Whether you’re working as a carer (another term for child-care provider) or you are a parent, it’s important to know some of the health issues that kids can suffer from. We often think that kids are not vulnerable to some things we adults struggle with, but actually, many of the health issues that we associate with adulthood do indeed impact children at various ages. Let’s look at some of these health issues and understand the signs that a child might be suffering from these conditions.
Self Harming
In a recent report it was suggested that close to 70% of girls will self-harm before they reach age 18. That’s a scary statistic for parents and care-givers, but it is something that you need to be aware of. Why are so many children self-harming? It’s often correlated with the all-too-common issue of cyberbullying and sometimes a reaction to extreme stresses at school. It might also be linked to anxiety or another mental health issue that we’re going to discuss in a moment.
Tinnitus
We often think that hearing issues are only experienced by the elderly. That, of course, is not true as some people are born deaf. But children can damage their hearing very early in life due to exposure to loud noises. These days, the risk of tinnitus developing earlier has increased because of the use of personal music players. Listening to music on these at a louder volume than the halfway point will typically result in the chance of permanent hearing damage.
The good news is that these days there are a lot of different treatments for hearing conditions like tinnitus. One example would be hearing aids. Hearing aids can be used to block out the sound that you can hear due to the condition by playing white noise at the same level or frequency. You can learn more about this online.
Depression
Finally, it’s not uncommon for children to experience depression. Why do children feel depressed? It’s possibly due to the amount of pressure that we put on children these days. Often parents and other well-meaning adults push children to perform at school and stand out socially. By the time a child is ten, they are already being told they need to start thinking about college. Social issues can also increase problems with depression or make them worse,
Depression in children can be addressed with play therapy where we, as trained play therapists, are able to get to the root cause of the issue by observing a child’s play. Often children gain relief from symptoms of depression through play therapy alone though often it requires a combination of parenting strategies, working with the teachers and school counselors and sometimes children benefit from a medical consultation and possibly medication as well.
When addressing self-harming behavior which can be a symptom of the depression, it’s important to know that there can be an addictive component. When someone self-harms there is a release of hormones that produce an opiate-like effect. It’s very important to have a professional trained in addressing self-harming behavior on your treatment team.
Always consult your family medical practitioner if you suspect your child is at risk or is suffering any of these health issues.