Children and Mental Health

     I saw a post going around on my Facebook over the weekend, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. In this post, a man says he saw a reporter ask a school principal (on the news or something like that), "What are we missing? What do kids need?" The principal tried to mention mental health and other relevant issues for children. The person that posted about this obviously didn't like what the principal said because the person sort of went on a rant about it. The person on Facebook said things like, "None of that mumbo jumbo makes a lick of sense. Here is what children need..." Then the person on Facebook went on to list that kids just need parents, other family members like grandparents and cousins, a bicycle, time to play outside, coloring books, and church. Basically children need, "faith, family, and good ole fashioned fun," the person states.
     While I agree that children need a support system, love, and time to just be children, I don't like that this person on Facebook completely discounted any discussion of mental health in relation to children. And, friends, this post was being spread around on Facebook like wildfire, which says something that concerns me. To me, that post being shared a lot say that a lot of people might have the idea that children, unless they had an extremely traumatic childhood, don't experience clinical mental health conditions.
     Any child, even those that come from ideally functional, loving families, can have a mental health condition. As someone who dealt with childhood anxiety and, what I didn't recognize at the time, as panic attacks that started when I was somewhere between 7 and 9 years old, I can tell you that children can have mental health conditions that need to be treated. (My doctor wanted to put me on medication.) I know someone who experienced depression so severe they wanted to die at age 8, and she will tell you that she wishes her parents would have gotten her treatment. Family time, church, and some "good ole fashioned fun" weren't going to solve any of our problems. Treatment was the only thing that was going to help.
     Mental illness does not discriminate based on age, gender, family structure, or socioeconomic status. Children's brains can become unwell, and they will need actual treatment, with a therapist to become well again. (Why do you think schools have school/guidance counselors? It's not just for teaching young children to share and helping older students pick out classes...)
     So, the "mumbo jumbo" that principal was talking about actually does make sense. (Some) parents are missing the signs that their child is in need of mental health treatment. The fact that children can have clinical mental health conditions before they even get anywhere near high school, where it's more likely to be addressed, is what we, as a society, are missing. Kids, even the young ones, need to know that if they feel sad a lot, or afraid all the time, or angry all the time, or any other kind of "funny"/"weird" / "not right" feelings they can talk to their parents about it and that their parents will ACTUALLY listen and possibly consult a professional.
     I'll end with this: Children, even really young children, can have a mental health condition. Mental illness does not discriminate based on age, family structure, or socioeconomic status. I know it's hard, but everyone needs to talk to their children about mental health so that they know their parents will actually listen and try to help them if they experience symptoms. And please, don't write it off or ignore it if you notice changes in your children or if they come to you and say something feels wrong just because you think your child "shouldn't have a mental health condition".