Running head: CHILD PSYCHIARTRY AND THE INFLUENCE OF GENETICS 1
Are Genetics Responsible for Mental Illnesses in Children?
Tosin O. Ojerinde
Towson University
Psychiatry is the study and treatment of mental illnesses; child psychiatry focuses specifically on mental illnesses and abnormal behaviors in children. This topic interests me because it is a topic that is often overlooked in society. Childhood is an imperative stage of life and if psychiatrists can diagnose and treat various mental illnesses while the child is still young, society would be able to handle issues like gun violence on the account of mental instability. What does genetics have to do with child psychiatry? Genetics play a role …show more content…
There is usually no single cause for a mental disorder because there are several factors that can contribute to the appearance of a mental disorder. The various causes for mental illness are: genetics, injury, infections, brain defects, prenatal damage, substance abuse, long term substance abuse, poor nutrition, overexposure to toxins, severe psychological trauma as a child, loss of a loved one and neglect. In the past, societies have not been in favor of children with mental instabilities. So much so that societies like Rome would practice infanticide—the murder of a child within the first year of birth (Reidbord M.D., 2014). The first documented intervention for a mentally disabled child was in 1799 in France. The process was developed by Jean-Marc Itard, and was revolutionary because it was the first time a child with a mental problem was treated rather than sent to a mental asylum. French psychiatrists like Edward Seguin and Félix Voisin set the groundwork to educate others about the intellectually disabled (Reidbord M.D., 2014). The first modern taxonomy of childhood mental disorders was described by Maudsley (1895). Some of those include: monomania or partial ideation insanity where the child has uncontrollable impulses, choreic delirium where the child has convulsive violence, cataleptoid insanity where the child is lying still for hours or …show more content…
The medication may be approved by the FDA but not for a child to take. And because adults (18 and over) metabolize drugs differently from children, the drug may pose adverse effects to the child (Turner, 2013). A scientific test known as genotyping is used to predict the phenotype of a patient thereby allowing doctors to prescribe better suited medications for the child (Turner, 2013).
Behavioral genetics has been a clear way to determine why some children suffer psychiatric problems and others do not. (Althoff & Hudziak, 2011). Behavioral genetics is the study of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. The question becomes; how do genes affect behaviors? The genetic makeup or the genotype influences us in more ways than hair and eye color. Researchers use twins, siblings and families to do the genetic studies. Behavioral genetics is vital to discover the role of genes in the expression of poor reading performance, attention problems, etcetera (Althoff & Hudziak,
Are Genetics Responsible for Mental Illnesses in Children?
Tosin O. Ojerinde
Towson University
Psychiatry is the study and treatment of mental illnesses; child psychiatry focuses specifically on mental illnesses and abnormal behaviors in children. This topic interests me because it is a topic that is often overlooked in society. Childhood is an imperative stage of life and if psychiatrists can diagnose and treat various mental illnesses while the child is still young, society would be able to handle issues like gun violence on the account of mental instability. What does genetics have to do with child psychiatry? Genetics play a role …show more content…
There is usually no single cause for a mental disorder because there are several factors that can contribute to the appearance of a mental disorder. The various causes for mental illness are: genetics, injury, infections, brain defects, prenatal damage, substance abuse, long term substance abuse, poor nutrition, overexposure to toxins, severe psychological trauma as a child, loss of a loved one and neglect. In the past, societies have not been in favor of children with mental instabilities. So much so that societies like Rome would practice infanticide—the murder of a child within the first year of birth (Reidbord M.D., 2014). The first documented intervention for a mentally disabled child was in 1799 in France. The process was developed by Jean-Marc Itard, and was revolutionary because it was the first time a child with a mental problem was treated rather than sent to a mental asylum. French psychiatrists like Edward Seguin and Félix Voisin set the groundwork to educate others about the intellectually disabled (Reidbord M.D., 2014). The first modern taxonomy of childhood mental disorders was described by Maudsley (1895). Some of those include: monomania or partial ideation insanity where the child has uncontrollable impulses, choreic delirium where the child has convulsive violence, cataleptoid insanity where the child is lying still for hours or …show more content…
The medication may be approved by the FDA but not for a child to take. And because adults (18 and over) metabolize drugs differently from children, the drug may pose adverse effects to the child (Turner, 2013). A scientific test known as genotyping is used to predict the phenotype of a patient thereby allowing doctors to prescribe better suited medications for the child (Turner, 2013).
Behavioral genetics has been a clear way to determine why some children suffer psychiatric problems and others do not. (Althoff & Hudziak, 2011). Behavioral genetics is the study of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. The question becomes; how do genes affect behaviors? The genetic makeup or the genotype influences us in more ways than hair and eye color. Researchers use twins, siblings and families to do the genetic studies. Behavioral genetics is vital to discover the role of genes in the expression of poor reading performance, attention problems, etcetera (Althoff & Hudziak,