As parents, we all want the very best for our kids – the best teachers, coaches, and health professionals, among others.
About one in five of our children, teenagers, and young adults will experience a mental health issue and ideally receive mental health care.
There’s an understandable tendency to portray Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in films. Silver Linings Playbook, Fatal Attraction, and Girl Interrupted are just a few.
It makes sense.
Question: What’s wrong with our daughter Maura? She just told us, “Sometimes I just feel like hurting myself.”
Maura, a 13-year-old girl, came into my office because she told her parents, “Sometimes I just feel like hurting myself…I want to jump out the window or suffocate myself with my pillow.
I’ve always had a problem with the label “personality disorder,” and so have many of my patients. I think it’s because we typically associate “personality” with a “person,” so the term seems to suggest that there’s something wrong with the human being.
Listen to our podcast episode on Cognitive Behavior Therapy, featuring Susan Sprich, PhD.
Jenny was a 15-year-old high school sophomore who had suffered from depression for six months. Her pediatrician referred her to a psychiatrist, who prescribed Prozac for her depressive symptoms.
My 4-year-old was just diagnosed with Separation Anxiety Disorder. What is it?
You may already have guessed from the name of the diagnosis that separation anxiety disorder has something to do with the anxiety a child feels when separated from parents or caregivers.
For more information about eating disorders and ways you can help make a difference for a young person in your life, or for yourself, please visit NEDA the National Eating Disorder Association website.
Let’s play a game.
I’m going to tell you about some hypothetical patients. These aren’t actual patients, but they could be. And it is that possibility that I want you to keep in mind as you try to figure out what, if anything, ails these individuals.
Patient #1.
Here at The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, we know that there just aren’t enough child psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers — anyone who helps to take care of kids — to go around. Yet there is an incredible need for resources to help support the mental, behavioral, and emotional well-being of our future generation.
Many families are growing more concerned about suicide, especially among young people. Yet, suicide is often preventable when family members, friends, and communities learn how to recognize warning signs and connect those who are struggling with help.