Mental Illness: Children

Unfortunately, many children in the US are affected by mental illness everyday. In fact, the surgeon general states that over 5 million children and adolescents are diagnosed with a serious mental illness, the type of illness that affects their everyday life. Some of the most commonly diagnosed illnesses in children and adolescents are listed below:

-Anxiety Disorders: responding to certain situations with fear and dread, shows physical signs of anxiety (nervousness, rapid heartbeat, sweating)
-Disruptive Behavior Disorders: Children tend to defy rules, disrupt structured enviroments
-Persuasive Development Disorders: Children tend to be confused in their thinking, have problems understanding the world around them
-Eating Disorders: involved intense emotions and attitudes, as well as unusual behaviors associated with weight and/or food
-Elimination Disorders: related to the elimination of body wastes
-Learning and Communication Disorders: children have problems storing and processing information, including thoughts and ideas
-Mood Disorders: persistent feelings of sadness or rapid mood changes
-Tic Disorders: ause a person to perform repeated, sudden, involuntary and often meaningless movements and sounds, called tics.
-Schizophrenia: distorted perceptions and thoughts

Some of these illnesses, such as anxiety disorders, eating disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia, can occur in adults as well as children. Others, such as behavior and development disorders, elimination disorders, and learning and communication disorders, begin in childhood only, although they can continue into adulthood. In rare cases, tic disorders can develop in adults. It is not unusual for a child to have more than one disorder (webmd.com).

How do I know if my child has a disorder?
Symptoms vary for each child depending on their personality and the illness the acquire. Some common symptoms are listed below:

-Abuse of drugs and/or alcohol
-Inability to cope with daily problems and activities
-Changes in sleeping and/or eating habits
-Excessive complaints of physical ailments
-Defying authority, skipping school, stealing, or damaging property
-Intense fear of gaining weight
-Long-lasting negative moods, often accompanied by poor appetite and thoughts of death
-Frequent outbursts of anger
-Changes in school performance, such as poor grades despite good efforts
-Loss of interest in friends and activities they usually enjoy
-Significant increase in time spent alone
-Excessive worrying or anxiety
-Hyperactivity
-Persistent nightmares or night terrors
-Persistent disobedience or aggressive behavior
-Frequent temper tantrums
-Hearing voices or seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)

Source: http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/mental-health-illness-in-children