Mental health articles

children's mental health treatment plans Recent longitudinal studies suggest that a mental disorder in childhood or adolescence increases the risk
of recurrence of this mental disorder as well as the
incidence of another mental disorder in later life. For example, depressed adolescents with special risk factors (i. e., female gender, multiple depressive disorder episodes, elevated borderline personality disorder
symptoms) are at elevated risk for recurrence of depressive
disorders during young adulthood. Lieb et al. (2000) showed that somatoform
disorders in adolescents and young adults were often
associated with the development of other mental disorders
in the following four years. Another result of the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology Study (EDSP) was that panic attacks were associated
with high levels of comorbidity and multimorbidity across the diagnostic spectrum among adolescents and young adults in the community.
The EDSP study is a prospective, longitudinal study designed to collect data on the prevalence, risk factors, comorbidity, and course of mental and substance use disorders in a representative community sample
in Munich, Germany, which consisted of 3021 subjects aged 14–24 years at baseline. The study consists of a baseline (time 0) survey, two follow-up surveys (first follow-up survey was 14–25 months after baseline;
second follow-up survey was 34–50 months after baseline), and a family history component .
children's mental health treatment plans Treatment of mental disorders in children is not different from adult treatment, i. e., medication, cognitive-
behavioral psychotherapy, family psychotherapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and functional training (e. g., dyslexia) are relevant treatments. An additional and necessary special aspect of therapy for children is the work with parents, teachers and/or other important
persons.

children's mental health treatment plans Not all psychological disturbances or mental disorders existing in childhood and adolescence persist into adulthood. A substantial fraction of children and adolescents
recover and do not suffer from recurrence or comorbidity of mental disorders. However, those children suffering from psychological disorders, and especially those with risk factors, need access to treatment as soon as possible. To optimize the recognition rate of mental health problems, the use of simple diagnostic screening instruments in general practice could be
helpful, as well as special training of mental health professionals. Resources available to the affected children and their families (e. g., individual, family-related, and social) have to be supported. There is a strong need for more longitudinal epidemiological studies in Europe and worldwide in order to determine the prevalence rates of mental disorders, risk and protective factors, and therapy and service utilization. However, it is noteworthy that valid measures of need are absent since prevalence rates of mental disorders in epidemiological surveys are only an imperfect proxy for the need
for treatment. Further, taking developmental aspects into consideration, there might be windows of opportunity during children’s development when preventive or treatment interventions may be especially effective. Those windows of opportunity have to be identified.

Tags: children, Health, mental, Mental health, treatment