Many families in today’s world deal with childhood behavior issues that are severely disruptive and unmanageable feeling. Proper diagnosis and treatment can help alleviate symptoms and allow the family to function as a healthy unit. Navigating that path can be scary for parents. Psychology Today recently addressed the topic of child psychiatry and the medical treatment of complex mental health issues. For those in the West Side Cleveland area, we hope you’ll reach out to us to help.
Every medication has side effects, and rarely, those side effects are serious. Working with a skilled psychiatrist can help reduce the potential side effects of medication because your psychiatrist will assess your child’s overall health, explore risk factors, and carefully monitor the dosage. Even when there are some minimal risks or side effects associated with taking medication, the right psychiatric drug is still a good bet.
Psychiatric conditions ruin lives. They interfere with the ability to perform at school, to make friends, to form relationships, and to get a job. Mental illness is a factor in 90 percent of suicides, which means that untreated mental illness can be fatal.
Psychiatric conditions also increase the risk of physical health conditions. They can make it difficult to make good health decisions, and may directly affect physical health. One recent study found that people with untreated severe mental illnesses die, on average, 25 years younger than those in the general population. If you want your child to have a long and full life, treating her mental illness is one of the best choices you can make.
To read the complete article, click here.