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Summary
Nurses who work with children and young people need to have a basic knowledge of the symptoms of children's mental health illnesses so that they can make appropriate referrals. This articles highlights the risk and protective factors involved and the tools that are used to assess the mental health of children and young people.
Keywords
Children: behaviour
Child psychology
Mental health: services
These keywords are based on the subject headings from the British Nursing Index. This article has been subject to open review. For related articles and author guidelines visit our online archive at www.paediatric nursing.co.uk and search using the keywords.
Aims and Learning Outcomes
This article aims to enhance readers' knowledge of child and adolescent mental health, stimulating interest and further reading. After reading the article, readers should be able to:
* understand and appreciate how important knowledge of mental health and illness is to practice, and the consequences of disregarding this
* list the important signs and symptoms of mental illness in children
* summarise the most important risks to children's mental health, and the factors that might protect well-being
Now do Time out 1
Introduction
Mental illness in childhood is common - 10 per cent of children have a recognised mental health problem, the majority related to conduct and emotional issues (Office for National Statistics 2005). Forty per cent are affected by mental illness during their childhood (Health Advisory Service 1995). These figures only relate to children who have been identified as having mental illnesses - most still go undetected and untreated (Friedman 2006). To balance these statistics, it should be remembered that mental illnesses cover a wide range of conditions. Controversy exists about the classifying of some behaviours as mental illnesses (Bowers 1998), and about the misdiagnosis of some conditions, primarily attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Mental health has been given increasing priority in health policies recently (DH 2001, 2003, HAS 1995, RCN 2004), as professionals and policy makers have appreciated the effect an individual's mental state has on his or her holistic health, and those around him or her. The children's NSF, standard 9 (DH 2003) states that multi agency services should work in partnership to promote children's mental health, provide early intervention and adequately meet the...