UPI - Ped Med: Too many troubled kids

[Guest guest]

In my opinion, we have too many troubled children to attribute it

to increased awareness, a change in cultural norms, or a shift in

educational focus. Our children are sick. Why?

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Ped Med: Too many troubled kids

By LIDIA WASOWICZ

UPI Senior Science Writer

January 25, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/9xcrb

[excerpt]

Anxiety disorders are now estimated to affect 13 in 100 children and

adolescents ages 9 to 17, about half of whom also experience a second

mental or behavioral ailment, such as social phobias, obsessive-

compulsive disorder or depression.

Others may suffer a co-existing physical malady that commands -- and

confounds -- treatment, according to a report by the Substance Abuse

and Mental Health Services Administration.

" (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is) the most commonly

treated diagnosis, but in terms of prevalence, many, many more

children have anxiety disorders, but they're not hitting the radar

because they're not getting identified by way of school, " notes

clinical psychologist Tamar Chansky. He is director of the Children's

Center for OCD and Anxiety in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and author

of " Freeing Your Child from Anxiety " (Broadway Books, 2004)

and " Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder " (Crown

Publishers, 2000).