The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canadian doctors are alarmed that one in five children experience a mental health problem and that mental health services for children are scarce. The Canadian Paediatric Society has characterized these untreated childhood problems as a looming Òmental health crisisÓ. And parents, doctors and mental health professionals are voicing concerns about prescribing potentially dangerous drugs as the only available solution for behavioural and emotional difficulties. Many disorders such as aggression, anxiety, inappropriate sexualized behaviours, depression, school refusal, and eating disorders can be treated by, or in conjunction with, psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalytic child therapists are trained to work with parents, physicians and teachers, to understand what is causing childrenÕs disturbing and disturbed behaviour, and to implement strategies to enable children and parents to cope better. A recent New York Times article reported on new research confirming the effectiveness of psychoanalytic ÒtalkÓ therapy. The investigators examined studies that tracked patients with a variety of mental problems, among them severe depression, anorexia nervosa and borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by a fear of abandonment and self harming behaviours. According to Dr. Falk Leichsenring of the University of Giessen and Dr. Sven Rabung of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, who reviewed the research studies, psychoanalytic therapy demonstrated effective treatment results over time. Parents, doctors, and social workers who are concerned that a child is showing evidence of serious emotional or mental health disturbance may want to consider a referral to a psychoanalytic child therapist.
