You can protect your child from any external threat. Or, at least, you can take adequate measures to ensure that your child remains safe even when you are not around. But what do you do when the enemy is right inside your child? When the threat is coming from his/her mind and has no specific telling signs? Anxiety and depression have, unfortunately become an epidemic among children all over the world. These two diseases have the highest possibility of going unnoticed and ultimately turning fatal. Thus, you should start asking the question as to how do I know if my child needs counselling and you should do it now.
In this article:
Irrespective of the fact that your child has a mental health issue or not, awareness about it can become your greatest asset. By knowing the signs and symptoms, you can avert a delayed treatment. Here are your answers on how to tell if your child needs therapy, the signs that you should keep an eye out for.
1. Irregular sleep pattern for a long time
An anxious mind does not allow the body to sleep. A depressed mind encourages the body to sleep at odd hours. Some erratic sleep behaviour for around a week is normal, but if the pattern continues for more than a fortnight where your child is not sleeping at nights and also failing to catch up with it, these are signs that your child may need a therapist. Sleep is the first behaviour that suffers first. Seek help if the patterns do not seem normal.
2. Frequent acting outs
We all have our bad days. Hence, some outbursts are typical. Plus, growing children have to accept a lot of changes around them, along with their hormonal developments, which tend to make them cranky. But the need for counselling for child behaviour comes in if the acting outs happen frequently and way beyond the acceptable boundaries. If your child is throwing tantrums or threatening you at the smallest of instances, you should take professional help.
3. No motivation for any activity
Right from brushing his/her teeth or taking a shower or going to school or eating dinner, under depression, your child will have zero motivation for the daily activities of life and probably will prefer lying down on his/her bed and stay locked in the room. Depression feels like doom. It seems that everything around is pointless. The question, why do children need counselling, answers itself then as your child’s very survival comes under threat.
4. Worries about everything under the sun
Anxiety, simply speaking, is fixating excessively in the future. A child suffering from anxiety will worry about everything. While stressing about assignments and exams are healthy, but worrying about what to eat, people’s opinions, the stranger outside, weather, and other such daily entities to the extent that becomes crippling is definitely not normal. Chronic anxiety lays the foundation for depression to arrive, and here, your child needs counseling.
Be a caring parent in every way. Answer the question of how to know if your child needs therapy early and ensure his/her present and future well-being.
