I've advocated before that parents and doctors take childhood mental illness seriously. The developmental stakes are high, and an untreated mental or emotional illness can affect a child's academic, social, and emotional development for years to come. Also, an early age of onset is often a sign that a case is especially severe, warranting aggressive treatment to reduce the child's suffering.
Prompt and effective treatment can also prevent or minimize the trauma of severe mental illness. The initial onset of mental illness can be so painful, so frightening, and so damaging to a child or adolescent's understanding of themselves that it leaves indelible scars. In my case, many of the most insidious effects of depression did not result from the illness itself, but arose from the long-lasting effects of that unresolved trauma.
This article describes the results of a study that examined how children with mental illness fare later in life. Overall, they are less financially stable and less likely to form long-lasting relationships. I can relate, as my own illness has made work and school difficult at times, and was probably the biggest contributing factor to a major romantic breakup.
Of course, treating childhood mental illness is tricky because it's sometimes difficult to differentiate normal childhood behavior issues from the initial phases of mental illness. But by taking the possibility of mental illness seriously parents can get an expert evaluation early on to help tell the difference.




Recent Comments