Understanding Your Child And Mental Health Problems

Introduction

When your child is suffering from a fever or any other physical problems it is very easy to identify them. But understanding your child and mental health is extremely difficult as they will present only very vague symptoms. While bringing up the child, one thing that the parents should be careful is to look for symptoms such as excessive fear, agony, sadness or anxiety. The major child and mental health problems include depression, anxiety, behavioral disorders, problems of hyper activity and communication and learning problems. The mental health problem of any child should be identified at a very early stage for effective treatment. The child and mental health problems can bring trouble to the family life and the child may also be a failure in school life if he or she is not treated appropriately.

History

The problem of mental illness is not new to any society; it has been co existing from the beginning of mankind. In earlier days there were practices in many societies related to killing, mutilation and selling of children with mental illness. There came a change in the attitude of people with the rise of Christianity and people started helping children with such problems. The first hospital for the mentally ill in US was opened in the year 1773; this was a great step in providing medical treatment of these hapless people. To further protect these people a division of mental hygiene was established by the department of the US public health services in the year 1930. But the Second World War had a devastating effect on services in the mental health sector. There were very few health professionals to attend to them during this period. But after this various rules to support and improve the condition of these people were introduced by various governments.

Features

A lot of initiatives have been taken by various governmental organizations and NGO’s to create awareness among parents on child and mental health issues. It would be very difficult for parents or anyone else to identify the problem as these symptoms will be natural during the growth years. If a child has a disruptive behavior disorder he or she tends not to obey the rules and to disrupt the environment, be at school or at home. Some may have anxiety problems and react to situations with extreme fear, may also have some physical signs such as excessive sweating and higher heart beat rate. Child and mental health issues also have to deal with problems such as schizophrenia, tic disorder, communication problems, eating disorders and mood disorders. The reasons for most of the child and mental health issues are unknown though a lot of research is going on. Some of the reasons include hereditary, biological problems, Psychological issues and stress from the environment.

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