Mental disorders in children. List of common mental illnesses with description. The main manifestations of early autism are

Health

To help children who have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder, researchers have released a list of 11 warning, easily recognizable signs that can be used by parents and others.

This list is intended to help fill the gap between the number of children affected by mental illness, and those who are actually being treated.

Studies have shown that three out of four children with mental health problems, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders and bipolar disorder, go unnoticed and not receive proper treatment.

Parents who notice any of the warning signs should see a pediatrician or mental health professional for a psychiatric evaluation. The researchers hope that the proposed list of symptoms help parents distinguish between normal behavior and signs of mental illness.

"Many people cannot be sure if their child has a problem.," says Dr. Peter S. Jensen(Dr. Peter S. Jensen), professor of psychiatry. " If a person has a “yes” or “no” answer, then it is easier for him to make a decision.."

Identifying a mental disorder in adolescence will also allow children to receive treatment earlier, making it more effective. For some children, it can take up to 10 years from when symptoms appear to when they start receiving treatment.

To compile the list, the committee reviewed studies on mental disorders that included more than 6,000 children.

Here are 11 warning signs of mental disorders:

1. Feelings of deep sadness or withdrawal that last more than 2-3 weeks.

2. Serious attempts to harm or kill yourself, or plans to do so.

3. Sudden, all-consuming fear for no reason, sometimes accompanied by a strong heartbeat and rapid breathing.

4. Participation in a lot of fights, including the use of weapons, or the desire to harm someone.

5. Violent, out of control behavior that could harm yourself or others.

6. Refusing food, throwing away food, or using laxatives to lose weight.

7. Strong anxieties and fears that interfere with normal activities.

8. Severe difficulty concentrating or being unable to sit still, which puts you in physical danger or causes you to fail.

9. Repeated use of drugs and alcohol.

10. Severe mood swings that lead to relationship problems.

11. Abrupt changes in behavior or personality

These signs are not a diagnosis, and for an accurate diagnosis, parents should consult a specialist. In addition, the researchers explained that these signs do not necessarily appear in children with mental disorders.

The child's psyche is very sensitive and easily vulnerable, so a lot of provoking factors can cause mental disorders at such a young age. The clinical severity of symptoms, their duration and reversibility depend on the age of the child and the duration of the traumatic events.

Often, adults attribute the pathology of development and behavior to the age of the child, believing that over the years his condition can normalize. oddities in mental state usually attributed to childhood whims, age-related infantilism and a lack of understanding of things happening around. Although in fact, all these manifestations may indicate problems with the psyche.

It is customary to distinguish four groups of mental disorders in children:

autism spectrum disorders;
mental retardation;
attention deficit disorder.

What can cause a mental disorder?

Mental disorders childhood can be caused by many reasons. On the mental health the child is influenced by psychological, social and biological factors.

This includes:

genetic predisposition to the occurrence of mental illness;
organic brain damage;
conflicts in the family and at school;
dramatic life events;
stress.

Children can often react neurotically to their parents' divorce. In addition, the likelihood of developing mental problems is higher in children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The presence of a sick relative can lead to mental disorders. In this case, the cause of the disease can affect the tactics and duration of further treatment.

How do mental disorders manifest in children?

Symptoms of mental illness are:

fears, phobias, increased anxiety;
nervous tics;
obsessive movements;
aggressive behavior;
mood lability, emotional imbalance;
loss of interest in familiar games;
slowness of body movements;
thinking disorders;
isolation, depressive mood for two weeks or longer;
auto: self-harming and suicidal attempts;
, which are accompanied by tachycardia and rapid breathing;
symptoms of anorexia: refusal to eat, inducing vomiting, taking laxatives;
problems concentrating, hyperactive behavior;
addiction to alcohol and drugs;
changes in behavior, sudden changes in the character of the child.

Children are more prone to nervous disorders during age-related crises, namely at the age of 3-4 years, 5-7 years and 12-18 years.

At the age of one year, psychogenic reactions are the result of the dissatisfaction of the main vital needs: sleep and food. At 2-3 years old, children may begin to suffer due to excessive attachment to the mother, which leads to infantilization and inhibition of development. At 4-5 years of age, mental illness can manifest itself in nihilistic behavior and protest reactions.

It is also worth being wary if the child shows degradation in development. For example, the baby's vocabulary is depleted, he loses already acquired skills, becomes less sociable and ceases to take care of himself.

At the age of 6-7 years, school is a stressful factor. Often, mental disorders in these children are manifested psychosomatically by a deterioration in appetite and sleep, fatigue, headaches and dizziness.

In adolescence (12-18 years), mental disorders have their own characteristics of symptoms:

The child becomes prone to melancholy, anxiety, or vice versa to aggressiveness, conflict. A common feature is emotional instability.
A teenager shows vulnerability to other people's opinions, assessments from the outside, excessive self-criticism or overestimated self-esteem, disregard for the advice of adults.
Schizoid and cyclical.
Children demonstrate youthful maximalism, theorizing, philosophizing, many internal contradictions.

It must be remembered that the above symptoms do not always indicate the presence of a mental illness. Only a specialist can understand the situation and determine the diagnosis.

Methods of treatment

It is usually very difficult for parents to decide on a visit to a psychotherapist. Recognition of mental disorders in a child is often associated with various restrictions in the future, ranging from the need to attend a special school to a limited choice of specialty. Because of this, changes in behavior, developmental features and oddities of character, which can be symptoms of mental dysfunctions, are often ignored.

If parents want to somehow solve the problem, then treatment often begins at home using the means alternative medicine. Only after prolonged failures and deterioration in the health of the offspring does the first visit to a qualified medical specialist occur.

Postpone a visit to a psychiatrist. They are afraid of registering the child. As a result, the disease is neglected, and signs of mental disorders persist into adulthood. How to recognize such violations? And how to distinguish them from children's whims and shortcomings of education? We will answer these questions in the article.

The reasons

The occurrence of mental health disorders in children and adolescents can be triggered by the following reasons:

hereditary predisposition. If parents or close relatives have mental illness, then the disease can be transmitted to children. This does not mean that the child will necessarily suffer from mental pathologies, but such a risk exists.
Head trauma. Brain damage due to injury or impact may have long-term effects. Often, mental disorders in children appear years after the traumatization.
Infections. Children who have had meningitis often suffer from mental disorders. The state of the nervous system of the child may also be affected by infections suffered by the mother during pregnancy.
Bad habits of parents. If the mother drank or smoked during pregnancy, this can have an extremely negative effect on the development of the central nervous system of the fetus. Mental disorders can manifest themselves only at senior preschool or school age. The lifestyle of the future father is also of great importance. If a man suffers from alcoholism, then the risk of conceiving a sick child is high.
Unhealthy family environment. If the mother and father often quarrel in front of the child, then the baby has a lot of stress. Against the backdrop of constant emotional stress children develop mental disorders. There is anxiety, nervousness, tearfulness or excessive isolation. This is a vivid example of how parents provoke mental disorders in children.
Wrong upbringing. The reason for the development of pathology can also be excessive severity, frequent criticism of a child or teenager, as well as overprotection or lack of proper attention from parents.

The above reasons do not always lead to the development of pathology. Typically, mental disorders develop under the influence of several factors. For example, if a child has an unfavorable heredity, and at the same time suffers from frequent stress or has received a head injury, then the risk of psychopathology increases significantly.

Mental development of children

The development of the child's psyche can be divided into several periods:

infancy (up to 1 year);
early childhood (from 1 year to 3 years);
preschool age (3-7 years);
primary school age (7-11 years);
puberty (11-15 years);
youth (15-17 years old).

Mental disorders in children most often occur during the transition from one stage of development to another. During these periods, the child's nervous system becomes especially vulnerable.

Features of mental disorders at different ages

The peak of mental disorders falls on the age periods of 3-4 years, 5-7 years and 13-17 years. Many psychopathologies that are noted in adults begin to form even when the patient was a teenager or a child.

Mental disorders in young children (under 1 year) are extremely rare. The baby needs to have his natural needs (for food, sleep) satisfied. At this age, the regimen and proper care of the baby is very important. If the physiological needs of the baby are not met in time, then this causes severe stress. In the future, this can provoke the development of pathologies of the psyche.

Mental disorders in children at 2 years old can be caused by excessive parental care. Many mothers continue to treat a grown child like a baby. This inhibits the development of the baby and forms excessive passivity and fearfulness. In the future, these qualities can lead to neurotic disorders. This is another example of how parents provoke mental disorders in children.

After 3 years, children become very active and mobile. They can show capriciousness, stubbornness, be naughty. It is necessary to respond correctly to such manifestations and not to suppress the mobility of the child. Toddlers of this age really need emotional contact with adults. Mental disorders in children 3 years old are most often provoked by a lack of attention from parents. can lead to speech delay as well as autism.

At the age of 4, children may experience the first neurotic manifestations. Children of this age react painfully to any negative events. Neurosis can be expressed in disobedience, such children often do everything contrary to the requirements of their parents.

Mental disorders in 5-year-old children are often expressed in excessive isolation. With unfavorable heredity, it is at this age that the first signs of childhood schizophrenia can be detected. The child becomes untidy, loses interest in games, his vocabulary deteriorates. These are quite dangerous symptoms of mental disorders in preschool children. Without treatment, such pathologies steadily progress.

In school-age children, psychogenic disorders are most often associated with learning. This may be due to learning difficulties. If parents make excessively high demands, and the child has difficulty studying, then this leads to severe stress. Such children often suffer from neuroses. Because of the fear of getting a low grade, the child may be afraid to attend school, refuse food, and sleep poorly.

In adolescence and youth, mental disorders are not uncommon. During puberty, there is emotional instability associated with hormonal changes organism. Children often change their mood, they are extremely sensitive to the words of others, but at the same time they can be arrogant and overconfident. Against the backdrop of unstable emotional state Adolescents may develop mental health problems. During this period, parents should be especially attentive to the state of mind of the child.

When to see a doctor

How to distinguish manifestations of mental disorders in children and adolescents from character traits? After all, parents often mistake the initial signs of pathology for bad behavior. The following symptoms should be of concern:

Cruel behavior. If a preschool child tortures animals, then most often he does not understand that he is hurting a living being. In this case, you can limit yourself to educational methods. However, if such behavior is regularly observed in a student, then this is not normal. Often such children show cruelty not only towards others, but also towards themselves. A sign of a mental disorder in school-age children is the desire to harm themselves.
Constant refusal to eat. This symptom is usually observed in girls aged 12-17 years. A teenager is dissatisfied with his figure and unreasonably believes that he suffers overweight. This may be the result of low self-esteem or the careless words of others. The girl deliberately starves or sits on excessively strict diets. This can result in severe exhaustion.
Panic. Children develop strange phobias. The feeling of fear is inherent in every person, but in this case it is not substantiated. If a child is afraid of heights, standing on a balcony, then this does not indicate pathology. With such a phobia, you can cope with psychological methods. But if this fear manifests itself when the child is in an apartment on a high floor, then this is already an abnormal phenomenon. Such panic attacks make life difficult for children.
Depression. Any child can have a bad mood associated with external circumstances. But if depression occurs for no reason and lasts more than 2 weeks, then parents should be wary. It is urgent to show the child to a psychiatrist. protracted depression often causes suicide in adolescents.
Mood swings. Normally, the mood of the child can change depending on the circumstances. However, some children have bouts of unbridled amusement, which are quickly replaced by periods of intense sadness and tearfulness. Mood swings are not associated with any external causes, they arise spontaneously and suddenly. This is a sign of pathology.
Abrupt change behavior. This symptom most often manifests itself during puberty. A previously calm and friendly teenager may show unreasonable aggression. Or a talkative and sociable child withdraws into himself and is constantly silent. Parents often attribute such changes to the difficulties of adolescence, but this can also be a sign of pathology.
Hyperactivity. Many children are very active. However, there are times when a child is excessively restless, his attention constantly switches from one object to another. He can not for a long time to engage in the same type of activity and quickly gets tired even from outdoor games. Such children always have great difficulties in learning due to restlessness.

If a child has the above features of behavior, then it is urgent to contact a child psychiatrist. Such manifestations cannot be corrected by educational methods. These are the signs developing pathology, which without treatment will progress and lead to negative personality changes.

Types of mental disorders

What types of mental health disorders are most common in children and adolescents? A child may suffer from the same pathologies as adults, for example, schizophrenia, neuroses, disorders eating behavior(anorexia or bulimia). However, there are disorders that are specific to childhood and adolescence. These include:

mental retardation;
impaired mental function;
autism;
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder);
mixed disorders of school skills.

mental retardation (oligophrenia)

With severe and moderate signs of a mental disorder in children are noticeable already in the first years of life. Light degree oligophrenia can manifest itself only in primary school age. The symptoms of this pathology are as follows:

bad memory;
cognitive decline;
fuzzy speech;
poor vocabulary;
low vigilance;
inability to think through the consequences of one's actions;
poor emotional development.

Education of children with mental disorders of this type is carried out in correctional schools according to a special program or at home. The child also needs the supervision of a child psychiatrist. This violation cannot be cured or corrected completely. With a mild degree of oligophrenia, a child can be taught self-service skills and develop the ability to communicate with others. With severe mental retardation, the patient needs outside care.

Impaired mental function

This pathology refers to borderline mental disorders. The child does not have obvious signs of mental retardation, but his development is still lower age norm. Doctors also call this deviation mental infantilism.

A symptom of a mental disorder in preschool children is a delay in the development of speech, motor skills and emotions. This indicates developmental delay. The child begins to walk and talk late, with difficulty mastering new skills.

Children with borderline mental disorders of this type need developmental activities. If you give the child due attention, then as they grow older, the signs of pathology disappear. However, in some children, some manifestations mental infantilism persist through adolescence and adolescence.

Mixed Skills Disorders

It is not uncommon for a child to have a normal intellect but fail to master the skills of writing, counting and reading. This creates great difficulties in teaching in a regular school. In such cases, doctors talk about a mixed mental disorder in children.

During the diagnosis, the child does not reveal any neurological disorders or mental retardation. Memory and cognitive abilities remain within the normal range. This pathology is associated with the slow maturation of certain brain structures responsible for the ability to master school skills.

Children with these disorders need special education in spa schools or at home. They are encouraged to study on an individual program. cure this disorder medical methods impossible. This disorder is subject to correction only by pedagogical methods.

Autism

This mental disorder is congenital. The child has impaired contact with others and lacks social skills. Autistic people have difficulty learning to speak and do not seek to communicate. They are completely immersed in their inner world.

This pathology is also characterized by stereotyped actions. A child can spend hours laying out the blocks in a certain order and at the same time show no interest in any other activities.

Healthy child usually learns various skills from adults. It is difficult for an autistic person to receive information from the outside world due to poor communication with other people. In addition, children with autism are very sensitive to any changes, because of this it is difficult for them to learn something new.

There is no cure for autism. However, this violation is subject to partial correction. With the help of medical and pedagogical methods, it is possible to develop speech and communication skills in a child.

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is most often observed in children aged 6-12 years. This pathology is characterized by the following manifestations:

restlessness;
difficulty concentrating;
increased distractibility;
high mobility;
intemperance;
impulsiveness;
excessive talkativeness.

Hyperactive children have normal intelligence. But due to restlessness and inattention, they, as a rule, study poorly. If left untreated in childhood, some ADHD symptoms may persist into adulthood. Mature people with hyperactivity are prone to bad habits and conflicts with others.

Eating disorders

Teenagers are most often affected. These psychopathologies are divided into 2 types:

anorexia;
bulimia.

With anorexia, the child constantly seems to be overweight, even if his body weight is within the normal range. These teenagers are extremely critical of their appearance. Because of the desire to lose weight, children completely refuse food or follow excessively strict diets. This leads to a drop in weight to a critical level and serious problems with physical health.

With bulimia, a child has a pathologically increased appetite. Teenager absorbs great amount food in large portions. Overeating often occurs after stressful situations. At the same time, the child eats very quickly, practically without chewing food. The consequence of this pathology can be obesity and diseases of the digestive tract.

Childhood schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is rare in childhood. An important role in the occurrence of this pathology is played by the hereditary factor. Therefore, parents should carefully look at the behavior of the child if there have been cases of schizophrenia among his immediate family. This disease in children often manifests itself in preschool and adolescence. The following symptoms should be of concern:

isolation;
lack of will and apathy;
untidiness;
loss of interest in former favorite activities;
illogical statements;
sudden aggressiveness;
freezing in strange uncomfortable positions;
rave;
hallucinations.

If the child constantly has the above symptoms, then it is necessary to visit a child psychiatrist. Schizophrenia cannot be completely cured, but it can be long time keep the patient in remission. Without therapy, this pathology is steadily progressing and can lead to disability.

Treatment

The choice of treatment for psychogenic pathologies in children depends on the type of disease. In some cases, the problem can be dealt with quickly. At chronic pathologies may require long-term and sometimes lifelong medication. The following therapies are used:

Psychotherapeutic methods. The doctor regularly talks with the child and his parents. He finds out the cause of the problem and recommends ways to resolve it. Also, during the conversation, the doctor can teach the child to control their behavior. In mild cases, a significant improvement can be achieved only by psychotherapy without the use of drugs.
Medical treatment. In more complex cases, medication is needed. With increased aggressiveness, mood swings, depression, antidepressants, neuroleptics and sedatives. For developmental delay, a psychiatrist may recommend nootropic drugs. When treating children, doctors try to select the most gentle medicines in minimum doses.
Hospital treatment. In very severe cases, treatment in a children's psychiatric hospital may be required. Hospitalization is necessary if the child has a tendency to self-harm, suicide attempts, delusions, hallucinations, strong aggression. Such children should be under constant medical supervision.

If parents notice signs of mental abnormalities in a child, then it is impossible to delay a visit to the doctor. Without treatment, such diseases progress and significantly complicate the adaptation of a person in society.

The concept of a mental disorder in children can be quite difficult to explain, not to say that it needs to be defined, especially on your own. The knowledge of parents, as a rule, is not enough for this. As a result, many children who could benefit from treatment do not receive the care they need. This article will help parents learn to identify warning signs mental illness in children and highlight some options for help.

"Warning also worsens a child's success in school or teachers' harshness to his behavior," adds the psychologist. In the Czech education of children with mental disorders, there is still no protection, few people are interested in children with mental disabilities with a disease other than autism, and tens of thousands of children are left without the necessary psychiatric care. These are just some of the problems that, according to child psychiatrist Jaroslav Matys, Czech pediatric psychiatry is plagued with. The Health Diary talked to him about autism, psychiatric reform, and educational issues.

Why is it difficult for parents to determine the state of mind of their child?

Unfortunately, many adults are unaware of the signs and symptoms of mental illness in children. Even if parents know the basic principles of recognizing major mental disorders, they often find it difficult to distinguish between mild signs of abnormality and normal behavior in children. And a child sometimes lacks the vocabulary or intellectual baggage to explain their problems verbally.

There is a lot of talk about autism these days. Who and how is allowed to keep their diagnosis in order to be recognized by the insurance company? Clinical diagnoses are the responsibility of the physician and no one else. Considering the preamble of the World Health Organization, for which the classification of diseases is intended, it is only health. Performed by professionals who are trained and able to diagnose. Diagnosis of diabetes cannot be determined by a biochemist in a laboratory. He must be a clinician who also belongs to psychiatry.

However, this is an exception, since we use not only medical methods, i.e. instruments and laboratories, but also psychological methods. For us, key clinical psychologists are children, who must be trained and certified. Everything else is a consulting service. That's why there was a clash with education. Here, a draft law was prepared on special pedagogical centers, where psychologists without psychological education in clinical psychology and not at all in medicine wanted to take upon themselves the right to determine and control the diagnosis of psychiatrists.

Concerns about stereotypes associated with mental illness, the cost of using certain medications, and the logistical complexity of possible treatment often delay therapy or force parents to attribute their child's condition to some simple and temporary phenomenon. However, a psychopathological disorder that begins its development will not be able to restrain anything, except for the correct, and most importantly, timely treatment.

Finally, on the basis of pressure and gratitude to the deputies, he dropped out. Education here is not for treatment and diagnosis, but for education. Diagnostics are also provided by, for example, the National Autism Institute, which, according to its director, is a social institution.

This is not a medical facility, so it is not eligible to operate as a clinical workplace. They are not regulated by the law on granting medical services and healthcare professionals, so they are not subject to punishment within the meaning of these laws - there is no criminal liability for false diagnosis and misconduct. This, however, would mean that they would have to hire a child psychiatrist, make a work order as a medical facility, prove that they have the necessary staffing and equipment, and proceed to the region selection procedure.

The concept of mental disorder, its manifestation in children

Children may suffer from the same mental illnesses as adults, but they manifest them in different ways. For example, depressed children often show more signs irritability than adults, who tend to be more sad.

Children most often suffer from a number of diseases, including acute or chronic mental disorders:

However, a number of associations are authorized to give a clinical diagnosis to an institution that is not medical institution, for which they pay, and then follow-up services for this type of "diagnosis". This is a conflict of interest and a violation of the law. Today, they are also at the highest level to see if they are allowed to make recommendations to schools as a specialized pedagogical center. They do not have registration or receipt, because education in the Kyrgyz Republic, including consulting services, is free.

So is diagnosing an autism diagnosis in the Czech Republic according to international standards? We follow international standards which we cannot leave. The standards have legal significance for courts and appraisers. It's complicated, it's part of the certification, and the doctor should know this. There have been suggestions from parent organizations that only a clinical psychologist can do this. Then let's say that the psychiatrist is moving to the philosophy department, we are taking medication, and the clinical psychologist will be dealing with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Children with anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, show vivid signs of anxiety, which is an ongoing problem that interferes with their daily activities.

There is parental pressure, why this cannot be - until something passes, and someone dies. When parents suspect autism in a child, where to diagnose and what to look for? They should go straight to the doctor and not to advise. Parents can also turn to a child psychologist - who doesn't matter once, because we work together and share the news.

In differential diagnosis, we work with neurologists to rule out certain processes in the brain, with genetics, and often with speech therapists. How does the pediatrician have an indispensable role in diagnosis? Autism spectrum disorder is one of the most difficult diagnoses in psychiatry. It's not that hard to identify the symptoms that fall into the circle of autism. The most difficult is the differential diagnosis from other mental disorders that have similar symptoms but in a different final picture.

Sometimes anxiety is a traditional part of every child's experience, often moving from one developmental stage to another. However, when stress takes an active position, it becomes difficult for the child. It is in such cases that symptomatic treatment is indicated.

Attention deficit or hyperactivity.

This disorder typically includes three categories of symptoms: difficulty concentrating, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. Some children with this pathology have symptoms of all categories, while others may have only one symptom.

There are at least 15-20 other mental disorders that can mimic it. In addition, the psychiatrist must distinguish between mental disorders such as brain, metabolism or endocrine disorder or intoxication. In addition, the psychiatrist must work with other specialists, such as cardiology, neurology or neurosurgery, to know that if something is happening in the brain, whether it is the result of an operation or a developmental issue. When drugs are given, we must agree with other experts because we are responsible for the patient.

This pathology is a serious developmental disorder that manifests itself in early childhood - usually before the age of 3 years. Although the symptoms and their severity are prone to variability, the disorder always affects the child's ability to communicate and interact with others.

Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders such as anorexia and binge eating are enough serious illness, life threatening child. Children can become so preoccupied with food and their own weight that it prevents them from focusing on something else.

Both child and adult psychiatrists must be able to distinguish between other comorbid conditions. The person who was not in medicine could not know this. If you learn the algorithm for one diagnosis but don't know the others, you can't tell the difference between the diagnoses. When such a center has only autism, social phobia turns into Asperger's. Some specific intelligence studies are missing altogether, while two-thirds of children lag behind. But they cannot distinguish between delay, autism, speech development disorders, anxiety, which we can effectively treat today, or hyperactivity.

Mood disorders.

Mood disorders such as depression and can lead to the stabilization of persistent feelings of sadness or sharp drops moods are much more serious than the usual volatility common to many people.

Schizophrenia.

This chronic mental illness causes the child to lose touch with reality. Schizophrenia often appears in late adolescence, from about 20 years of age.

Determining a diagnosis based on confirmation of the symptoms of a single diagnosis is simply pointless and dangerous to the patient. If you first asked the question about relevance to insurance companies, this is at first glance. It is important that in the legislation on diagnosis, apart from doctors, there are no doctors. It is impossible that, without consultation, a counseling psychologist in a non-medical institution would allow medical diagnosis. These are organizations registered as social and educational services. But when people are stressed, they pay, although if a psychiatrist does the same thing, it is covered by the national health insurance.

Depending on the condition of the child, illnesses can be classified as temporary or permanent mental disorders.

The main signs of mental illness in children

Some markers that a child may have mental health problems are:

What awaits such a diagnosis? To ensure patient safety, a complete physical examination should be performed to rule out other causes. Autism is a neurological disorder, but there is a percentage that is caused by disorders other than just brain development. This is a comorbidity that needs to be treated. There are myths, even found in government office material, that if autism is diagnosed on time, there is no need for medication. Clearly, an autism drug helps correct mental disorders that exacerbate autism and sociability.

Mood changes. Look out for dominant signs of sadness or longing that last at least two weeks, or severe mood swings that cause relationship problems at home or school.

Too strong emotions. Sharp emotions of overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes combined with tachycardia or rapid breathing, are a serious reason to pay attention to your child.

With medicines, children are better educated and educated. As we have the presence of multidisciplinary teams in the Czech Republic, where diagnostics will be involved more experience? We have no problem with medical care in neurology, pediatrics and other doctors. The problem is related to other professions that work with children. We study and help civil associations. If everything remained in special educational centers, the money would be paid to autistic people. There we have to establish a border, and this is also stagnation, which is not easy.

As a result, at the age of 18, he cannot do this, because he could not, but he did not teach. But he won't reach disability. So there must be social services that they try to train in, and when it really doesn't, there are other supportive things. Participation should be mandatory, we not only want it - we don't want it. If you don't, you won't benefit. Only when we discover that this is indeed the case should they be entitled to them.

Uncharacteristic behavior. These may include abrupt changes in behavior or judgment. self, as well as dangerous or out of control activities. Frequent fights with the use of third-party objects, a strong desire to harm others, are also warning signs.

Difficulty of concentration. The characteristic manifestation of such signs is very clearly visible at the time of preparation. homework. It is also worth paying attention to teachers' complaints and current school performance.

Is there any way in the Czech Republic that screening for Autism Spectrum Disorders can be done by practitioners as part of preventive check-ups? We work with children and teenagers. Early diagnosis is important, but this may not be done until the fourth or fifth year, with severe autism a little earlier. Screening methods in the world are the methodology for the Czech Republic and the conditions for the stay of doctors and adolescents in the Czech Republic for children and adolescents, which must be within two months.

These are screening methods that pick up on certain symptoms, but since autism is a developmental disorder, brain development in autism may not necessarily occur. The child should then see the child with a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, but the screening method is not mandatory for a definitive diagnosis.

Unexplained weight loss. Sudden loss of appetite frequent vomiting or the use of laxatives may indicate an eating disorder;

physical symptoms. Compared to adults, children with mental health problems may often complain of headaches and stomachaches rather than sadness or anxiety.

Is it possible to recognize autism through devices? This is still ten or twenty years before standardized brain imaging in children with autism. Today we know where the problems are. But when you now do brain imaging of autism and schizophrenia, they are very similar in comparison, they are not specific. The brain is so complex that it cannot yet be made. Therefore, in autism and psychiatry, the clinical picture decides - how the patient works, how he looks, what he does, how he thinks and how he behaves.

Any scale may indicate suspicion, but the clinical picture decides. So you can't rely on the scales? Scales are optional and parents sometimes confuse this because they think that when the scale comes out, it is given. In addition, he is often one of the autistic parents - and do you think that the father with autism or Asperger sees his son's social blindness? He doesn't write it and the whole range is useless - it's a false negative. In other cases, the parents of the disease learn today, even for financial reasons, or are motivated to apologize for their child's aggression and even criminal behavior, and then they say that the learned phrases are from a book or the Internet.

Physical damage. Sometimes a mental health condition leads to self-injury, also called self-harm. Children often choose far inhumane ways for these purposes - they often cut themselves or set themselves on fire. These children also often develop suicidal thoughts and attempts to actually commit suicide.

Substance abuse. Some children use drugs or alcohol to try to cope with their feelings.

Actions of parents in case of suspected mental disorders in a child

If parents are truly concerned about their child's mental health, they should see a specialist as soon as possible.

The physician should describe the present behavior in detail, emphasizing the most striking inconsistencies with the earlier period. For getting additional information before visiting a doctor, it is recommended to talk with school teachers, class teacher, close friends or other persons who spend any extended time with the child. As a rule, this approach helps a lot to decide and discover something new, something that the child will never show at home. It must be remembered that there should not be any secrets from the doctor. And yet - there is no panacea in the form of pills for.

General actions of specialists

Mental health in children is diagnosed and treated on the basis of signs and symptoms, taking into account the impact of psychological or mental disorders on the child's daily life. This approach also allows you to determine the types of mental disorders of the child. There are no simple, unique, or 100% guaranteed positive tests. In order to make a diagnosis, the doctor may recommend the presence related specialists such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, psychiatric nurse, mental health educators, or behavioral therapist.

The doctor or other professionals will work with the child, usually on an individual basis, to determine first if the child does have a disability. normal state mental health based on diagnostic criteria, or not. For comparison, a special database of children's psychological and mental symptoms, which are used by specialists around the world, is used.

In addition, the doctor or other mental health care provider will look for other possible explanations for the child's behavior, such as a history of previous illness or injury, including family history.

It is worth noting that diagnosing childhood mental disorders can be quite difficult, since it can be a serious problem for children to express their emotions and feelings correctly. Moreover, this quality always fluctuates from child to child - there are no identical children in this regard. Despite these problems, accurate diagnosis is an integral part of correct, effective treatment.

General therapeutic approaches

Common treatment options for children who have mental health problems include:

Psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy, also known as "talk therapy" or behavior therapy, is a treatment for many mental health problems. Speaking with a psychologist, while showing emotions and feelings, the child allows you to look into the very depths of his experiences. During psychotherapy, children themselves learn a lot about their condition, mood, feelings, thoughts and behavior. Psychotherapy can help a child learn to respond to difficult situations while healthyly overcoming problematic barriers.

pharmacological therapy.

A combination of approaches.

In the process of searching for problems and their solutions, the specialists themselves will offer the necessary and most effective treatment option. In some cases, psychotherapy sessions will be quite enough, in others, medications will be indispensable.

It should be noted that acute mental disorders are always stopped easier than chronic ones.

Help from parents

At such moments, the child needs the support of the parents more than ever. Children with mental health diagnoses, in fact, like their parents, usually experience feelings of helplessness, anger and frustration. Ask your child's primary care physician for advice on how to change the way you interact with your son or daughter and how to deal with difficult behavior.

Look for ways to relax and have fun with your child. Praise his strengths and abilities. Explore new techniques that can help you understand how to calmly respond to stressful situations.

Family counseling or support groups can be a great help in treating childhood psychiatric disorders. This approach is very important for parents and children. This will help you understand your child's illness, how they feel, and what you can do together to help. maximum help and support.

To help your child succeed in school, keep your child's teachers and school administrators informed about your child's mental health. Unfortunately, in some cases, it may be necessary to change the educational institution to a school, training program designed for children with mental health problems.

If you're concerned about your child's mental health, seek professional advice. Nobody can make the decision for you. Do not avoid help because of your shame or fear. With the right support, you can learn the truth about whether your child has a disability and be able to explore treatment options, thereby ensuring that your child continues to have a decent quality of life.

Mental disorders in children are very common, and their number is increasing every year. According to statistics, today every fifth child has developmental problems. varying degrees. The danger of such diseases is that often parents do not recognize the symptoms in time and do not attach much importance to the condition of their children, attributing everything to a bad character or age. But it is important to know that mental disorders do not go away with age. Most of them require complex specialized treatment. A serious approach and timely recognition of the problem is a chance to return the child to full mental health.

What are the features of mental disorders in children?

Mental disorders in children develop in most cases in the first months of a baby's life, but can also appear at an older age. They represent inferiority and malfunctions of the psyche and, accordingly, affect the overall development of the child.

Mental disorders, depending on the age and stage of the disease, can manifest themselves in different forms. In total, physicians distinguish four general groups:

or oligophrenia - it is characterized by a low level of intelligence, imagination, memory and attention;
Mental retardation - first makes itself felt about a year old, it is characterized by problems with speech, motor skills, memory;
- this syndrome causes hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention, while there is a decrease in the level of intelligence;
Autism is a condition in which a child's ability to communicate and socialize is impaired.

Sometimes parents attribute the negative manifestations of the baby to age and hope that this will pass with time. However, mental disorders need to be treated. With age, the disease only worsens and it is already more difficult to find the right and effective therapeutic methods. And no matter how difficult it is to admit to parents that their baby has mental disabilities, you need to seek help from a psychotherapist.

Factors provoking mental disorders

Mental disorders arise under the influence of several factors. Moreover, many of their forms develop even in the prenatal period. There are several key reasons:

Genetic predisposition - hereditary transmission of mental disorders, occurs in 40% of cases;
Features of education - the wrong choice of methods of education or its absence;
Infectious diseases affecting the brain and central nervous system;
Birth and postpartum head injuries of the baby;
Dysfunction of the metabolic system;
strong or overexerted;
Low level of intelligence;
Unfavorable situation in the family;

Symptoms and signs of mental disorders in children

The first signs of diseases manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the age of the child. At home, parents may notice the following changes, which may symbolize a mental breakdown:

A bad mood in a child, you should pay attention if it dominates for several weeks without a specific reason;
Frequent mood swings;
Inattention and difficulty concentrating;
Nervousness, aggressiveness;
Constant and feeling of threat;
Changes in the child's behavior - the child begins to do dangerous things and becomes uncontrollable;
A constant desire to draw our attention to ourselves or, conversely, hide from others;
Loss of appetite and, accordingly, significant weight loss;
Nausea and vomiting;
Headaches and causeless abdominal pain;
Talking to yourself or an imaginary friend;
Actions that cause harm to yourself and others;
Decreased interest in favorite things and activities;
The use of alcohol and drugs.

These signs can be noticed on your own. But doctors diagnose mental disorders based not only on these, but also on other medical symptoms:

Tachycardia and rapid breathing;
Changes in the organic structure of the blood;
Changes in the structure of brain cells;
Disorders of the digestive system;
Low IQ;
Physical underdevelopment;
Special form.

Such diseases usually cause several symptoms, so observation alone is not enough to confirm the diagnosis, a physical examination is needed.

Diagnosis and treatment

To choose the right therapeutic method, you need to go through a full diagnosis. It goes like this:

Study and analysis of overt symptoms;
Laboratory examination of blood, urine;
MRI examination of the cerebral cortex;
Conducting testing.

To correctly approach the treatment, it is necessary to examine the child by several specialists: a psychiatrist, a psychotherapist, a neuropathologist. Moreover, examinations must be taken by each specialist in turn: each of the doctors can thus determine the symptoms that characterize his area.

It is important to remember that with drug therapy mental disorders cannot be completely cured. To help the child and restore full mental health, you need to use a set of procedures and methods.

There are several ways to deal with this problem:

Drug therapy. It consists in taking antidepressants, tranquilizers, sedatives, and general strengthening vitamin products. The choice of the drug lies with the doctor, he prescribes special agent, which corresponds to the age and form of development of the disorder.
Psychotherapy. In psychotherapy, there are many methods to overcome mental disorders in children. It all depends on the age and stage of neglect of the process. Individual conversational therapy, or group therapy, with the appropriate selection of children is considered very effective. Psychotherapy is considered the most effective treatment for this kind of disease.
Family therapy. The family is very important for the formation of the psyche of the baby, it is here that the first concepts are laid. Therefore, with mental disorders, family members should achieve maximum interaction with the baby, help him achieve something, constantly talk with him, do exercises together.
Complex therapy. It involves combining drug treatment with another type of therapy. It is necessary in acute forms of disorders, when psychological exercises alone are not enough.

The sooner parents identify mental problems in their baby and take him to the doctor, the more likely he is to return to a full-fledged lifestyle. The main rule is to seek help from a specialist in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.

The concept of a mental disorder in children can be quite difficult to explain, not to say that it needs to be defined, especially on your own. The knowledge of parents, as a rule, is not enough for this. As a result, many children who could benefit from treatment do not receive the care they need. This article will help parents learn to recognize the warning signs of mental illness in children and highlight some of the options for help.

Why is it difficult for parents to determine the state of mind of their child?

The concept of mental disorder, its manifestation in children

Children may suffer from the same mental illnesses as adults, but they manifest them in different ways. For example, depressed children often show more signs of irritability than adults, who tend to be more sad.

Children most often suffer from a number of diseases, including acute or chronic mental disorders:

Children suffering from anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder show vivid signs of anxiety, which is a constant problem that interferes with their daily activities.

Attention deficit or hyperactivity.

Eating disorders - such as anorexia, bulimia and gluttony - are serious enough diseases that threaten the life of a child. Children can become so preoccupied with food and their own weight that it prevents them from focusing on something else.

Mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder can lead to stabilizing persistent feelings of sadness or mood swings far more severe than the normal volatility common to many people.

This chronic mental illness causes the child to lose touch with reality. Schizophrenia often appears in late adolescence, from about 20 years of age.

Depending on the condition of the child, illnesses can be classified as temporary or permanent mental disorders.

The main signs of mental illness in children

Some markers that a child may have mental health problems are:

Mood changes. Look out for dominant signs of sadness or longing that last at least two weeks, or severe mood swings that cause relationship problems at home or school.

Too strong emotions. Sharp emotions of overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes combined with tachycardia or rapid breathing, are a serious reason to pay attention to your child.

Uncharacteristic behavior. This may include abrupt changes in behavior or self-esteem, as well as dangerous or out of control actions. Frequent fights with the use of third-party objects, a strong desire to harm others, are also warning signs.

Difficulty of concentration. A characteristic manifestation of such signs is very clearly visible at the time of preparing homework. It is also worth paying attention to teachers' complaints and current school performance.

Unexplained weight loss. sudden loss appetite, frequent vomiting, or use of laxatives may indicate an eating disorder;

physical symptoms. Compared to adults, children with mental health problems may often complain of headaches and stomachaches rather than sadness or anxiety.

Substance abuse. Some children use drugs or alcohol to try to cope with their feelings.

Actions of parents in case of suspected mental disorders in a child

If parents are truly concerned about their child's mental health, they should see a specialist as soon as possible.

The physician should describe the present behavior in detail, emphasizing the most striking inconsistencies with the earlier period. For more information, it is recommended that you talk to school teachers, the form teacher, close friends or other people who spend some time with your child for a long time before visiting the doctor. As a rule, this approach helps a lot to decide and discover something new, something that the child will never show at home. It must be remembered that there should not be any secrets from the doctor. And yet - there is no panacea in the form of pills for mental disorders.

General actions of specialists

Mental health in children is diagnosed and treated on the basis of signs and symptoms, taking into account the impact of psychological or mental disorders on the child's daily life. This approach also allows you to determine the types of mental disorders of the child. There are no simple, unique, or 100% guaranteed positive tests. In order to make a diagnosis, the physician may recommend the presence of allied professionals, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, psychiatric nurse, mental health educator, or behavioral therapist.

The doctor or other professionals will work with the child, usually on an individual basis, to determine first whether or not the child actually has an abnormal mental health condition based on the diagnostic criteria. For comparison, a special database of children's psychological and mental symptoms, which are used by specialists around the world, is used.

It is worth noting that diagnosing childhood mental disorders can be quite difficult, since it can be a serious problem for children to express their emotions and feelings correctly. Moreover, this quality always fluctuates from child to child - there are no identical children in this regard. Despite these problems, an accurate diagnosis is an essential part of correct, effective treatment.

General therapeutic approaches

Common treatment options for children who have mental health problems include:

It should be noted that acute mental disorders are always stopped easier than chronic ones.

Help from parents

Look for ways to relax and have fun with your child. Praise his strengths and abilities. Explore new stress management techniques that can help you understand how to calmly respond to stressful situations.

Family counseling or support groups can be a great help in treating childhood psychiatric disorders. This approach is very important for parents and children. This will help you understand your child's illness, how they feel, and what can be done together to provide the best possible care and support.

To help your child succeed in school, keep your child's teachers and school administrators informed about your child's mental health. Unfortunately, in some cases, you may have to change educational institution to a school whose curriculum is designed for children with mental problems.

Mental disorders in children: symptoms

Due to special factors, whether it is a difficult atmosphere in the family, a genetic predisposition or a traumatic brain injury, various violations psyche. When a child is born, it is impossible to understand whether he is mentally healthy or not. Physically, these children are no different. Violations appear later.

Mental disorders in children are divided into 4 large classes:

1) Mental retardation;

2) developmental delays;

3) Attention deficit disorder;

4) Autism in early childhood.

Mental retardation. developmental delay

The first type of mental disorder in children is mental retardation or oligophrenia. The psyche of the child is underdeveloped, there is an intellectual defect. Symptoms:

Violation of perception, voluntary attention.
Vocabulary is narrowed, speech is simplified and defective.
Children are led environment and not their motivation and desires.

There are several stages of development of mental retardation depending on the IQ: mild, moderate, severe and deep. Basically, they differ only in the severity of the symptoms.

The causes of such a mental disorder are a pathology of the chromosome set, or trauma before birth, during childbirth, or at the beginning of life. Maybe because the mother drank alcohol during pregnancy, smoked. The cause of mental retardation can also be an infection, falls and injuries to the mother, difficult childbirth.

Developmental delays (ZPR) are expressed in violations of cognitive activity, immaturity of the personality in comparison with healthy peers and in the slow pace of development of the psyche. Types of ZPR:

1) Mentally infantilism. The psyche is underdeveloped, behavior is guided by emotions and games, the will is weak;

2) Delays in the development of speech, reading, counting;

3) Other violations.

The child lags behind his peers, assimilating information more slowly. ZPR can be adjusted, the most important thing is that teachers and educators know about the problem. A delayed child needs more time to learn something, however, right approach it is possible.

Attention Deficit Syndrome. Autism

Mental disorders in children can take the form of attention deficit disorder. This syndrome is expressed in the fact that the child concentrates very poorly on the task, cannot force himself to do one thing for a long time and to the end. Often this syndrome is accompanied by hyperreactivity.

The child does not sit still, constantly wants to run somewhere or start doing something else, is easily distracted.
If he's playing at something, he can't wait for his turn to come. Can only play active games.
He talks a lot, but never listens to what they say to him. Moves a lot.
Heredity.
Trauma during childbirth.
Infection or virus, drinking alcohol while carrying a child.

There are various methods of treatment and correction this disease. You can treat with medication, you can psychologically - by teaching child to cope with their impulses.

Autism in early childhood is divided into the following types:

Autism, in which the child is not able to contact other children and adults, never makes eye contact and tries not to touch people;

Stereotypes in behavior when a child protests against the most insignificant changes in his life and the world around him;

Violation of the development of speech. He needs speech not for communication - the child can speak well and correctly, but cannot communicate.

There are other disorders that children of different ages can be affected by. For example, schizophrenia, manic states, Turret cider and many others. However, they are also found in adults. The disorders listed above are typical for childhood.

Classification of mental illness

In domestic psychiatry, there is traditionally an idea of the primary importance of distinguishing various nosological forms of mental pathology. This concept is based on

www.psyportal.net

Nervous disorders in children 2 3 years old

Childhood diseases

At the appointment with a psychotherapist

Psychotherapist, psychiatrist. The decision to consult a child with these specialists, as a rule, is not easy for parents to make. To go for it means to acknowledge the suspicion that the child has neuropsychiatric disorders, admit that he is “nervous”, “abnormal”, “defective”, “crazy”. Many are afraid of “registration” and the imaginary and really possible restrictions on the forms of education and choice of profession associated with this. In this regard, parents often try not to notice the peculiarities of development, behavior, oddities, which are often manifestations of the disease. If the suspicion that the child has neuropsychiatric disorders still appears, then, as a rule, attempts are first made to treat him with some kind of “home remedies”. These can either be medicines recommended by someone you know, or activities read in numerous "healing" manuals.

Convinced of the futility of attempts to improve the child's condition, parents finally decide to seek help, but often not to a doctor, but to acquaintances, healers, sorcerers, psychics, "grandmothers", in which there is now no shortage: many newspapers print a lot of offers of this kind of services. Unfortunately, this often leads to sad consequences.

In the case when the child is really sick, he eventually still ends up at the reception of a specialist, but the disease may already be running. Turning to a psychotherapist or psychiatrist for the first time, parents, as a rule, try to do it informally, anonymously.

Responsible parents should not hide from problems, be able to recognize early signs of neuropsychiatric disorders, consult a doctor in a timely manner and follow his recommendations. Each parent needs knowledge about measures to prevent deviations in the development of the child, about the causes neurotic disorders about the first signs of mental illness.

Issues relating to the mental health of children are too serious. Experiments when solving them are unacceptable. It is better to consult a specialist and be happy to find out that you have “played it safe” and the child does not have neuropsychiatric disorders, get advice on their prevention, than to go to the doctor when it is no longer possible to ignore the manifestations of the disease, and hear: “Where were you before ?!"

About how to create a child favorable conditions for the development of his psyche, the formation of personality, how to prevent the occurrence of neuropsychiatric disorders, in a timely manner to identify their early signs, where and to whom it is better to turn, and will be discussed in this section.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

The most favorable conditions for the mental development of the personality of babies are situations in which the birth is planned and desired, and the relationship of their parents is stable and characterized by love and respect. It is unlikely that anyone will doubt this. Of course, children born in other conditions are not necessarily doomed to have neuropsychiatric disorders. Family, family relations, and specifics of upbringing are the most important, but by no means the only factors influencing the development of the child's psyche and personality. A child born in a conflict or incomplete family has many chances to develop normally and become a full-fledged personality. Only the conditions for this will be less favorable, and his parents, relatives, educators and teachers will have to spend much more effort on raising such a child.

And, on the contrary, a child born in the most favorable family environment, under the influence of many factors, can be formed as a personality with deviations. To prevent this from happening, parents need to love and respect their children, follow the two golden rules.

Demand from the child only what he can. In order to do this, it is necessary to study your child well, his capabilities and abilities. You can’t exhaust him with developing didactic games. You should humble your ambitions, rejoice if he masters new skills and abilities in a timely manner, and be wary if he is ahead of his peers in the development. Do not stop loving him, even if he did not live up to expectations.

Meet the needs of the child. To fulfill this rule, you need to be very attentive to your child. It is important to understand that he needs not only to eat, drink, dress, be clean, study. It is necessary to remember the vital needs of the child in respect, in recognition of his personality, in affection, in getting an impression, in games, etc.

If suddenly something is not clear to you in the behavior of the child, in his communication, if family relations have reached an impasse, timely and qualified help psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist can be very useful.

Until relatively recently, it was believed that it makes sense for a psychiatrist, and even more so for a psychotherapist, to show children only after they are 3 years old. Before that, as many believe to this day, the child does not have a psyche. And if, nevertheless, there are obvious violations of the development, behavior of the baby, then pediatricians and neuropathologists will successfully cope with them. Unfortunately, even today one can still meet a child psychiatrist or psychotherapist who holds detailed views and refuses to accept small child("Come back after three years!"). This is not true. For more than ten years now, and even earlier abroad, a new branch of psychotherapy and psychiatry, called perinatal, has emerged. Turning to a perinatal psychologist, psychotherapist, a specialist in the so-called early intervention will help to solve many problems in a timely manner.

A child psychiatrist, psychotherapist quite often has to meet with overly ambitious parents who believe that their child is lagging behind in development, although in reality this is not the case. At the same time, ignorance of the norm and early manifestations General mental underdevelopment often leads to the fact that parents do not notice (or do not want to notice!) violations of the child's mental development.

The child may still be very small, and neuropsychiatric disorders are already manifesting in him. To notice them, it is necessary to know the patterns of neuropsychic development. In the table compiled by A. V. Mazurin and I. M. Vorontsov (2000), the left column shows the actions that a child should be able to perform at a certain age, and the right column indicates his age in months. If the child has already reached this age, and does not perform the corresponding action, then this should alert the parents and be the reason for contacting a child psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

Actions that a child should be able to perform at a certain age

The main manifestations of early autism are:

Monotonous behavior with a tendency to stereotypical movements.

Most clearly, early childhood autism manifests itself at the age of 2 to 5 years, although some signs of it are noted earlier. Yes, already infants there is a lack of a “revitalization complex” characteristic of healthy children when in contact with a mother or a teacher, they do not have a smile at the sight of their parents, sometimes there is a lack indicative reaction to external stimuli, which can be taken as a defect in the sense organs (hearing, vision). In children of the first 3 years of life, manifestations of early autism can be sleep disturbances in the form of reduced duration and reduced depth, intermittency, difficulty falling asleep, early awakenings, persistent appetite disorders with its decrease and special selectivity, lack of hunger, general anxiety and causeless crying.

Kovalev Alexander Ivanovich

Chief child psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health of the Rostov Region

Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Rostov Medical University

At an early age, children are often indifferent to loved ones, do not give an adequate emotional reaction to their appearance and departure, and often do not seem to notice their presence. Any change in the familiar environment (for example, in connection with the rearrangement of furniture, the appearance new thing, a new toy) often causes discontent or even violent protest with crying and piercing screams. A similar reaction occurs when changing the order or time of walking, washing and other moments of the daily routine.

The behavior of children with autism is monotonous. They can perform the same actions for hours, vaguely reminiscent of a game: pour and pour water into and out of dishes, pour something, sort through pieces of paper, matchboxes, cans, ropes, shift them from place to place, arrange them in a certain order without allowing anyone to remove or push them away. Children with early autism actively seek solitude, feeling better when they are left alone.

The nature of contact with the mother can be different: along with an indifferent attitude, in which children do not react to the presence or absence of the mother, there is a negative form, when the child treats the mother unkindly and actively drives her away from him. There is also a symbiotic form of contact in which the child refuses to be without a mother, expresses anxiety in her absence, although he never shows affection for her.

Motor disorders are very typical, manifested, on the one hand, in general motor insufficiency, angularity and disproportion of voluntary movements, clumsy gait, on the other hand, in the occurrence of peculiar stereotypical movements in the 2nd year of life (flexion and extension of the fingers, fingering them), shaking, waving and rotating the hands, jumping, rotating around its axis, walking and running on tiptoe.

As a rule, there is a significant delay in the formation of elementary self-care skills (self-catering, washing, dressing and undressing, etc.).

The child's facial expressions are poor, inexpressive, characterized by an "empty, expressionless look", as well as a look, as it were, past or "through" the interlocutor.

The development of speech in some cases occurs in normal or even more early dates, in others it is more or less delayed. However, regardless of the timing of the appearance of speech, a violation of its formation is noted, mainly due to the insufficiency of the communicative function of speech. Up to the age of 5–6, children rarely actively ask questions, often do not answer questions addressed to them, or give monosyllabic answers. At the same time, a sufficiently developed “autonomous speech”, a conversation with oneself, can take place. Pathological forms of speech are characteristic: immediate and delayed repetitions of the words of others, words and definitions invented by the child, and scanned pronunciation, unusual drawn-out intonation, rhyming, the use of pronouns and verbs in the 2nd and 3rd person in relation to themselves. Some children have complete failure from the use of speech while preserving it.

Emotional manifestations in children of early and pre-preschool age are poor, monotonous. Most often they are expressed in the form of primitive emotions of pleasure, sometimes accompanied by a smile, or discontent and irritation with monotonous crying and not sharply expressed general anxiety. A kind of equivalent of positive experiences can be stereotyped movements (jumping, shaking hands, etc.).

Intellectual development can be different. From a deep mental retardation to the preservation of the intellect.

The dynamics of autism in children depends on age. In some children, the communicative function of speech improves, first in the form of answers to questions, and then in the form of spontaneous speech, although partial "autonomy" of speech, pretentiousness, the use of non-childish turns, clichés borrowed from the statements of adults still remain for a long time. Some children have a desire to ask unusual, abstract, "abstruse" questions ("What is life?", "Where is the end of everything?", etc.). Game activity is modified, which takes the form of unilateral interests, more often of an abstract nature. Children are passionate about compiling transport routes, a list of streets and alleys, collecting and compiling a catalog of geographical maps, writing out newspaper headlines, etc. Such activities are distinguished by a special desire for schematism, formal registration of objects, phenomena, stereotypical enumeration of numbers, names.

Specialists of the Phoenix Center treat autism using various methods. We are ready to help your child!

The center conducts a thorough diagnosis and treatment of all mental and psychosomatic disorders children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, including early childhood childhood autism, childhood fears, childhood schizophrenia, ADHD, childhood neurosis, etc.

Our experience shows that, despite the severity of the disorders, in some cases successful socialization of child patients is possible - acquiring independent living skills and mastering rather complex professions. It is important to emphasize that even in the most severe cases, stubborn corrective work always gives positive dynamics: the child can become adapted, sociable and independent in the circle of close people.

LLC Medical and Rehabilitation science Center"Phoenix" Psychiatric clinic

Symptoms of a nervous breakdown

We know from childhood that nerve cells do not regenerate, but this knowledge is often not taken seriously by us. But a nervous breakdown is dangerous. What are its symptoms we need to know in order to contact a specialist in time and prevent trouble?

Symptoms of a nervous breakdown often depend on the temperament of the individual. But there are also common signs for everyone - a constant feeling of fatigue and irritability, loss of appetite, or vice versa - irrepressible voracity, sleep disturbance.

Nervous breakdown: symptoms

Of course, you can try early stages overcome nervous disorders on our own, but our psyche and nervous system are too thin organizations that are easy to break and hard to restore. Therefore, it is better not to delay in long box, see a doctor. Better yet, get to know the causes of such disorders and eliminate them from your life.

Nervous breakdown: causes

As a rule, severe damage to the nervous system leads to various factors negatively affecting the structure and functioning of nerve cells.

One of the most common causes of such disorders in the functioning of nerve cells is hypoxia. Because of it, not only brain cells suffer, but also all other cells of the nervous system. It is especially important that not only acute hypoxia causes harm, but also chronic. Therefore, do not forget about the need to regularly ventilate the room and walk outside. And this is what most people neglect. Just a fifteen-minute walk can greatly improve a person's well-being. Sleep, appetite normalize, nervousness disappears.

Changes in body temperature also affect the state of the nervous system is not in the best way. So, for example, if a person has a temperature above 39 degrees for a long time, the metabolic rate increases several times. Nerve cells are very strongly excited, after which they begin to slow down, exhaustion occurs energy resources. In the same case, if there is a general hypothermia of the body, the reaction rate in neurons sharply decreases. Consequently, the entire work of the nervous system slows down to a large extent.

Another very common negative factor is the impact on the body of certain toxic substances. Doctors even distinguish a separate group of poisons that act extremely selectively, affecting the cells of the nervous system. Such poisons are called neurotropic.

Quite dangerous for the nervous system and all kinds of metabolic disorders. Moreover, it is most often affected central department. For example, hypoglycemia is very dangerous for the brain. Surely everyone knows that a chocolate bar eaten in time increases efficiency. And it is precisely because of the high content of glucose in it. If the level of glucose drops sharply, a sharp disruption in the functioning of brain cells will begin, up to loss of consciousness. Well, in the event that a glucose deficiency is observed for a long time, irreversible damage to the cerebral cortex is possible.

Nonpsychotic psychic disorders of residual-organic genesis in infants with perinatal defeat of the central nervous system

The article presents data of nonpsychotic psychic disorders in children 3 years with perinatal perinatal hypoxic-ischemic defeat of CNS. Major syndromes are neuropathic symptoms and residual-organic psychosyndrome.

Adverse effects in the early stages of ontogenesis can cause malformations, child cerebral palsy and mental retardation, other diseases of the nervous system. The impact of pathogenic factors on the fetus in late pregnancy causes a deviation in the formation of higher cortical functions.

Violations prenatal development fetus due primarily to chronic intrauterine hypoxia, increase the risk of perinatal CNS damage. And if in the first half of life, disorders of the nervous system are of a medical nature, then in the future they acquire a social connotation, posing a threat to physical and mental health.

An important task facing specialists working in the field of perinatal medicine is to create a system of prognosis, early diagnosis, development of unified programs for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of children in the neonatal period and subsequent periods of life.

With the emergence and improvement of reproductive, fruit-saving and neonatal technologies, there is an increase in the birth of children with perinatal pathology. In addition, technologies themselves can become sources of the birth of children with a disabling pathology.

epidemiological research recent years show an increase in the number of borderline neuropsychiatric disorders in a wide variety of populations around the world. According to WHO experts, up to 20% of children worldwide have mental health problems. Leading place among the child-adolescent borderline pathology, non-psychotic mental disorders of residual organic origin occupy.

Knowledge of clinical characteristics initial manifestations mental disorders caused by perinatal pathology, allows you to identify a risk group for special rehabilitation measures from the first year of life, "at the origins of the disease" .

The modern paradigm of the biopsychosocial approach to diagnostics, therapy and rehabilitation states that the provision of psychiatric care requires a more intensive development of out-of-hospital, consultative and therapeutic types of care, including a multiprofessional and interdepartmental approach, based on the primary links of the general somatic service. Unfortunately, despite numerous studies, the question of the impact of perinatal CNS damage on subsequent mental development child at an early age. Observation, diagnosis and therapy of children under 3 years old with this pathology is carried out mainly by pediatricians, taking into account the diagnostic criteria of the specialty. As a result, there is often insufficient understanding of the mechanisms of occurrence of neuropsychiatric disorders at this stage of ontogenesis, their interpretation from a somatological position and ineffective therapy.

The purpose of the study was to establish the nature of mental disorders in young children who had undergone perinatal damage to the central nervous system of mild and moderate severity. This study was carried out on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Ural Research Institute of OMM of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Director - Doctor of Medical Sciences Prof. Kovalev V.V.). 153 children of both sexes at the age of 3 years were subjected to a comprehensive study. The selection of children was carried out by random sampling.

The inclusion criteria for the study included: 1. Full-term infants aged 3 years who have undergone mild to moderate hypoxic-ischemic PCRNS. 2. Full-term children aged 3 years without indications of cerebral pathology of the perinatal period. 3. The general intellectual indicator of the sample is not lower than the average in accordance with the methodological recommendations developed by S.D. Zabramnaya and O.V. Borovik, and indicators of the D. Veksler subscale (a drawing test adapted for children from three years). The study excluded children with pathology of the organs of hearing, vision, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, RDA syndrome (early childhood autism), degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, intrauterine malformations (CMD), TORCH-associated infections, congenital hypothyroidism, epilepsy.

The assessment of the degree of perinatal damage to the central nervous system was carried out on the basis of the "Classification perinatal lesions nervous system in newborns” (2000), adopted by the Russian Association of Perinatal Medicine Specialists (RASPM). Clinical interpretation and differentiated diagnosis of mental disorders are classified in accordance with the syndromic scheme of perinatal CNS damage (ICD-10,1996, RASPM, 2005).

The main group consisted of 119 children who had signs of residual organic cerebral insufficiency of perinatal origin at the start of the study. The children under observation were divided into 2 subgroups: the 1st subgroup included 88 children who had mental disorders at the age of 3 years; the 2nd subgroup consisted of 31 children without mental disorders at the age of 3 years. The control group included 34 children aged 3 years who were born healthy without mental disorders.

The clinical method of the study was the main one and included clinical-anamnestic, clinical-psychopathological and clinical-follow-up studies according to a specially developed examination map, including a survey of parents. The study of children was carried out by examining and questioning them, collecting data from parents and close relatives. Testing of children was carried out on the basis of the consent of the parents at 9-10 am, no more than 1 hour, taking into account the psychophysiological characteristics of this age.

In addition to assessing the neurological status, the psychomotor and speech development of children was taken into account. Mental status was assessed on the basis of a clinical examination by a psychiatrist and a psychological block of studies with parental consent.

In diagnostics, not only the diagnostic headings of the ICD-10 were used, where the dynamic principle of assessing conditions is ignored, but also domestic principles for determining the clinical picture and course, as well as prognosis of the disease, used in psychiatry. Assessment of mental health, psychomotor and speech development was carried out by a child psychiatrist and, if necessary, a speech therapist.

Statistical processing of the study results was performed using the Microsoft Excel 7.0 software package for Windows 98 "STATISTICA 6" (M was determined - mathematical expectation (arithmetic mean), standard deviation by sample, the error of the arithmetic mean is m). To assess the significance of differences between groups, Student's t-tests were used for independent samples adjusted for differences in variances (differences in means were considered statistically significant if the significance level did not exceed 0.05; at P ≥ 0.05, differences were rejected).

In the course of this study, an analysis of the biological factors influencing the occurrence of neuropsychiatric disorders in 119 young children was carried out. At the same time, it was possible to establish the specific features of the ontogeny of children who underwent CNS PP of hypoxic-ischemic genesis of mild and moderate severity in the studied groups. All children were born full-term at the Research Institute of OMM of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation and maternity hospitals in Yekaterinburg, among them 73 girls (47.7%, n=119) and 80 boys (52.3%, n=119).

At the initial stage of the study, correlations of low and medium strength were established between mental disorders in children and perinatal factors (p <0.0001). These included: intrauterine hypoxia r=0.53 combined (intrauterine and intranatal) hypoxia of moderate severity - r=0.34 hypoxic-ischemic damage to the central nervous system mild degree severity r=0.42 hypoxic-ischemic lesion of the CNS of moderate degree r=0.36.

Subsequently, an analysis was made of the frequency and structure of parental complaints made in connection with the health status of their children at the age of 3 years in the studied subgroups. The data are presented in table 1.

Frequency and structure of parents' complaints about the health and behavior of their children at the age of 3 years in the studied groups

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