BEHAVIOURAL DISORDERS

CHILDHOOD DEPRESSION-Depression is an episodic, recurring disorder characterized by persistent and pervasive sadness or unhappiness, loss of enjoyment of everyday activities, irritability, and associated symptoms such as negative thinking, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, and appetite and sleep disturbances. Just as depression is seen to disturb the adult population, in the same manner, childhood depression is a common cause of suffering for children. Quite often it is the cause of poor academic and social outcome. Depression in children puts them at risk of suicide and substance abuse. Some typical symptoms of depression can be irritability (temper tantrums, noncompliance), somatic complaints, crying, sad mood, apprehensiveness and withdrawal. A child who used to play often with friends may now spend most of the time alone and without interests. Things that were once fun now bring little joy to the depressed child.  Children with depressive features often perform poorly in studies and have difficulty enjoying the company of friends. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for depressed children.

Worried that your child might be having depression:

1. Does your child often refuse to go to School?
2. Does your child express feelings of sadness, guilt, emptiness and/or worthlessness?
3. Is your child having difficulty in maintaining concentration and completing school work?
4. Does your child complain of physical problems like stomach ache, headache or lack of energy?
5. Does your child prefer to stay alone or is irritable most of the time?

Services, we provide that can help your child and you:

• Psychometric Assessment
• Play Therapy
• Parental Counselling
• Medicine (if required)
• Child – based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Conduct disorder– refers to age-inappropriate actions and attitudes that violate family expectations, society’s norms, and the personal or property rights of others. Children with conduct problems show a wide range of rule-violating behaviors, from swearing and temper tantrums to severe vandalism, theft, and assault. As part of growing up, most children and youth break the rules from time to time—they fight, skip school, break curfew, steal, and so on. However, the symptoms of conduct disorder must be frequent and severe enough to go beyond the mischief and pranks common among children and adolescents. These behaviors include aggression and cruelty toward people or animals, damaging property, lying, and stealing. Often the behavior is marked by callousness, viciousness, and lack of remorse. Children with conduct disorder often are unable to appreciate how their behaviour can hurt others and generally have little guilt or remorse about hurting others.

Worried that your child might have Conduct Disorder:

1. Does your child show aggression towards people and/or animals by bullying or intimidating others, often initiating physical fights, or being physically cruel to animals?
2. Has your child engaged in any form of stealing such as shoplifting, purse snatching, and/or robbery?
3. Has your child deliberately set fires or destroyed property that belongs to others?
4. Does your child often lie to manipulate others?
5. Has your child run away from home / school or has been truant from school?

If you have said yes to most of the above, we might be able to help you.

Services, we provide that can help your child and you:

• Psychoeducation
• Psychometric assessment
• Counselling
• Behaviour Modification
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• Family therapy
• Play therapy

Oppositional defiant disorder– is a behavioral disorder of childhood characterized by recurrent disobedient, negativistic, or hostile behavior toward authority figures that is more pronounced than usually seen in children of similar age, lasting longer than six months. It generally manifests as temper tantrums, active defiance of rules, dawdling, argumentativeness, stubbornness, or being easily annoyed. The defiant behaviors typically do not involve aggression, destruction, theft, or deceit, which distinguishes this disorder from conduct disorder. ODD is diagnosed if a child does not meet the criteria for conduct disorder— most especially, extreme physical aggressiveness—but exhibits such behaviors as losing his or her temper, arguing with adults, repeatedly refusing to comply with requests from adults, deliberately doing things to annoy others, and being angry, spiteful, touchy, or vindictive. Oppositional defiant disorder should be distinguished from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, with which it often co-occurs, in the sense that the defiant behavior is not thought to arise from attentional deficits or sheer impulsiveness and children with ODD are more deliberate in their unruly behavior than children with ADHD.

Worried that your child might have ODD

1. Does your child often blame others for his/her mistakes or misbehaviour?
2. Is your child touchy, prickly, or easily offended?
3. Is your child spiteful, vindictive, or revenge seeking?
4. Does your child actively defy or refuse to comply with requests and rules at home or at school?
5. Does your child argue excessively with adults and other authority figures?
6. Does your child persistently test limits by ignoring rules or arguing?
7. Is your child unwilling or unable to compromise, give in, or negotiate with adults or peers?

Services, we provide that can help your child and you:

• Psychoeducation
• Psychometric assessment
• Counselling
• Behaviour Modification
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• Family therapy
• Play therapy