Children with Emotional Problems
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Children with Emotional Problems
Most mental experts estimate that three to eight percent of the school-age children and youth have extreme emotional problems that require treatment. Less than one percent suffers from emotional disturbance (DeHaven, Hanley, Hoffman, Magee, Osher, Tate & Warger 13). Understanding of the wellbeing of the child and the adolescent is paramount in addressing the emotional and mental well being of the child. Functional disability in pre-school and schoolchildren are mostly caused by the emotional and behavioral problems. The pre-scholars adversely suffer from the behavioral problems. There are recommendations that if implemented, may reduce or eliminate the occurrence of emotional problems in children. Psychological and emotional distress is seen through internalizing behaviors for example anxiety and depression while the externalizing behaviors for instance aggressiveness, violence and disruptive behavior has an impact on the child’s successful learning at school (Holloway, Malloy, Rose, Wallace & Woods 8). Studies have shown that there are variations in these behaviors based on sex; it shows that externalizing behaviors are more in boys than in girls and internalizing behaviors are more exhibited by girls than boys are. Emotional distress and mental health problems among the children and young people are more prevalent nowadays than they were a few decades ago. Some studies have shown an increase in positive features among the young such as self-esteem and happiness and the negative features such as the mental health problems than they were before. The following is an analysis of what the emotional problems are, the inherent causes of emotional problems in children, the signs and symptoms of children with emotional problems, preventive and curative measures of emotional problems in children and the emerging trends in psychological and emotional wellbeing of children and young people.
What are emotional problems?
Emotional disturbance refers to a condition characterized by inability to learn, build interpersonal relationship or a general mood of unhappiness over a long time and largely that it adversely affects the educational performance of a child.
Emotional and behavioral disorder is a form of disability that affects emotional wellbeing of an individual. Lack of interpersonal relationships with peers and or teachers shows emotional disorder in schoolchildren. The children under the school age would have a poor relationship with the care providers. At school, the child is unable to learn and intellectual, sensory or health factors cannot adequately explain this. This is characterized by processes that are consistent or chronic, inappropriate type of behavior or feelings under normal conditions, persistent mood of unhappiness or depression, a child developing physical symptoms, pains or unreasonable fears associated with personal or school problems.
There is a variation in the temperaments of children leading to the different abilities of coping with stress and depression. Some children will integrate easily to a new event, situation or environment while others react negatively to the changes in their lives. Childhood depression is an emotional disorder in children caused by persistent sadness. Depression is experienced by anybody at any age and is characterized by the feeling of discouragement and hopelessness. The most common emotional disorders in children include but not limited to bed-wetting, bipolar and mood swings, anti-social disorders, mood swings and the eating disorders.
Mentally and emotionally healthy person possesses such characteristics as contentment, ability to be jovial and have fun, positive stress handling, flexible to learn and integrate into a new environment, a good balance between work and rest, ability to sustain relationships, self-confidence and the high self-esteem. These abilities help an individual to cope with life challenges.
Symptoms of children with emotional disorders
Children with the emotional disturbance are hyperactive. This means that they tend to have a short attention span and impulsiveness. Impulsiveness is a condition whereby the child is inclined or act on impulse rather than thought and she or he is motivated by an impulse (Barton, Belton, Carr, Dooley, Doyle, Lange, Lawlor, Marshall, Mulligan and Sheerin 2).
Another symptom is aggression where the child becomes too aggressive and portrays a self-injurious behavior. He or she is fighting other children at most times. This is close to withdrawal, where the child has excessive fear or anxiety; interaction with others is a problem. Depression is also a mood disorders in children where children with mental disorders react with feelings of anger, frustrations and depression in different ways. For instance, some will internalize these feeling leading to shyness and withdrawal while others externalize their feelings leading to violence and aggressiveness towards others (DeHaven et al 13).
Immaturity is another feature in a child with emotional problems. He or she will experience unexplained crying, temper tantrums and poor coping skills. This will lead to another serious problem in children of learning difficulties. They may perform poorly in school due to low interaction level and anxiety.
In extreme cases, children with the most serious emotional problems may have distorted thinking a condition where the child might be too slow and fail to react to normal things. They may even have excessive anxiety, bizarre motor acts, and abnormal mood swings.
Causes of emotional problems in children
To date, researchers have been working on the causes of emotional problems in all human beings; no one knows the actual cause but hereditary, brain disorder, diet, stress, and family functioning are some of the causes. These are suggested causes and are under research.
Biological conditions are other causes of emotional disturbance and behavioral problems. This includes the lack of basic nutrients during the early stages of development in children, genetic problems linked to depression, some physical illness and injuries, and some neurological conditions.
The environment surrounding the child also affects his or her health development. Within a child’s family for example, other elements may lead to the child developing emotional disturbance or behavioral problems. Such factors include physical abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment.
Children with emotional problems perform poorly in schools and lack a good social relationship with others in school. This leads to rejection by both peers and teachers. When they feel a sense of rejection, they lose interest in school and this ultimately leads to further failure and severe emotional problem.
How to prevent and/treat emotional problems in children
It is better to prevent emotional problems than to cure. Many of the causes relate to the growth and development of a child at the early ages and are hard to cure.
Teachers and professionals are the first people to cure a child from such a problem and prevent this disorder from progressing further. When they realize that a student exhibits the characteristics of mental and emotional disorders, the first step is to document the behavior, treat them specially and refer them to a specialist who can treat the child. It is also important to monitor the interaction of the child with the peers and act on it accordingly (DeHaven et al16).
It is recommended that the child should be taken to a qualified medical professional who will administer and monitor the child’s medication immediately when the family members or the educators notice that a child is suffering from the mental disorders. A psychologist for example will help in guiding people on how to handle such a person in the society.
Some drugs that have been identified include the stimulants such as Cylert and Dexedrine, tranquillers such as Thorazine and Mellaril, antidepressants such as Prozac and Elavil and anticonvulsants such as Dilantin and Valium (DeHaven et al 20).
The children who suffer from the emotional problem should practice interrelated core social and emotional competencies. Those people who surround the child every day should assist him or her. These competencies include self-awareness such as knowing ones interests, values and strengths to develop self-confidence, self-management. It also include controlling emotions, setting personal goals to perform better in schools, better ways of handling frustrations, social awareness, understanding and appreciating the environment one lives in, relationship skill such as resisting inappropriate social pressure and cooperation and responsible decision making (Durlak, Dymnicki, Pachan, Payton, Schellinger, Taylor, & Weissberg 4)
It is also important to incorporate the teaching of emotional problems in school’s curriculum. It is also evident that “Systematic, programmatic attention to the teaching of social-emotional skills in the school system has worldwide significance. It promotes overall development of children and youngsters, prevents developmental problems and promotes academic achievement” (Diekstra 5). This will assist both the educators and those who are being educated in handling such problems.
Family members need to understand disability of the child and curb it early enough before they reach the acute stage where it cannot be handled. They should monitor the child’s development for any abnormality. Furthermore, they can obtain help from psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals (Simpson 5) better in schools, educators need to re-plan and re-organize their teaching methods and the physical layout of the classroom. These will not only assist students with emotional disturbance and behavior problems but also other students will realize their fullest potential (DeHaven et al 23).
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs combat the social-emotional distress in children who are at school. There is need to make them aware of the problems associated with the social and the emotional wellbeing of children. In the United States, these programs are beneficial for the students with emotional problems. This is according to Payton et al and Diestra (Beckman 5)
The poor environment by which the child grows and develops causes many of the emotional and mental problems. Due to this, ensure that you get direction and guidance from a family therapist who will guide the growth and development of children. Family therapist assists the family to understand the feelings when a child has a problem. Through establishment of a good climate of support and education, family therapy helps family members gain extensive knowledge on their interrelated problems, reach to each other effectively through communication and work together to come up with strategies to nurture the child in a conducive environment (Debbie & Koplewicz 2).
Cognitive behavioral preventions can be used to curb the problems of anxiety and depression especially for the children going to school although this do not extend up to the children below five years of age. However, studies show that if one matches these interventions with the development level of the child, it can cure the children between 3 and 5 years of age (Gardner & Shaw 8).
Trends in psychological and emotional wellbeing of children and young people
This study based on the Australian children and the writer has compared the lifestyle of the children a few decades ago with today’s children (Holloway et al 10).
Majority of today’s children are progressing well in terms of the temperament style and behavioral problems. Psychological distress among the young children is decreasing nowadays. This relates to the knowledge level of the people and improvement of interaction among the people. Rural to urban migration has also led to improved social skills among the people.
A study also has shown that “children and young people express concern with regard to psychological-emotional wellbeing issues such as family conflict and coping with stress and depression” (Holloway et al 12). Today’s child can open up the mind and express an issue that is disturbing them. They have also invented different ways of handling and solving stress and depression. This means that the rate of the emotional problems is dropping as compared to the past decades.
Several factors affect the wellbeing of children and the young people with regard to the emotional and psychological disorders. The poor physical health has an impact on the mental well being of an individual. The body dissatisfaction and poor diets, education and work pressures causes a feeling that a non performing individual is an outcast in the society and the drastic change in the social and cultural issues.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs proof to be efficient in improving both the academic and social life. They improve students’ stress management, empathy, problem solving and decision-making skills (Holloway et al 152). The program assists the children through establishment of emotional and social competencies to identify and combat emotions, development of positive friendships, developing problem solving skills and responsible decision-making. The research has also shown that SEL programs undertaken by teachers improve children’s behavior, developing a positive attitude towards school, and improving academic performance (Beckham 3)
Recommendations
According to the research undertaken in this research paper, the writer recommends the following to prevent or treat mental and emotional problems in children.
Many of these emotional problems leads to lack of social skills and it is therefore recommended that teachers, paraprofessionals, family members and the community at large need to understand early enough that such children should be treated with the utmost care. They should not reject them but in fact handle them with a special care. When they perform poorly in school, they should be encouraged to feel a sense of love despite their underachievement.
There is need to educate people on proper dietary. Many of the mental and emotional disorders are associated to the poor diets. An individual needs to know that it is not about “filling the stomach” but eating the proper diet that will nourish the body well. Nutritionists and other health specialists provide information on dietary issues.
There is also need to have a thorough check up and analysis of the emotional distress caused by the hereditary issue. It is crucial to consult the health professionals to address such issues that are experienced in a certain lineage.
Some emotional problems are associated with the family factors such as child neglect and abuse. Parents need to know that the treatment of a child in the early stages of development is important.
Establishment of the out-of-class programs in schools will help students and pupils develop their relationship skill and self-management. These programs include social awareness creation, knowledge dissemination on emotional problems, social skills training, personal and individual peer counseling, cooperation and group works, developing a favorable environment for students in school, social, recreational and sporting or other physical activities, promoting psychological support to individual students by their peers, educators, family members and the entire community.
One should engage in activities that make him or her happy and do not allow stress to build up in the mind. In addition, one should participate in those activities and events that make other people happy and value him or her. In this case, one should build self-esteem and reduce the stress by taking a nature walk in a garden or a park, visit the places that will make him or her learn new things in life for example a museum, a club, art gallery or simply attending a class of education.
Conclusion
The environment through which the children grow and develop causes emotional and mental disorders in the school age and the pre-school age children. Studies have shown that in the past two or more decades, these disorders were rampant. With the information age, there have been several proposals and recommendations of solving such problems. As stated, “prevention is better than cure”, parents, educators, community and other stakeholders in child’s growth need to monitor the growth and development of children and provide adequate attention to them. Tomorrow’s nation lies in the young of today.