Mental Illness Signs in Your Children That You Are Ignoring

In today's world life has begun to resemble a treadmill. Being engaged in our own problems and mishaps, there can be times we overlook the clear signs of help our loved ones are asking for. Children too, go through a lot in their growing stages. There are times when they might try to talk to you or share how they are feeling, but, you may treat their issues as being relatively less important to what’s going on with you in life. You might think that they are small and ignore them, but this creates a wall between you and them which gets thicker over time.

Today, most children do not feel close to their parents and are not free to share their thoughts and feelings with them. It all begins with small-small ignorances from the elder sides, later making the children hesitant to approach. This creates feelings of alienation and loneliness in them. Later, when children suffer from mental pressures and serious issues, they do not have anyone to share them with. This comes out in various other forms such as outbursts, fights, and negativity between the two parties. You might feel that the child is becoming disrespectful, but the real reason for his behaviour is what he is going through and unable to share.

Some mental illness signs in children that you are overlooking:

1. Sudden behavioural changes and frequent outbursts

Remember the time when you went to talk about a normal thing and got an absurd response? Or maybe every conversation you get into later turns into a fight with them. You might think they are just misbehaving, but there is a lot that’s hidden. They might be going through something they are not comfortable in sharing with you, but really need help about at that point in time.

They are just preoccupied in the same thought about their issue and perhaps, get irritated because you are not there even when you are! What I mean is, you are physically present but emotionally absent. They can't confide and express themselves and ask you for help. Look beyond what's visible, if they seem to be irritated and preoccupied at the back of their mind for a long time, maybe you should take a step forward and try to find out what's wrong. They need it.

2. Disturbed routine

If you observe disturbances in their everyday routines such as waking up in the middle of the night or being asleep for long hours, anything that is different and weird from what they used to follow earlier, there is something wrong. As an adult, you are sometimes hindered by a thought and remain sleepless throughout the night. Same goes for them. They may also go through the same without you noticing.

Children often end up keeping a lot to themselves. They might suffer from mental pressures and anxiety without themselves knowing about these terms. They are mostly attracted towards sharing their problems with their friends and people that fall in the same age group as theirs. But friends might not be able to always provide them with the required help and guide them well.

It’s just the understanding part that you need to work upon because that’s the most important that’s present in the friendship and often missing in parenting. They might need help but are afraid to ask for it because of their past experiences. Try and reach out to them yourself.

3. Loss of interests

The child who used to talk so much on the dining table is always quiet now? He/she is losing interests in the things he used to enjoy a lot earlier. If you have observed degradation in his grades, try not to scold him but find out the reason. Is there something bothering him that’s making him concentrate less on his studies?

Loss of interests can be due to preoccupied thoughts and problems. It's almost similar to when you have had a bad start to a day and it ruins your whole day. The start sticks to your mind for the rest of the day later making you uninterested in all the coming activities.

Conclusion

Children may hesitate to ask for help a lot of times. They are just waiting for you to recognize and understand what they are feeling. Try to see what’s behind their anger and disturbed remarks. They are not always on the wrong side. They may not speak what they are feeling, but they are screaming through their actions. Sometimes there can be some extreme situations they are experiencing. Don’t treat them as being small, treat them as humans just like you and me.

Mental health problems in children are rising day by day. They have become very common, but the sad part is very few of them can conclude that they are going through something as serious that can be termed as an illness. In many cases lack of proper guidance and support, can also push them to taking extreme steps such as self harm. The only key to this big door is to connect with them and share. Sit with them, take out time for them. It’s sometimes tough to get what’s in their mind, but patience is the key.

Here is a quick to-do list, that you should follow when they share something or talk to you :

1. Try to view things and situations from their perspective.

2. Listen to the problem carefully. First listen to the whole situation, before you give your reaction.

3. Focus more on the solution, and less on the problem.

4. Avoid bringing up their previous mistakes or making them count how many times they have done it.

5. Lastly, support them. They need it the most.

I agree, there can be times when children are on the wrong side and its their fault. You don’t need to support them in their wrong doings, but you shouldn’t go to the very extreme and punish them. Just be there for them, make them understand that it’s their fault, but don’t be harsh. If you correct and support them in the initial stages, it will protect them from future problems.