
Childhood is a crucial period when the foundations of personality are being laid. Today’s children are facing stress related to educational performance as well environmental factors. Stress in children manifests as variety of behaviour and emotional problems like habit disorders, aggressive and inattention, mischievousness, or anxiety disorders like fear, shyness, or stammering.
Prevalence of psychological problems in children aged 5 - 15 years is 15-20%. If such symptoms persist for excessive period of time, they may interfere with normal development; so they need to be taken seriously.
Some of the types of problems we commonly seen in our practice include,
Habit disorders
- thumb sucking
- nail biting
- other purposeless movement disorders
Anxiety Disorders
- separation anxiety
- school refusal
- performance anxiety
- phobic disorders
- obsessive and/or compulsive disorders
Emotional issues
- temper tantrums
- breath-holding spasms
Depression in childhood and adolescent age
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.)
Disruptive disorders
Oppositional defiant disorders
Conduct Disorders
- Disobedience
- Stealing
- lying
Speech and Language disorders
- delayed speech
- wrong pronunciation
- stammering
Eating disorders
- Overeating
- refusal to eat
- food fads (making fuss about type of food)
Somatoform Disorders
- physical symptoms due to underlying psychological causes; e.g., hysteria.
Sleep disorders
- Insomnia
- Nightmares
- night terrors
- sleepwalking
Problems of scholastic performance
Learning Disabilities
- DYSLEXIA - reading, writing, spelling and mathematical difficulties.
Elimination disorders
- nocturnal enuresis
- bed wetting
- faecal soiling
Substance-use disorders including alcohol, opium, caffeine etc.
Developmental disorders like mental retardation require special individualized educational and vocational counselling.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
- Autism
- organic brain disorders
- disintegrative disorders