Young people have mental, emotional, and behavioral problems that are real, painful, and costly. They are sources of stress for children and their families, schools and communities.

The number of young people and their families who are affected by mental, emotional and behavioral disorders is significant. As many as one in five children and adolescents may have a mental health disorder that requires treatment.

Mental health disorders in children and adolescents are caused by biology, environment or a combination. Examples of biological factors are genetics, chemical imbalances and damage to the central nervous system, such as a head injury.

Environmental factors also can affect a childs mental health, including exposure to violence, extreme stress and the loss of an important person. A broad range of services is often necessary to meet the needs of these young people.

The Problems

Below are descriptions of particular mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders that sometimes occur during childhood and adolescence. All can have a serious impact on your childs overall health.

Some are more common than others and seriousness can range from mild to severe. Sometimes, a child may have more than one disorder simultaneously.

Anxiety Disorders

Young people who experience excessive fear, worry or uneasiness may have an anxiety disorder. These disorders are among the most common emotional problems occurring during childhood.

According to one study, as many as 13 of every 100 young people from 9 to 17 years of age have an anxiety disorder. They include:

1. Phobias, which are unrealistic and overwhelming fears of objects or situations.

2. Generalized anxiety disorder, which causes children to demonstrate a pattern of excessive, unrealistic worry that cannot be attributed to any recent experience.

3. Panic disorder, which causes terrifying panic attacks that include symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat and dizziness.

4. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, which causes children to become trapped in a pattern of repeated thoughts and behaviors, such as counting or hand washing.

5. Post-traumatic stress disorder, which causes a pattern of flashbacks and other symptoms. This occurs in children who have experienced a psychologically distressing event, such as abuse, being a victim or witness of violence or exposure to other types of trauma, such as wars or natural disasters.

Severe Depression

Experts agree that severe depression can occur at any age. Two of every 100 children may have major depression and as many as eight of every 100 teens may be affected, as well. This disorder is marked by changes in:

1. Emotions: Children often feel sad, cry, or feel worthless.

2. Motivation: Children lose interest in play activities or schoolwork quality declines.

3. Physical well-being: Children may experience changes in appetite or sleeping patterns and/or may have vague physical complaints.

4. Thoughts: Children believe they are ugly, unable to do anything right or that the world or life is hopeless.

It also is important to be aware that some children and adolescents with depression may not value their lives, which can put them at risk for suicide.

Bipolar Disorder

Children and adolescents who demonstrate exaggerated mood swings that range from extreme highs (hyperactivity or mania) to extreme lows (depression) may have bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic depression). Periods of moderate mood often occur in between the extreme highs and lows.

During manic phases, children or teens may talk nonstop, need very little sleep and show unusually poor judgment. At the low end of the mood swing, they experience severe depression.

Bipolar mood swings can recur throughout life. Adults with bipolar disorder (about one in 100) often experienced their first symptoms during their teenage years.

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are unable to focus their attention and are often impulsive and easily distracted. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder occurs in up to five of every 100 children.

Most kids with this disorder have great difficulty remaining still, taking turns and keeping quiet. Symptoms must be evident in at least two settings, such as home and school, in order for it to be diagnosed.

Learning Disorders

Difficulties that make it harder for kids to receive or express information could be a sign of a learning disorder. Learning disorders can show up as problems with spoken and written language, coordination, attention or self-control.

Conduct Disorder

Young people with conduct disorder usually have little concern for others and repeatedly violate their basic rights and the rules of society. It causes children and adolescents to act out their feelings or impulses in destructive ways.

The offenses these children and adolescents commit often grow more serious over time. Such offenses may include lying, stealing, aggressiveness, truancy, the setting of fires and vandalism. .

Eating Disorders

Children or adolescents who are intensely afraid of gaining weight and do not believe that they are underweight may have eating disorders. These disorders can also be life threatening.

Young people with anorexia nervosa, for example, have difficulty maintaining a minimum healthy body weight. Anorexia affects one in every 100 to 200 adolescent girls and a smaller number of boys.

Youngsters with bulimia nervosa feel compelled to binge (eat huge amounts of food in one sitting). After a binge, in order to prevent weight gain, they rid their bodies of the food by vomiting, abusing laxatives, taking enemas or exercising obsessively. Rates of bulimia vary from one to three of every 100 young people.

Autism

Children with autism, also called autistic disorder, have problems interacting and communicating with others. This disorder appears before the third birthday, causing children to act inappropriately, often repeating behaviors over long periods of time; some children bang their heads and rock, or spin objects.

Symptoms range in intensity from mild to severe. Children with autism may have a very limited awareness of others and are at increased risk for other mental disorders. It affects 10 to 12 of every 10,000 children.

Schizophrenia

Young people with schizophrenia have psychotic periods that may involve hallucinations, withdrawal from others and loss of contact with reality. Other symptoms include delusional or disordered thoughts and an inability to experience pleasure. It occurs in about five of every 1,000 children.

Treatment and Research: Sources of Hope

Now, more than ever, there is hope for young people with mental, emotional and behavioral disorders; most of the symptoms and distress associated with them can be alleviated with timely and appropriate treatment.

Researchers are working to gain new insights that will lead to better treatments and cures for these dysfunctions; innovative studies also are exploring new ways of delivering services to prevent and treat them.

Research efforts are expected to lead to more effective use of existing treatments, so children and their families can live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

I want you to rate your own mental health.

Classifying your own mental condition is an almost impossible task, according to experts. But, it is a little easier if you go about it from the positive point of view – mental health rather than mental illness.

With the cooperation of The National Association For Mental Health, I have prepared a survey which could be of help to you in deciding whether or not you need help.

Your Feelings about Yourself: Yes / No

1. Do you get honest satisfaction from simple pleasures?

2. Do you have respect for yourself?

3. Can you take disappointment in stride?

4. Can you laugh at your own errors?

5. Do you feel capable of dealing with situations as they come your way?

6. Can you accept displays of your own emotions – fear, anger, jealousy, guilt, worry?

Your Feelings about Others: Yes / No

1. Do you have personal relationships that are satisfying and lasting?

2. Do you trust others and assume that others will trust you?

3. Do you respect people who differ from you?

4. Do you refuse to be pushed around and refuse satisfaction from it?

5. Can you feel you are a part of a group?

6. Are you able to love somebody?

Your Feelings about Life: Yes / No

1. Do you accept as much responsibility as comes your way?

2. Do you plan ahead without fear of the future?

3. Do you welcome new ideas and experiences?

4. Do you put your best effort into what you do and get satisfaction from it?

5. Do you make your own decisions?

6. Do you deal with your problems as they arise?

7. Do you shape your environment whenever possible and adjust to it whenever necessary?

8. Do you set realistic goals for yourself?

9. Do you feel you are making use of your natural capacities?

If you score a perfect mark – you can assume that you are the lucky possessor of a balanced personality, a mentally healthy one. Just a few NO’s may be regarded as normal. But if too many of your answers are NO – five or more – the chances are that some degree of help is needed. More help than a simple book can give you.

Persons who feel that self analysis is not enough, should contact their local branch of The National Association For Mental Health for information as to where help is available. Other places which may be contacted for information are: the state affiliate of the American Psychiatric Association, family service agencies, state or county health departments, your own general practitioner.

You may also find that there is available in your community one of the growing number of mental health clinics.

Mental health issues that are caused by stress can range from homicidal or other violent acts towards oneself or drive others to addictions. The range of mental health disorders that are stress related is so broad that it can be difficult to understand how two situations fall in the same category. The days of shock therapy are gone for the most part, but it still is used for certain mental illnesses. Gone, too, is the routine procedure of frontal lobotomies to calm patients into total submissiveness.

A large key to dealing with stress related mental health issues is to know how to relieve stress. We now understand that men who are returning from wars endure thoughts and images that affect them in ways that we have only begun to be aware of. Post traumatic stress disorder which is caused by stress can affect victims of abuse and violence of all types. Only recently have we begun to understand how traumatic events can affect the people who survive them.

Despite the many types of mental health disorders that currently exist because of stress, some of them tend to be much more common than others. Mental health disorders are not discriminatory and affect everyone. They do not choose specific people or races to affect. Mental health disorders are equal opportunity problems. These disorders have been proven to be hereditary in some cases but that is the closest generalization that you can expect.

A very common mental illness that is caused by stress is manic/chronic depressive disorder. This is characterized by extreme highs and lows in moods for no apparent reason. Sufferers are irrational and quick to change, in terms of mood. For example, if you suffer from this disorder you are happy—very happy or sad—very sad for no apparent reason. Stress is a major cause of this problem.

Eating disorders, which are also quite common, include anorexia (not eating), and bulimia (binging and purging) are also caused by stress that arises from self esteem. Anxiety disorders are characterized by having an irrational dread of living one’s life, to the point where it is incapacitating.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of anxiety disorder where a person obsesses (thinks about) and is compulsive (does) about a particular action such as washing their hands, to the point where he or she repeats this action an inordinate amount of times. Stress is a major aspect of our lives and can lead to serious mental problems if not taken under control. Learning to contain stress can lead to your overall health.

Mental health counselling can be an effective therapy as part of a wider treatment plan for an individual who is suffering from depression or an anxiety related disorder, or for people who have experienced a traumatic event in their lives and are finding it difficult to cope with, or for those who are struggling to deal with specific problems and issues. It is often a doctor who will recommend mental health counselling, however, many individuals will seek the services of a counsellor themselves, either by asking their doctor for advice or by approaching a counsellor directly.

What is counselling

Basically, counselling can be described as a type of talking therapy. It is usually delivered in a safe and private setting so that the individual concerned can relax and talk openly and freely about their particular problems or issues and the emotions or feelings that can accompany them.

It is described as a talking therapy because the counsellor will listen empathetically to an individual in order to understand the situation from the individuals point of view. In doing this a trained counsellor will be able to encourage an individual to see their situation more clearly, perhaps from a different perspective, and will be able to help them identify new ways of coping with their problems or circumstances. Counselling usually does not involve giving advice or telling someone what to do with their lives, it is more about exploring problems, identifying possible solutions and choices and obtaining clarity.

For counselling to be effective, it is essential that an element of trust develops between the counsellor and the person or persons receiving the counselling as only in this way can there be an open and free dialogue. It may take time for a person receiving counselling to lose any initial feelings of distrust, fear and embarrassment so quite often counselling will be offered over several sessions in order for a relationship to develop between the counsellor and the patient or client.

There are several types of mental health counselling services available, each drawing on its own particular theory of human psychology and development. There are also many different types of counsellors, some of who are trained to deal with a particular problem or circumstance. For example bereavement counsellors, counsellors who specialise in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and counsellors who understand the issues surrounding drug and alcohol addiction, as well as many others.

Counselling can take place on a one to one basis, or in group sessions, face to face or over the phone. It can last for just one session, a specific block of sessions or be open ended with no time limit at all. Regardless of the particular type of mental health problem involved, the first step to recovery is recognising that there is a problem in the first place.

When mental health counselling can help

Mental health counselling can be particularly beneficial for individuals who have a tendency to repress feelings like guilt, frustration, anger, resentment, sadness and so on and who find it difficult to cope alone and who for whatever reason, perhaps do not want to discuss how they feel with their friends and family. It can help an individual to gain new insights into their own particular circumstances and problems and to achieve clarity and direction in life. Most of all it can help an individual cope and improve their quality of life.

There are numerous circumstances where someone might seek the services of a mental health counsellor or be referred for counselling by their doctor and these include but are certainly not limited to:

Relationship problems, including separation and divorce

Problems at work or financial worries, dismissal, redundancy

Physical, sexual and/or mental abuse

Bereavement

Depression and anxiety

Post natal depression

Eating disorders

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

Alcohol and drug abuse

Phobias

Panic Attacks

Dealing with stress

Post traumatic stress

Finding a counsellor

In order to get the right kind of help it is important that you access the most appropriate type of counselling for you and as there are so many available options, it can be problematic if you decide to go it alone.

In the first instance, it would be advisable to speak to your doctor as he or she will be able to take into consideration your full medical history before recommending any particular type of therapy or counsellor. If you decide to seek the services of a trained counsellor independently, it is up to you to check out the cost and the credentials of any potential counsellor before you start.

Many voluntary organisations have counsellors and there are numerous private counsellors advertising in the press, phone books and on the Internet. However, you can find an accredited counsellor from the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy website at bacp or from the National Board for Certified Counsellors at nbcc if you live in the USA.

It can be difficult to diagnose a mental health or anxiety problem in a child, simply because their changing moods and behaviour can often be attributed to a normal part of the growing up process, however, there are certain signs and symptoms that might indicate a child is suffering more than what would be considered normal and they may need some sort of help to get back to their old self again.

It is perfectly natural for a child to feel anxious at times, for example, when facing exams or particularly difficult situations, but when the anxiety is persistent and severe enough to affect the childs day to day life and normal routines then the child could be suffering from an underlying mental health problem that requires some kind of intervention.

What to look out for

Recognising the symptoms of persistent anxiety and mental distress and doing something about it is vital if the child is to get the kind of help he or she needs. Some signs and symptoms to look out for that could indicate the onset of an anxiety or depression related disorder include the following:

Feelings of sadness, despair and hopelessness

Often fearful and scared for no particular reason

Unable to think clearly or make decisions, confusion

Showing signs of extreme anger and hostility towards others

Feeling guilty and worthy of blame and punishment

Thinking they are unloved and unlovable

Appearing anxious, fidgety, and irritable a lot of the time

Seeming to be tired all the time

Sleeping too much or not sleeping at all

Holding strange beliefs or displaying unusual or compulsive behaviours

Disinterested in activities they used to enjoy

Thinking or talking about death and suicide

It is of course perfectly normal for a child to experience one or more of these symptoms in a mild form from time to time, however, in mental illness the symptoms can become so severe and so overwhelming for the child to the extent that they may feel unable to cope with their lives. If excessive anxiety and/or other symptoms appear to be interfering with your childs ability to carry out their day to day routines and other normal activities then you should speak to your doctor.

For example, as well as some of the symptoms already listed, a child may start refusing to go to school, or get up in the morning or go to bed at night. They may say they dont want to attend weekly clubs and activities they used to frequent, or they may not wish to see their friends anymore. They can fall behind with schoolwork, become violent and display other unsociable and or strange behaviours; they may also hold unusual beliefs, feel paranoid or in severe cases may suffer from hallucinations and or delusions.

These are just a few of the ways that mental illness can manifest itself in the behaviour of a child who is suffering mental distress and anxiety, the important thing is to understand that the child is really in need of proper treatment, understanding and support as they cant help their actions.

Mental illness affects how we think, feel and understand ourselves and how we fit into the world around us, as such it can alter a childs behaviour and damage their relationships and their education. It wont just go away and without help, the child can suffer needlessly for months or years as well as increasing the risk of attempted suicide or even death.

So what causes mental illness in children?

There is no single identifiable reason why a child becomes overly anxious or develops a mental health problem but there are some factors that appear to increase the risk of suffering from some form of mental health problem.

Genetics , mental illness can be handed down in the genes so if there is a history of mental illness in the family then there is an increased risk of a child suffering from mental illness too

Stress , sometimes if there are other events going on in their lives, for example, divorce, physical illness, death of a loved one, money problems, bullying at school etc. then the stress can become too much to cope with and can trigger a mental illness

Diet, research indicates that if the diet is too rich in Omega 6 and there is not enough Omega 3 in the form of oily fish or fish oil then the imbalance of fatty acids in the brain can influence brain function and increase the risk of depression, ADHD, and other mood and behaviour disorders

Environment , abuse, neglect and feeling unloved and uncared for can lead to anxiety and mental distress

Conclusion

If your child is displaying signs of anxiety or mental illness, talk to your child and encourage them to explore their feelings and of course, speak to your doctor in order to obtain a correct diagnoses and possible treatment options as it is vital that these symptoms are addressed. With proper help and support, most children will go on to make a full recovery and will be able to enjoy their lives once again.