CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH BPS214

Learn to recognise mental health problems in children and youth

Mental health is a difficult issue for children and adolescents because they are not always able to express their feelings accurately and are not always taken seriously. As an adult, you can help children that are suffering from, or you think could be suffering from, mental health issues if you are able to recognise difficulties. By developing an understanding of the types of problems the child may have, you can better support the child. 

 

This course emphasises the usefulness of understanding what to expect in normal childhood development so that this can be used as a benchmark with which to cross-reference suspect patterns of behaviour, and determine whether observed behaviour is problematic.

Whilst this course is primarily aimed at professionals who work with children it may also be of value to concerned parents who wish to gain a better insight into children's mental health.  

 

Understanding children's psychological problems

Children are not adults and the way that mental health conditions arise, and the signs and symptoms associated with them, may be slightly different in children compared to adults. The way that mental health conditions are treated in children and adolescents will also vary compared to how they are treated in adults and it is therefore useful to recognise this difference.

Children may have a limited awareness of what is "normal" so may be suffering unnecessarily. By recognising a problem in a child or adolescent you care for, you will be able to help them receive suitable treatment to help them manage, or recover from their issue.

 

Helping children

This course will consider the nature and scope of mental health issues among children and adolescents.

This course will teach the student to:
  • Recognise possible signs and symptoms of mental health issues
  • Develop a greater understanding about a range of mental health disorders
  • Identify a range of suitable treatment options


Course Contents and Structure

Ten Lessons as follows:

  1. Nature and Scope of Mental Health – looking at difference between adult and child and adolescent mental health. What we mean by mental health? Mental wellness etc.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • UNDERSTANDING NORMAL CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
    • GOOD MENTAL HEALTH
    • UNDERSTANDING CHILDHOOD MENTAL ILLNESS
    • PREVALENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
    • DIFFERENCES TO ADULT MENTAL HEALTH
    • AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MENTAL HEALTH INDUSTRY
  2. Childhood Depression also how this changes when reach adolescence. signs and symptoms and treatments.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • TYPES OF DEPRESSION IN CHILDHOOD
    • DIAGNOSIS OF DEPRESSION IN CHILDREN
    • CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD DEPRESSION
    • ASSESSING RISK OF SUICIDE
  3. Anxiety Disorders - separation, generalised etc. school phobias, social phobias etc. signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION
    • SCOPE AND NATURE OF ANXIETY DISORDERS
    • DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS
    • CHILDHOOD ANXIETY DISORDERS
    • ADOLESCENT ANXIETY DISORDERS
    • OTHER ANXIETY RELATED PROBLEMS
  4. Tic Disorders - Tourette's etc. signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION TO TIC DISORDERS
    • TYPES OF TICS
    • GILLES DE LA TOURETTE SYNDROME (TOURETTE'S DISORDER)
    • TRANSIENT TIC DISORDER
    • CHRONIC TIC DISORDER
    • TIC DISORDER (NOS)
  5. Brain Disorders (Injury & Disease) signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION
    • DIFFERENCES TO ADULTS
    • TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
    • CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS
    • GENETIC DISORDERS
    • TUMOURS
    • INFECTIOUS DISEASES
    • CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASE
    • EPILEPSY
    • ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS
  6. Other Disorders - Motor Disorders, Elimination Disorders, Feeding & Eating Disorders; (there is less literature on these but they could be broken down into more than one lesson if necessary) signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION
    • ELIMINATION DISORDERS
    • ENCOPRESIS
    • ENURESIS
    • FEEDING AND EATING DISORDERS OF CHILDHOOD
    • REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER
    • SELECTIVE MUTISM
    • STEREOTYPIC MOVEMENT DISORDER
  7. Environmental Problems - Abuse and Neglect, Relationship Problems signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION
    • CHILD ABUSE
    • DEFINITION OF CHILD ABUSE
    • FACTITIOUS DISORDER BY PROXY
    • THE EFFECTS OF ABUSE
    • ATTACHMENT ISSUES
    • LIFESTYLE
  8. Problems of Adolescence - Anorexia, Bulimia, Substance Use, Family Conflict signs/symptoms/treatment
    • INTRODUCTION
    • SIGNIFICANT DISORDERS OF ADOLESCENCE
  9. Holistic and Alternative Approaches to Treatment - this should be a general approach to dealing with children & adolescents i.e. not directed at specific conditions
    • DRUG TREATMENTS
    • FOOD AND MENTAL HEALTH
    • ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES - homeopathy, art therapy, music therapy, counselling/psychotherapy, craniosacral/biodynamic osteopathy, kinesiology, aromatherapy, sensory integration, behavioural optometry, hearing and mental health, movement therapies.
  10. Special Project - student chooses something of interest

 

Duration: 100 hours

 

GOOD MENTAL HEALTH 

Often when we think of mental health we consider the negatives, the “problems”, the mental “illness”, the mental health “issue” rather than "good" mental health. What do we mean by good mental health?

Austrian psychologist, Jahoda (1907 to 2001) argued that psychologists focus too heavily on mental disease and mental illness rather than mental wellbeing and mental health. In her book, Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health, she argued that what we consider “mentally ill” depends on social conventions. She believed that the idea of mental health is the normal functioning of the mind in the appropriate social context.

Jahoda surveyed doctors and psychiatrists and people responsible for mental health in 1958 and found six characteristics that were the conditions for normality.

These were:

  • personal growth and development
  • positive self esteem and strong sense of identity
  • ability to cope with stressful situations 
  • autonomy and independence
  • accurate perception of reality
  • successful mastery of the environment, including relationships.


So these will include factors such as:

  • They are able to manage time well
  • Able to form relationships successfully
  • They have meaningful social relationships
  • They are able to work well with other people
  • They are regularly active
  • They have high self-esteem

Jahoda studied unemployed people and found that they are often unhappy because they do not have these qualities in their lives. For example, they may not be working with others, they may not be regularly active, etc. She argued that this unhappiness was not “just” because they may be poorer due to their unemployment, but also due to these other factors. Many modern psychologists have also confirmed her research, suggesting that meaningful work and close social relationships are important to our psychological well being. 

Jahoda’s work has been criticised, as it is hard to assess to what degree a person meets these criteria. Also, not everyone in psychology agrees with the list as they appear to share Western cultural values. Autonomy for example, is not so culturally valid in more collectivist cultures, where cooperation is valued more than independence. 

But Jahoda’s work is a good starting point to consider what we mean by mental illness and mental abnormality.

In psychology, there is debate as to how we define mental illness and mental abnormality. Jahoda’s work gives us the idea of ideal mental health, so we would consider that if we stray from these criteria, we are not necessarily in our ideal mental health.

 

How This Course Could Help You

The course is aimed at people with an interest in: 

  • Youth work
  • Child and adolescent counselling
  • School counselling
  • Teaching
  • Child psychology
  • Caring roles
  • Youth coaching

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