A few decades ago mental health was a subject that was not even contemplated. Nowadays, people have paid more attention to the mental health of children. We have many resources to help children develop adequate psychological strength and optimal emotional and spiritual well-being.
Situations that can alter the mental health of children
The psychologists are witnesses of how in this last decade, the fathers and mothers come more frequently to a psychologist. Their objective is taking care of the mental health of the children that sometimes, is threatened by different causes.
It is easier to detect the physical needs of a child (hungry, thirsty, cold, and more) than emotional needs. Also, many times children do not understand what happens to them. Therefore, they cannot express it clearly. This means that in many cases, it is not easy to identify that the child does not enjoy adequate mental health.
Here are the leading causes that can alter the mental health of the child:
- Being a victim of school bullying.
- There is no adaptation stage in the educational center.
- Witness violence in the family.
- Having been the victim of sexual abuse or have suffered physical or psychological aggression on the part of their parents or caregivers.
- Do not feel loved by their leading attachment figures and not receive affection from them.
- Suffer the traumatic and stormy separation of their parents in which both have reached the hands, have been insulted, humiliated, despised, and more.
- Having suffered the death of a loved one or having witnessed how one of the parents has become ill (cancer, transplants, and more).
- Being hospitalized for long periods due to illness.
- Having a psychological problem, a psychiatric disorder or mental illness.
- Having experienced a situation of natural catastrophe (fires, earthquakes, and more).
- Being subjected to constant stress in the family due to unfavorable economic conditions (unemployment situation of parents, lack of resources to satisfy basic needs such as water, food or housing).
All these situations can threaten the mental health of the child. Some children have enough personal resources to manage the emotions that are aroused in this type of situation without interfering with their day-to-day activities. Therefore, they can continue to live without any problem. However, other children, in these situations see their mental health falter. This is when the mental illness symptoms appear.
Symptoms that may indicate a child’s mental health problem
The signs give us clues that something is not working well; they alert us that something is happening. We can begin to suspect that the child does not enjoy optimal mental health when:
- Does not show interest in interacting with people in their environment.
- Does not establish positive relationships with their peer group or with adults.
- When there is withdrawal or social isolation.
- Alterations in sleep and food.
- No curiosity to learn or explore the environment in which it operates.
- Do not show, regulate or express your emotions adequately.
- Manifest a behavior that draws attention (is shown withdrawn, isolated or on the contrary is aggressive and defiant).
- Irritability, frequent displays of anger.
- He injures himself (he bites, he hits himself, he scratches himself, and more).
- Shows feelings of sadness or melancholy most of the time.
- He feels constantly worried, anxious.
- Repeats behaviors more common in younger children as urinary incontinence in bed, for a long time.
- He continually complains of headaches, stomach pain or any other type of body pain.
It is crucial to observe if the child shows these symptoms in all the contexts in which it develops (home, school, during leisure time with colleagues) as this will determine whether or not we are facing a health problem mental.
Treatment of mental problems in children
It is essential that if some of the deficit mental health occurs, the child should attend a mental health professional. Do not intervene or do nothing about it. This can aggravate the symptoms and not alleviate the child’s discomfort and even aggravate it.
Mental health problems will limit their right to live satisfactorily. Therefore, it is most advisable for parents to contact health professionals (specialist doctor in pediatrics, expert psychiatrist or psychologist) so that they can act to alleviate the suffering of the child.