Clinical disorders in children, including symptoms, behavioural conditions and developmental concerns, helping parents better understand challenges and seek appropriate support.
Unpredictable in-game rewards exploit adolescents’ highly reactive reward systems before the brain’s self-control centres have fully matured, experts warn. Teenagers are particularly vulnerable to gaming and gambling addiction because the brain systems linked to reward and self-control do not mature…
A review of trials involving more than 600 young people suggests SSRIs can improve obsessive-compulsive symptoms and nearly double treatment response, but work best alongside realistic expectations and, where possible, exposure-based therapy. Parents and clinicians often hope an SSRI will…
Quietness is often a child’s natural way of observing and adjusting, but sudden withdrawal, distress or silence in particular settings can point to anxiety or selective mutism. A quiet child in a busy room can be easy to miss. They…
School counsellors can provide short-term, school-based support, while outside therapists offer more consistent help when anxiety or distress begins affecting life beyond the classroom. When a child starts dreading school, many parents face the same question: should they speak to…
Clinicians say boys’ growing need for independence is often part of identity-building, not rejection, and that patient listening can help fathers remain a trusted influence. Many parents find that once children enter adolescence, conversation can narrow to a few words…
The myth of effortless maternal instinct can turn ordinary vulnerability into shame, delaying support for mothers, fathers and babies when joined-up perinatal care is most needed. The myth of effortless maternal instinct can leave new mothers feeling alone at precisely…
Guidance counsellor Yücel Şahbaz has turned his experience raising an autistic child into a volunteer programme using a 48-question assessment and individual education plans to support families in İznik. Yücel Şahbaz, a guidance counsellor in İznik, Bursa, has turned his…
A shortage of residential care places is leaving children who do not need acute psychiatric treatment in hospital wards, consuming scarce beds and cutting them off from school and normal life. Portugal’s child protection and mental health systems are under…
Six-item versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory retained much of the longer test’s reliability in Turkish adolescents, but researchers say further validation is needed before clinical use. Turkish researchers have developed and tested shorter versions of one of the best-known…
Selective mutism can leave children speaking normally at home but unable to talk in classrooms and other stressful settings, making early recognition and coordinated support essential. A child who is lively at home but becomes silent in the classroom may…
A study of more than 2.3 million Ontario children found rising diagnosis rates among those from poorer neighbourhoods and immigrant families, highlighting the role of pregnancy risks, access to care and culturally appropriate services. A large Canadian study has found…
Clalit Health Services says anxiety, PTSD and psychiatric emergencies among children have continued to rise years after 7 October, with evacuees facing the sharpest impact. Clalit Health Services says the psychological toll of the war that began after Oct. 7…
