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Why do you think parents miss the warning signs of mental illness in their kids?

Poll - Total Votes: 15

Busy with their own problems

They hope their kid will just grow out of it

It's hard to tell

It's easy to miss

Everyone is on the spectrum of mental illness

Show Results

You can only vote on one answer.

Loss of interest in usual fun activities

Withdrawal from social or usual pleasurable activities

Difficulties with concentration
Running away from home or talking about running away from home

Talking about death or dying, giving away (or talking about giving away) favorite possessions, writing goodbye letters

Sleep increase (or decrease)

Appetite/weight changes (more likely an increase, in depressed teens)

Occasionally, new or recent onset agitation or aggression

Comments indicating hopelessness or low self-worth

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Phire1 · 51-55, F

Kids communicate their struggles differently than adults do. For instance, if a child says, "my stomach hurts," it may mean they're having anxiety.

Lostpoet · M

@Phire1 Good point. But after six months of that the parent should take the kid in to get looked at and then doctor should recognize the difference.

Phire1 · 51-55, F

@Lostpoet Yeah but, the stomach hurting might not be an ongoing every day thing...

Lostpoet · M

@Phire1 True. And that is one symptom Robert Pirsig's boy had, he talked about in his book, but he new it was a mental disorder. I think miss diagnoses is just as scary as no diagnoses too. I remember it seemed like every kid my age was diagnosed with ADD and now they are finding out about a lot of negative effects those drugs have.

Phire1 · 51-55, F

@Lostpoet Thank you for letting me know about Robert 'Pirsig' as I don't think I've heard of him.

ADHD symptoms are sometimes actually part of a different mental health disorder. I agree that misdiagnoses are an issue as well as no diagnoses.
Also, what some symptoms appear to be in younger people can actually be a part of something else but, mental health professionals can't diagnose the child as something else until the child is older. My older son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 6 yrs old. When he was 20, he was diagnosed with ASD. Earlier in his years, PDD was mentioned.

Lostpoet · M

@Phire1 I'm sorry to hear that ASD is hard. I have a cousin that was diagnosed with it at a very young age. And he is now very smart and self sufficient.

Phire1 · 51-55, F

@Lostpoet It's a spectrum... my older son is high-functioning but that doesn't mean he doesn't struggle with things...

Lostpoet · M

@Phire1 They are learning a lot about autism and hopefully they come up with a cure soon. I heard that they've discovered a connection between the microbes in our guts and autism.

Phire1 · 51-55, F

@Lostpoet I would like to see credible peer-reviewed sources about that.

I don't there is a "cure."

Lostpoet · M

@Phire1 Yeah, it's all just googled stuff. But I mean, and I don't want to hit a nerve because I don't know your relationship with your son, but wouldn't it be nice if one day he'll be able to look you dead in the eyes and openly tell you how much he loves you and how much he knows you've done for him. And one day he might be able to have a relationship and a family of his own? I don't know how autism works, or the struggles your son has to go through on the daily, but the brain is just another organ, and I think they are finally starting to understand what can go wrong and how to fix it. By the way, I wish I could look my mom in the eyes and tell her that I love and how much I know she's had to put up with me.