28 January, 2014

Pediatric Psychiatry In NYC Is An Essential Service

By Nelda Powers


Many children have mental health issues. They are in need of the services of a practitioner of pediatric psychiatry in NYC. Children are treated by this professional from an early age and through their teen years. Many of the illnesses that affect grown-ups can also make children disturbed.

However, it is more prevalent than one would expect. In the US there are almost five million children who have a mental illness serious enough to significantly impact their lives. Each year twenty percent of all kids in the US are affected.

Mental illness often has physical components such as brain chemistry and genetics. Children are hard to diagnose because of the many changes that occur as part of the natural growth process. A teen, for example, may appear to have a mental disorder when he is just acting like a teen.

Some children only act out at home and others only show signs of mental disorder in school. He may find it difficult to fit in with other kids. A school counselor does not see every child and thus cannot be of help.

The education of any psychiatrist takes more than eleven years. Additional time is added when he pursues a specialty. Unlike the psychologist, he can prescribe medication for those patients who need it to maintain stability.

Using his diagnostic abilities, he can evaluate the mental condition of the child. The medication that works best will be prescribed. There are some conditions that are easy to spot. One of these is disruptive behavior disorder. This child breaks rules in school and is not orderly when at home.

Anxiety disorders render a child nervous and in need of tranquilizers. He is also fearful of things that do not scare the average kid. Developmentally disordered individuals find the world a difficult place to comprehend.

Eating disorders are usually found in teen age girls. Being anorexic or bulimic is not unusual. The child with schizophrenia has thoughts that are disordered. Mood disorders include depression and bipolar illness.

The child psychiatrist will see patients in his office and provide outpatient care. If he works in another setting it is likely to be a hospital or residential care center. In many of these positions he works with other mental health professionals.

The Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders is a manual that defines all acknowledged mental illnesses and lists the symptoms that they entail. It is a publication of the American Psychiatric Assoc. A child or adult must have a specific set of symptoms and have them for a specific length of time before an illness can be diagnosed.

Effective treatment may be a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy. It may help a child to understand her own condition and learn how to cope with it.

The case of bipolar disorder may require medicine to control it. It is a matter of brain chemistry that is regulated by medication. The mental health practitioner of pediatric psychiatry in NYC uses the lowest effective dose of the type that is required.




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