Are children overdiagnosed with mental disorders?

[rehuxley]

There is an interesting article located here > http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=13800 on the alarming rise of mental health diagnoses given to children. As a licensed child therapist I wholeheartedly agree with the articles premise that it is the

Comments

Oh the circles my mind is running!

[anonymous]

Hey Ron! Finally had the time to read this post...and I agree with all you have said. You paraphrase the article's author as suggesting tests to pinpoint real mental health disorders versus behaviors that are perhaps maladaptive reactions to, or just generally don't fit with, society's expectations for children today. I think there is a deeper discussion to be had about what is a "real" mental health disorder. The example that comes to mind is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which is an official disorder (right? been awhile since I checked out the DSM!) but could also be seen as a physiological type that is maladaptive to modern society in terms of responding poorly to large amounts of stimuli. I also personally think that a person's biochemistry can be changed by thought patterns, bringing us to an unfortunate chicken-and-egg situation. OR it could be fortunate! Perhaps that would mean that parallel treatment methods for each path would result in better outcomes to be had no matter what the source of the disorder! We can

Re: Oh the circles my mind is running!

[rehuxley]

Hi Jen! Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a real DSM descriptor for a mental health disorder. The DSM is a useful tool for clinicians but it definitely has it's limitations. Hopefully, anyone using these mental health disorder codes are looking closely at the criteria to make sure they really do fit and not, as the article suggested, giving the labels to appease a parent and get the child services... We now that life circumstances and change our brain chemistry as well as brain chemistry affecting our behaviors. It is all about which part of the proverbial elephant we are looking at! I like your suggestion of parallel treatment methods and evaluations for looking at a possible mental health disorder. Checks and balances are always good. I don't think we should eliminate "gut instincts" either when assessing and treating...but that is another topic for discussion. Ha.

childhood disorders

[anonymous]

I think that we will find when we are looking for causes that these conditions will be multiply determined. Changes in cultural expectations, chemicals in foods, electronics training the brain to crave input, news on television and elsewhere making risks seem right around every corner-- though these factors are universal, the impact of these factors are moderated by children's biochemical makeup, genetics and parenting etc. I do believe that change will happen faster with various types of interventions simultaneously-- cultural, parents, and children themselves being encouraged to take charge of "the part they can control."

This is the approach I take in my books in the Freeing Your Child series. I have written books for parents and professionals about anxiety, OCD, and negative thinking/depression prevention. My focus is on what I call "job-sharing," i.e., that there are always things that kids can do to help themselves, and there's lots that parents can do to encourage their kids' competence and resilience.

Tamar Chanskywww.