Child and family psychiatry is a field focused on family interventions and treatment. This is a specialized field that addresses emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues in youth. Today, there is a rising need for mental health support among children and adolescents, given the trends of increased anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems among youth.
With early interventions and regular screening, these issues can be treated quickly, giving children the tools and resources they need to live a happier, healthier life.
Understanding Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Child and adolescent psychiatry is a field with a family-centered focus. Child and family psychiatry focuses on diagnosing, treating, and even preventing certain mental health conditions in children and teenagers.
Common Challenges Addressed
The most common challenges that are addressed include:
- Behavioral Disorders: Behavioral disorders, including self-harm, conduct disorders, and ADHD, are some of the most commonly addressed challenges in child psychiatry.
- Emotional Disorders: Emotional disorders, including OCD, bipolar disorder, depression, or anxiety, can be treated by an adult psychiatrist, conditions that might be brought on by genetics, environment, or even a recent event like loss in the family.
- Development Disorders: Developmental disorders, including eating disorders and autism spectrum disorders, can be better managed with child psychiatry.
- Medical Issues: There are certain medical conditions that have psychological components to them, in which case child and adolescent psychiatry could be used to focus on the psychological aspects.
- Substance Abuse: In some cases, adolescents might need a psychiatrist to help with substance abuse.
Child psychiatry can provide help for mental health disorders that begin to manifest at young ages, those that are triggered by specific incidents, and even used as preventative measures.
Preventative Screening
A mother who has dealt with domestic violence and chronic poverty in the household might enroll her three children in therapy.
Why?
To ensure that they get support during critical developmental stages, preventing worse problems down the line.
This type of preventative screening can help determine whether children are showing signs of mental health conditions, as diagnosed by a professional, and whether they need ongoing assistance.
Intervention
Another mother whose children are displaying behavioral problems in school, church, and the house might get a diagnosis and treatment for a behavioral disorder to help their child learn to manage their condition.
This type of intervention is directly related to signs that have been noticed across several areas of a child’s life, as reported by the parent, the teacher, and the Sunday School teacher.
Practical Early Intervention Strategies
If you notice issues in your child, particularly emotional distress or abnormalities, they might need child psychiatry.
Early Identification and Screening
Early identification and screening are the most important thing when it comes to proper treatment. For example, behavioral disorders and emotional disorders can compound with time, leading to the development of secondary conditions or getting to the point that they significantly disrupt academic achievement.
For example:
A child with a developmental disorder could struggle in school for several years, missing out on key information and opportunities before a correct diagnosis.
By comparison, early identification and screening could help that child get the resources and therapeutic services they need much sooner, thereby empowering them to do well during those same key years of information and opportunity.
In another case:
A 9-year-old boy has struggled watching his father deal with an undiagnosed and debilitating medical condition that renders him unable to speak frequently with partial paralysis.
The family regularly goes to and from the hospital when his father’s condition gets worse. In the meantime, both of his grandparents passed away within the span of the same year. Now, the 9-year-old boy is struggling with severe depression, which is interfering with his relationships, home life, and academic achievement.
With the right identification and treatment, that boy could undergo regular therapy and get any necessary medications to help reduce these feelings and allow him the chance to live a happier life during a critical developmental stage.
Therapeutic Approaches
Child and adolescent psychiatry uses several therapeutic approaches, including regular talk therapy and medication.
Talk therapy can take the form of:
- Individual
- Group
- Play therapy
- Family therapy
Medication can involve prescriptions for acute symptoms like panic attacks or chronic symptoms for which medication might be taken daily.
Role of Family and Environment
Even if your child sees a specialist for child psychiatry needs, it will be up to the family to take a minute to reflect on the current environment and family relationships or dynamics that might contribute to or exacerbate the issues at hand.
If a child is showing extreme signs of anxiety and depression, but there is domestic violence in the house, child psychiatry can certainly provide coping mechanisms and a safe place for support, but that home environment will need to change in order for the child to have the highest chance of success.
Family members all play an important role in identifying signs of emotional distress in children, in some cases participating with the child in therapy, and in creating a supportive and safe home environment.
Creating a Supportive Home and Community Network
When your child sees child and adult psychiatry professionals, as the parent, you’ll play an important role in creating a supportive home and community network.
Parent Education and Advocacy
Start with parent education and advocacy groups. You will be your child’s best advocate. The more you learn about any conditions they are diagnosed with, the more you can fight for appropriate resources when it comes to school and the way other people understand or treat them.
Collaboration with Schools and Community Resources
School and community resources are available to help children succeed when they struggle with developmental issues or in mental health concerns. Understanding more about your child’s conditions and how to best support them will give you the tools and education you need to collaborate with schools to get things like additional therapists at school, additional time to complete tests or other forms of support.
Long-Term Resilience Building
When it comes to long-term resilience building, it’ll be up to you to pay attention to the nonverbal and verbal cues your child provides, encourage them to build strong relationships, model positive behavior, and be good communicators.
For example:
- You can help your child build long-term resilience by acknowledging their feelings and sharing the ways in which you cope with similar feelings like stress or anxiety.
- As a parent, you can regularly check in to see how your child is doing and carve out time in your regular routines to do things you know your child enjoys together, like reading books or playing outside.
It will be up to you as a parent to help your child learn healthy coping mechanisms, build healthy habits into their regular routine, and work toward ongoing emotional resilience. Don’t be afraid to ask your child’s psychiatrist for help or guidance on available resources to meet all of these needs.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Get Tailored Intervention
Child and family psychiatry is a chance to get tailored interventions at critical developmental junctures for your child. If you have noticed concerning behaviors or emotional distress in your children, get an assessment today.
