped in repetitive behavior like hand washing or counting.
• Post traumatic stress disorder where the child often experience patterns of flashbacks. This is mostly found in children who have experienced events like abuse, natural disaster trauma or have witnessed violence.

Bipolar Disorder

How to know if your kid is suffering from this mental disorder? Well, he will demonstrate high mood swings from extreme excitedness to extreme depression. During your children’s bipolar disorder , he will talk non stop, sleep very less and show poor judgment, while he will have extreme depression in other case.

Eating Disorders

If the child is suffering from eating disorder, he will be scared of gaining weight even if he is underweight. This could be life threatening.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Five out of every 100 children suffers from this type of disorder, where he is unable to focus on one thing and gets distracted easily. A children’s mental illness disorder will find it difficult to stand still, take turns and keep quiet.

Severe Depression

It was earlier considered that depression never occurs in childhood. But, experts today agree that a small kid can also get into severe depression. Studies show that 2 out of 100 children and 8 of 100 adolescents can get affected by the mental health problem.

If your child often feel sad or cry, he might be suffering from severe  mental health disorder problem. This will make him lose all the interest in studies, play activities as well as change his appetite and sleeping patterns. Parents must know that child or adolescent having severe depression may not value his life and make attempts to kill himself.

Autistic Disorder

Problems in interaction and communication are the symptoms of autism. The disorder usually develops in the child before the age of 3 and causes him to repeat a particular behavior for longer time period. A child might show mild to severe symptoms of the mental disorder and is more prone to get other problems.

Learning Disorders

Learning disorder in a child makes it harder for him to express or receive an information. If you child is facing problems in spoken and written language, self control or even coordination, he may be suffering from the disorder.

Conduct Disorder

Children with such disorder are little or not at all concerned about others. They will violate the rules of society and the rights of other people. Their acts can sometimes be really destructive. Such kids often get involved into theft, lying, vandalism and other serious activities.

Schizophrenia

A schizophrenia affected child will get hallucinations and withdraws himself from people around him. He will be unable to experience any pleasure.

Dealing with children’s mental health problems is not an easy task. Despite the presence of different medical treatments, a child needs the support of his family. Parents play an important role in getting their child regain his lost self confidence, emotional strength and balance. But, no book or course is ever going to teach you on how to solve the problem. Being responsible a care taker, you have to understand how you would have felt and thought if you would have been suffering from such problem in childhood.