Can you name some common behavioral problems, symptoms, and acts in children?


Behavioral Problem: Thumb sucking

Common Presentation Age: 6 months to 3 years

Symptoms: Body identification, feeling of loneliness, insecurity, hunger, boredom, fear.

Acts: Motivation, assurance, reinforcement, counseling, give alternatives continuously, behavior modification, make more eye contact.

Behavioral Problem: Breath holding spasms

Common Presentation Age: 6 months to 6 years

Symptoms: Due to anger, fear, pain or frustration the child cries and then holds the breath.

Acts: Reassured long term prognosis, behavior modification, most of the episodes resolve by the time the child is 4 to 5 years old.

Behavioral Problem: Stubborn

Common Presentation Age: Below 5 years

Symptoms: Faulty parenting habits.

Acts: Uniform parenting, give or act immediately if you can, once refused, be firm on same.

Behavioral Problem: Media addiction

Common Presentation Age: 6 to 20 years

Symptoms: Attractive, no alternative is given, does not require interaction.

Acts: Inference discussion, other leisure time activities, supervision by parents on content, nutritional history, a guardian or a responsible member of the family present.

Behavioral Problem: Depression

Common Presentation Age: 10 to 19 years

Symptoms: Social (parental deprivation, social stressors: chronic life events), biological (genetic: first degree 10-15%, brain: neurotransmitter, medical illness: 30-50%, drugs), psychological (temperament, distorted thinking, negative and pessimistic).

Acts: Rational-emotive therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive relationship, relieves stress.

Behavioral Problem: Conduct disorder

Common Presentation Age: 10 years and above

Symptoms: Destruction, a serious violation of rules, aggression, deceitfulness/theft.

Acts: Family therapy, problem-solving skills, avoid situations, parent training, reinforcement.

Behavioral Problem: Tics

Common Presentation Age: 6 to 16 years

Symptoms: Tongue trusting, tension relieving habit disorders involving various body movements. For e.g. lip smacking and shrugging of shoulders, throat clearing, etc.

Acts: Tics disappear when the child is asleep, never associated with transient inability to interact, suppressible by the child for short periods if made conscious or reprimanded, emotional support, appropriate educational environment.

Behavioral Problem: Anxiety

Common Presentation Age: 3 to 9 years

Symptoms: Beyond voluntary control, persists over an extended period of time, cannot be reasoned or explained away, leads to avoidance of the feared situation, school/college phobia, overanxious disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism.

Acts: Counseling, explores, modify, minimize, and eliminate fears by education and experience, psychotherapy.

Behavioral Problem: Enuresis

Common Presentation Age: Above 6 years

Symptoms: Usually occurs only once in a night time after about 90 minutes of sleep, an involuntary passage of urine during sleep after the age of 6 years, Children are deep sleepers.

Acts: Minimization of emotional impact in the child, removal of any organic cause, no humiliations or punishment, less fluid in the evening, positive reinforcement star calendar, bell and pad alarms, bladder control training.

Updated on: 30-Jul-2019

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