Does My Child
Need Therap
GAIL ZIMMERMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Ari is a bright 5-year-old boy who is seeing a psychiatrist. "I know I should be over
my fear of the dark," he says. But knowing a fear is irrational and being able to deal
with the anxiety are different.
Sometimes mom and dad don't know how to help the way they would like. They need
professional support to guide their child through a developmental problem.
Steven was a 10-year-old bed-wetter who was doing well in school but had a lot of so-
cial anxieties. Physical causes were ruled out. His parents took him to see a psycholo-
gist.
In therapy, Steven discovered that his bed-wetting, a regressive behavior, was a symp-
tom of being afraid to grow up. Family counseling helped Steven's mother learn to stop
babying him and allowed his father to see the importance of spending more time with
his son. Steven is now reaching out to his peers, and the bed-wetting has stopped.
Susan is a 14-year-old girl living with her newly single mother. A good student when
she was younger, Susan lost all interest in academics, started to hang out with a new
crowd and began experimenting with alcohol and drugs. Her mother sought the help
of a social worker.
Susan's symptoms were diagnosed as manifestations of depression. She was put
into group therapy with other teens. Role playing is helping her understand and deal
with her parents' divorce.
A
s the last days of summer
draw to a close and par-
ents prepare to send their
children off to the class-
room, school profession-
als gear up for their
busiest time of year. So
do the psychiatrists, psy-
chologists and social
workers whose practices focus on psy-
chotherapy for children and adolescents.
"We often don't realize to what extent
school — with its academic and social pres-
sures — is the key stress which triggers
parents to seek help for their school-aged
children," says Dr. Jeffrey London, a child
and adolescent psychiatrist in Bloomfield
Hills and associate medical director at
Auburn Hills' Havenwyck Hospital.
Parents seem to be able to handle the
usual family conflicts that continue dur-
ing the summer months, but school stress
often pushes people over the edge, he says.
Tough times are a normal part of grow-
ing up. But a recent National Institute
of Mental Health study indicated that 7.5
million children under the age of 18 suf-
fer from behavioral and neurological men-
tal disorders — problems including
depression, anxiety, attention deficit and
hyperactivity disorders, obsessive-com-
pulsive behaviors and psychoses. An even
greater number suffer from adjustment
disorders, responses to specific crises that
impact a child's life.
Most younger children will at one time
or another throw temper tantrums, be-
come painfully shy, have trouble sleeping
or even refiiseto eat or speak. Anyone who
lives with a teen-ager knows there are
times when adolescents are rebellious, ag-
itated and deeply upset.
No one ever said parenting was easy.
But how does a parent determine if be-
havior is part of normal development —
and at what point do parents need to seek
professional help?
Warning Signs
"Things are getting more difficult for
kids in today's fast-paced society," says
psychologist Dr. Daniel Stettner, director
of psychology at Beaumont Hospital's Nu-
tritional Medicine Center in Birmingham
and a licensed psychologist at Edgewood
Counseling Center in St. Clair Shores.
"We're seeing increasing divorce rates
and the blending of families. More and
more, as both parents work outside the
home, kids are getting less parenting time
and, therefore, less supervision and emo-
tional support during the early childhood
years. The widespread use of drugs, eco-
nomic stresses and dangers in the envi-
ronment all contribute to a lost sense of
safety and a real feeling of vulnerability
in our children," he says.
Certain patterns of behavior and symp-
toms of emotional distress appear as chil-
dren grow. The following examples should
alert parents to the possibility of an emo-
tional disorder at various age levels.
Area
professionals
give advice
about when
to seek an
expert's help.