Psychiatrists, psychologists or doctors may have told you your child has a mental disorder and that they may need treatment in order to overcome their problems.
Normal childhood behaviour
Normal childhood behaviour such as being boisterous, not being able to sit still, argumentative or disruptive, have been redefined as ‘mental disorders’ and given psychiatric labels.
The names of these so-called disorders include, but are not limited to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).
The disorders are listed in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), mental disorders section, published by the World Health Organization, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Physical causes
Dr. Doris Rapp, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the State University of New York and Author of the New York Times Best Seller, “Is This Your Child?”, is an authority on allergies and looks for underlying causes to children misbehaving, and she has found:
“Over-activity, fatigue, bed-wetting, inappropriate behaviour, and even epilepsy, in some children, may be due to allergies. Allergic infants can be so hyperactive that they rock their cribs about the room or bounce them off the walls and begin to walk earlier than normal.”
Food intolerances and sensitivities to chemicals in things such as washing powder, shampoo and plastics can create “symptoms”
Environmental factors
The following list gives some of the common environmental factors and underlying physical conditions that can create symptoms of ‘childhood disorders’:
- Too much sugar
- Modern-day fast food due to its lack of nutritional value
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
- Food colourings and preservatives
- Hyperthyroidism
- Allergies (e.g. gluten)
- Temporal lobe seizures
- Pesticides
Fight For Kids does not provide medical advice, so it is important that anyone experiencing difficulties goes to see their general practitioner who will advise them.
Informed health practitioners in the field of nutrition carry out a range of tests to determine if a person has an allergic reaction to something or is deficient in some way. Anyone suffering these reactions should be properly medically tested. This would be one of the first things to check when diagnosing the cause of excessive or unusual behaviour in children.