Mental Health in Schools. Part 2. A mentally healthy mind.

Ø Inappropriate emotional responses may be due to changes in family life, death of a grandparent, move of family or new child, or environment.

Ø When should parents seek professional help?- "If the problems a child is experiencing are seen as fairly severe, and are unresponsive to interventions at school, in the community or at home, an assessment by a competent mental health professional is probably in order". "How much distress is your child's problems causing you, the child, or other members of the family?" If a child's aggressive or argumentative behaviors, or sad or withdrawn behaviors are seen as a problem for a child or members of his or her family, then the child' s behaviors are a problem that should be looked at, regardless of their severity."

Ø Suggested guidelines for determining when behavior is symptomatic of mental illness-: duration of behavior, intensity of the behavior and age of child.

2. From: http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsf... American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. "Know when to seek help for your child". List of signals for younger children and pre-adolescents and adolescents.

3. From: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/childqa... Questions and answers about treatment of mental illness in children and information about medication and drugs including a medications chart- different types of drugs, stimulants, anti-depressants, anti-psychotic and mood stabilizing

These are just a sample of what is available. I suggest that you take some time and browse these sites for further information and for links to many other invaluable sources. We must educate ourselves about mental health particularly in our children and pay attention to their emotional needs.

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