Mental Illness in Children

Roselyn Burton

After reading the NY Times article Living with Love Chaos and Haley, October 22, 2006, It made me stop and think about the effects of mental health disorders in children and their families.Mental health disorders in children is a very emotional subject. Over at least 6 million are diagnosed every year. One wonders if a lot of children who have been labeled as “slow” and “developmentally challenged” don’t just have a mental disorder. These often go undiagnosed for a long time, because it is very hard for some families to face the fact that their “little girl” or “boy” could have a mental disability. Often people say these children will grow out of it and that they are just going through a phase. But this phase just never seems to end.Mostly the reality of it is that there is still a big stigma associated with mental disorders. People are embarrassed especially parents to tell friends and family that their child have a mental disorder. Because of the lack of education of the society as a whole, some people think that their child will contact this also, if they associate with these children, .as if this is something that is contagious. While others feel that it is the fault of the parents for not training their children the right way. These children tend to have outbursts at any time and shut down when they cannot handle their situation anymore. Some people tend not to understand But what is especially sad is that some “teachers” don’t understand and don’t take the time to fully understand. Not recognizing that this is a true medical condition. Also controversial is the use of drug treatment in these children. Some argue against it as tolerance develops to the drugs very easily. Drug therapy seems to work for“a little while”, while the side effects from the drugs wreak havoc on these little bodies.But one of the most gruesome problems is the effect on the families that have to live with these children. The other children in the family often begin to feel neglected and sometimes to the extent, that they begin to “thread lightly”, so as not to be a bother to their parents. Then they begin to feel that if they were not around their parents would have more time to spend with their sick sibling and sometimes try to hurt themselves. The parents then blame themselves and begin to wonder what they did wrong, to cause this to happen to their children. Even though it is not their fault. This becomes a vicious cycle.I believe more effort and funding need to be put into research for mental disorders in children and more education and awareness need to be promoted, to help erase the stigmas so that these families don’t remain isolated and these children and families can get the help they need.