Preschoolers May Have Mental Health Problems

myDNA News.com (Austin, TX): Preschool children are exhibiting signs of mental health problems that may disrupt their normal development, suggests new research. Researchers from Duke University examined 307 preschool children by having their parents answer detailed questionnaires designed to spot behavioral traits associated with different mental illnesses and disabilities. Surprisingly, one in ten of the children between the ages of two and five, met the criteria for mental and behavioral disorders. The involved child often displayed symptoms of more than one kind of disorder. Anxiety was expressed by fear, phobias and horror when separated from parents. Depressed children displayed sadness, irritability, disturbed sleep and lack of appetite. The symptoms were bad enough so as to affect the child's everyday life. Dr. Adrian Angold, from Duke University in North Carolina, who led the research, said, "Already by the age of two to five you are seeing rates of a variety of psychiatric disorders which are very similar to rates you see at nine, 17 and in the 20s. These are kids that have psychiatric problems with symptoms that are impacting on their lives in a negative way.