Mental Health Disorders in Childhood

A number of mental health disorders may occur in childhood. However, many children have mental health problems that interfere with normal development and functioning. In the U.S. alone, 1 in 10 children and adolescents suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment (an estimated total of 12 million children).
However, in any given year, it is estimated that fewer than 1 in 5 of these children receives needed treatment.
Recent evidence compiled by the World Health Organisation indicates that by the year 2020, childhood neuropsychiatric disorders will rise proportionately by over 50%, internationally, to become one of the five most common causes of morbidity, mortality, and disability among children. 1
The following table contains selected mental disorders of childhood and adolescence from the DSM-IV :

	class="menu"Anxiety Disorders (e.g. separation anxiety disorder , generalised anxiety disorder , post-traumatic stress disorder , obsessive-compulsive disorder ) Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behaviour Disorders (e.g. conduct disorder ) Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders (e.g. childhood disintegrative disorder ) Eating Disorders (e.g. anorexia nervosa) Elimination Disorders (e.g., enuresis, encopresis) Learning and Communication Disorders Mood Disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder , bipolar disorder (manic depression) , dysthymia , suicidal behaviour ) Schizophrenia Tic Disorders ( Tourette's syndrome ) Source: [ 2 ]

In addition to these disorders we also take a look at somatoform disorders (e.g. hysteria) in this section.

The information in this page is presented in summarised form and has been taken from the following source(s):
1. National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
2. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, Ch. 3 Children and Mental Health : http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/