Mental Disorders in Children
Written by:Most professionals and the latest WHO reports agree that children also suffer from mental disorders. Seventy percent of adults' psychiatric illnesses have their origins in childhood, and during this period many of the symptoms that may later affect them in adult life can be perceived.
Severe childhood disorders
Of the emotional problems that children may suffer some will become TMS (Severe Mental Disorders)Psychoses may have premorbid phases in childhood and, along with the General Developmental Disorder (PDD) and the autistic spectrum, are syndromes with more dramatic consequences for the child's evolution and autonomy.Between 4-5% of children may present affective problems of different order and intensityBehavioral disorders may be associated, in the most severe cases, with problems of delinquency, substance use and difficulties in maintaining an orderly emotional and work life, and in establishing appropriate social bonds.The consumption of toxicants may be related to a basic psychic disorder, or in vulnerable people, precipitate it, the consumption of toxic potentials risk behaviors.TCAs, such as anorexia and bulimia, are among the most socially disturbing disorders, with multiple symptomatic gradations ranging from mild developmental problems to severe dysmorphic disorders.
Psychiatry of everyday life
While emphasizing that childhood is not free of TMS, we also emphasize that there is a psychiatrisation of problems that are intrinsic to the human being. It is thus possible to diagnose as an illness what would be a daily, evolutionary, existential or relational problem.Being shy, moved or disordered does not imply, simply for that, to have a disease, although it can mean that you have a problem.It is possible to overdiagnose banal problems as supposed diseases and, instead, to trivialize serious disorders.
Differential diagnosis and treatment
It is important to differentiate what is a mental disorder from what is an emotional problem. Before the children and adolescents that present any sign of alarm (affective, cognitive or behavioral) the first task is to make a diagnosis that distinguishes if we are before a disorder or a "problem".Children and adolescents who suffer or may suffer from a severe mental disorder need to initiate as soon as possible a treatment that, depending on the case, may involve several disciplines and procedures ( psychiatry , psychology, family therapy, individual therapy, pharmacology, etc.). )Likewise, children and adolescents with emotional problems expressed in the form of affective or behavioral symptoms are concerned with being able to carry out preventive and therapeutic interventions that are not invasive. In these cases, psycho-educational advice to parents and / or a psychotherapeutic intervention aimed at improving their capacity to cope with the "demands" of life would be indicated.
