Among the emotional disorders in children, we can distinguish, among others anxiety, fear, depression, bulimia, anorexia, bedwetting, stuttering, tics. Let's take a look at preschool and school children and teenagers and try to answer the following questions: why do they struggle with developmental difficulties, where do their problems come from, what can they lead to and how to help and accompany them effectively. We invite you to read the article.
Emotional disorders in children
Emotional disturbance is an incorrect emotional response to various stimuli coming from the outside. Emotional disturbances are marked by extreme mood swings and disruptions in thinking and acting. In children, they can appear from the first years of their life until adulthood. At each developmental moment, they take different forms, presenting characteristic symptoms. Their source of disturbances is multifactorial, incl. the underlying cause may be neurobiology and psychosocial aspects.
Emotional disorders in young children most often they take the form of neurotic reactions. The child begins to react with intense and morbid, excessive fear to situations that arouse stress in him, and which themselves do not pose a direct threat. Such a situation may take place after a traumatic event or psychological trauma.
Emotional disorders in children caused can be by:
- All diseases that negatively affect the hormonal sphere, incl. on the level of neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine);
- Atypical structure and operation of the central nervous system;
- Personality structure - excessive timidity, hypochondria, lack of self-confidence;
- Violence, quarrels, atmosphere of fear, sexual harassment, addiction;
- Parents' educational mistakes, including a disturbed process of socialization. These may include: overprotection or lack of care from adults, the child's absence or overwhelming presence in the life of a parent, and over-pampering or over-criticism.
Emotional disorders in preschool children
Emotional disturbances in preschool children often stem from disturbances in the current rhythm of life. Such a situation may occur when a child is separated from its parents for many hours or has experienced the first, wider contact with a social environment other than home, or with a peer environment.
At the stage of pre-school development, the child already has signs showing all the educational mistakes made in the first 3 years of the child's life, all pathologies that the child participated in at the family home, as well as severe shocks and traumas. Looking at both emotional and behavioral disorders in children aged 3-7, we can distinguish very specific problems:
- Neurotic disorders having an anxiety background, occurring in various types of reactions to stress, a sense of danger, the inability to adapt and separate. They manifest themselves through tearfulness, apathy and aggression.
- Fear - feeling caused by a specific threat, obstacle and danger, e.g. violence, fear of the dark.
- Bedwetting - involuntary, uncontrolled leakage of urine at night. This disorder is associated with a lack of proper reflexes, but also associated with a high level of anxiety.
- Stutter - a nervous inability to utter certain syllables fluently or their repetition.
- Tiki - movements of specific groups of facial muscles that, in an uncontrolled way, create a series of facial movements. They often become active after traumatic events, after long functioning in pathological factors (physical and psychological violence).
- Emotional indifferencea, incompetent showing of affection, which is the result of insufficient contact with the mother in the first years of life, lack of closeness and bonding;
- Psychomotor hyperactivity - nervous system disorders which may have grounds to monitor your child for ADHD;
- Aggression - physical, mental, verbal;
- Eating disorders - anorexia or overeating;
- Psychomotor inhibition - apathy, withdrawal, which has various aspects, e.g. a motivated but tense child, or with lowered self-esteem and sharpened internal critic, or a child who is subordinate but reticent.
A child suffering from an emotional disorder may also become permanently fearful, shy and unsure of what he or she is right now. In such a situation, the child's motor activity also decreases, which is associated with a decreased interest in the peer group. The child functions as withdrawn, does not want to act because he is afraid of rejection, ridicule. Yes, he carries out his duties carefully, but only because he is unsure of his skills and values. Exaggerated politeness, passivity, obedience, and helpfulness come from fear of being criticized.
A child with emotional disorders is seemingly indifferent and restrained in expressing negative and positive feelings, for fear of the reaction of the environment and possible unpleasantness related to it.
