More children are getting diagnosed with mental illness even as child psychiatry makes breakthroughs in treating mental ailments including mood and anxiety disorder development.

Since the global pandemic in 2020, children between the ages of 3-17 have been more diagnosed with anxiety. COVID-19 explained that increase, but children this year are getting more frequently diagnosed with disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and behavioral problems. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Among children ages 3-17 with a current mental health condition, just over half (53%) received treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past year and 43% took medication for an emotional, concentration, or behavioral condition.” 

With the occurrence of harsher disorders such as bipolar and OCD, early identification and treatment is crucial to the development of the brain and to prevent harmful behaviors like violence and suicide. 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “Bipolar disorder symptoms can make it hard to perform well in school or get along with friends and family members. Some children and teens with bipolar disorder may try to hurt themselves or attempt suicide.”

The only way to prevent extreme symptoms in young people with this disorder is to seek help and focus on an early diagnosis, made by professionals. 

“My brother had bipolar disorder, diagnosed at 17,” Alexander Corbett, a psychology student at SUNY Oswego, said.“My brother would not take the recommended medication for bipolar and would instead take street drugs which he eventually overdosed from. He felt as though the prescription drugs would change his brain and make him not himself. His disorder affected my parents and I severely when he would go on random mood swings,” 

Parents can become hesitant to take their child to a psychiatrist due to the belief that medication is overly prescribed or more harmful, or that the child will grow out of the disorder with age. 

“Many children are not brought in by their guardians for various reasons,” Melanie Licatese, a psychology professor, said. “Whether this is lack of education, societal expectation of young children with hyperactivity or difficulty with concentration, the guardian or caregivers minimization of a child’s behavior or expressed struggle, lack of financial capability, or sense of shame surrounding the stigmatization of diagnoses.”

“Genetic predisposition for a child of a parent with bipolar disorder does not provide certainty that they will develop this diagnosis as well,” Licatese said. Any traumatic experiences will exacerbate the likelihood of future diagnosis, as they have been researched in depth and determined to have a strong impact on mental health overall.”  

OCD often starts in childhood and worsens in adulthood. In rare cases, symptoms of childhood OCD can go away because often children can be obsessive. When left untreated, OCD can be detrimental to both physical and mental health leading into teen and adulthood. When treated, though, it is easier to live with and be successful with than bipolar.

“The age groups OCD affects the most at onset are childhood and adolescence. OCD is considered early-onset when symptoms start showing at about age ten,” according to the BrainsWay website. 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (DSM-5) has updated its diagnostic criteria for diagnosing OCD through removing two criteria for obsessions: that they are not excessive worry about real-life problems and that they are recognized as a product of one’s own mind. They also moved it from the “anxiety disorders” category to their own chapter. This means it is easier to identify amongst individuals, as obsessive-compulsive behaviors are commonly observed in young children’s brains. 

Incomparable to bipolar disorder and OCD, ADHD in childhood is able to go away or be outgrown.

Yet, children with ADHD are often prescribed medication almost immediately.

“There is evidence to support an over diagnosis of ADHD in young boys,” Licatese said. “Medication without therapy would be like putting a bandaid on a hole in the bottom of a boat, you cannot use it to get to the root cause of mental health.

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