2 - Issues in Children's Mental Health
1. The Video Clip - Watch, Listen or Read
Children's mental health problems sometimes require different diagnostic criteria and different treatment options. This topic page touches on some reasons why this is so.
Select the desired media link below to watch the video, listen to the audio, or read the transcript.
Watch the Video
Listen to the Audio
Read The Transcript
2. Notes
In this video, Dr. DiPasquale outlines a framework for the videos that follow, and raises the point that statistics that portray the occurrence rates of different kinds of mental health disorders can sometimes be misleading. He also suggests that predicting treatment outcomes for children with mental health problems can be very tricky.
3. Discussion Question: Challenges of Helping Children
Why do you think Dr. DiPasquale has suggested that helping children with their mental health problems can be more challenging than the statistics regarding treatment may suggest? What factors may complicate helping children versus adults?
Please post your observations, comments, and questions below.
I think that helping children is more challenging than helping adults because, as the Doctor suggests, some may need more help than statistics suggest and some may need less. That is where the challenge presents; finding the necessary level and duration of treatment. Also being youths, they may not yet want or feel they need treatment to begin with. They may be uncooperative with doctors, teachers, etc.; making it difficult to properly diagnose and plan interventions. Adults, on the other hand, may be better able to recognize the need for help and want the help.
There can be several factors that can comme into effect when dealing with children. they have so much to deal with as they grow up that can interfere with the treatment they are recieving. An individual child is more than a statistic.
One factor that affects children more than adults is the environment; children do not have as much control over their environment as adults do. They are 'stuck' to deal with the lifestyle that their parent/guardian has deemed appropriate when perhaps it is not the most supportive, particularily for a child who is already 'dealing' with a mental health issue.