Most common mental health disorders in children

Parents often miss seeing the suffering of their kids, 1 in 5 children suffer some form of mental health issues which is not related to intelligence thus easily neglected, says Dr Jaya Sukul, Clinical Psychologist & Founder of Headspace Healing, Noida. Anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are the most common symptoms of mental health disorders in children. Anxiety-It includes difficulty in sleeping, constant tension or worry and avoiding social situations.Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD-ADHD is more than just being hyper. It includes difficulties in attention and concentration. Impulsive behaviour is present as well.Main cause for anxiety-lack of emotional support in the family, undervaluing a child’s emotional needs, having only transactional and academic conversations with kid, dysfunction or trauma in the family, bullying at school. Main causes for ADHD- it’s a developmental disorder, it has nothing to do with intelligence it’s only about attention and concentration, these days excessive screen time also impacts symptoms of adhd but usually we are born with it and it only gets worse if not addressed or misunderstoodAnxiety can be improved by improving family relationships, creating safety and validation for what the kid feels and has to say, inculcating confidence and not comparing the child to others. For adhd there’s less prevention more solutions and identification based awareness that is needed, if a child is extremely restless, easily distracted rather than thinking they’re just naughty it’s always a good idea to get a psycho educational assessment for identification so that proper help can be provided.We all have to model better behaviours for our kids - we think they’re learning by listening to us but they learn by watching us. Improve yourself to improve your family and your kids; create safety for the child to speak their mind; be firm but not harsh; help and support when you see a shortcoming rather than scolding the kid.