Saturday, January 25, 2014

Treatment Is Available In Pediatric Psychiatry In NYC

By Nelda Powers


Services of the branch of medicine called pediatric psychiatry in NYC is widely used. This specialty treats patients from early childhood on up through adolescence. Children can be subject to the same mental disorders that afflict adults. They may go undiagnosed because parents do not expect them to develop in children.

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 illnesses such as bipolar disorder and clinical depression require prescription medication to stabilize them. It is more challenging to try to diagnose the youngest children. They do not always have the vocabulary to fully express their feelings. A teen may act crazy although he is just being 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.

The developmentally disordered child finds the world surrounding him difficult to understand. He has a confused state of mind that makes everything difficult for him. Those with anxiety disorders are fearful and nervous.

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.

A psychiatrist may have an office if he is in private practice. He may provide therapy there and inpatient care in a hospital or residential treatment center. Other health care professionals may work with him.

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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