The majority of researchers would agree that mental illnesses prominent in children are most likely due to genetics, and the minority of researchers would agree that mental illnesses prominent in children are most likely due to the juvenile’s harsh home environment. Genetics is something you cannot necessarily change, people are born with them, and the genes you get our inevitable, as to where a home environment has many different factors ranging from income to substance abuse problems. The difference between the two is that a child cannot pick where they live, and who they live with as to where with genetics you cannot pick the specific genes a child receives. A common problem that people run into is that some minors have both “bad” genes,
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The difficult part about dealing with minors is that you can not necessarily diagnose them with certain illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia until the age of twenty one or older. The reason for this, is because of the abundance of changing hormones occurring in a young adult’s body. If psychologists would, they could easily diagnose teens and middle schoolers with bipolar disorder, or depression, but in reality it is the constant mood swings that are consistently in a minor’s. Very rarely do specialists diagnose those with such severe conditions unless necessarily. These findings do tend to throw a wrench in the facts, but more common than not are kids getting diagnosed with these conditions, and if they are misdiagnosed, the medication prescribed can easily do severe damage. Mark Olfson M.D (A Columbia University psychiatrist and researcher) states: “We have very little research to show how psychiatric medications affect the developing nervous system, for instance. This is a concern.” (Parenting.com) The amount of misdiagnoses in children is concerning, and the amount of medication being wrongly prescribed is a bigger concern. With better research, Psychiatrists will be more knowledgeable on what to …show more content…
The divorce rate is approximately forth five percent in the United States alone, and increasing, but divorce isn’t the only stressor. There is increased peer pressure, alcohol and pill abuse pressure, the amount of homework a child is given in one night has increased significantly, and colleges are looking for the impossible from students. One source states: “Another source of school-related stress occurs in high school where more students are taking more rigorous classes, such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered by the College Board. In the past 25 years, there has been explosive growth in the number of students taking AP classes, with one-quarter of all high-school graduates having taken at least one in 2004. In addition, more high-school students are now taking the PSAT twice and the SAT and ACT at least once, if not multiple times.” (Wilde) Due to the increase in not family stressors, children (especially high schoolers) have to deal with outside stressors such as friends, and school, and if these kids already have a hard life to begin with, the added stress of school and friends can really damage a child’s
The difficult part about dealing with minors is that you can not necessarily diagnose them with certain illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia until the age of twenty one or older. The reason for this, is because of the abundance of changing hormones occurring in a young adult’s body. If psychologists would, they could easily diagnose teens and middle schoolers with bipolar disorder, or depression, but in reality it is the constant mood swings that are consistently in a minor’s. Very rarely do specialists diagnose those with such severe conditions unless necessarily. These findings do tend to throw a wrench in the facts, but more common than not are kids getting diagnosed with these conditions, and if they are misdiagnosed, the medication prescribed can easily do severe damage. Mark Olfson M.D (A Columbia University psychiatrist and researcher) states: “We have very little research to show how psychiatric medications affect the developing nervous system, for instance. This is a concern.” (Parenting.com) The amount of misdiagnoses in children is concerning, and the amount of medication being wrongly prescribed is a bigger concern. With better research, Psychiatrists will be more knowledgeable on what to …show more content…
The divorce rate is approximately forth five percent in the United States alone, and increasing, but divorce isn’t the only stressor. There is increased peer pressure, alcohol and pill abuse pressure, the amount of homework a child is given in one night has increased significantly, and colleges are looking for the impossible from students. One source states: “Another source of school-related stress occurs in high school where more students are taking more rigorous classes, such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered by the College Board. In the past 25 years, there has been explosive growth in the number of students taking AP classes, with one-quarter of all high-school graduates having taken at least one in 2004. In addition, more high-school students are now taking the PSAT twice and the SAT and ACT at least once, if not multiple times.” (Wilde) Due to the increase in not family stressors, children (especially high schoolers) have to deal with outside stressors such as friends, and school, and if these kids already have a hard life to begin with, the added stress of school and friends can really damage a child’s