Awareness of mental health considerations for children and teens who are diagnosed with chronic conditions is important for caregivers. But when you notice that your child may be struggling, where do you start?
The first step for addressing mental health for all children is to get an assessment. Assessments are useful for all children struggling with mental health symptoms to get a good sense of what the primary concerns are, and how best to address them. For children with chronic illnesses, the pathway into treatment is no different. Assessment becomes a crucial part of treatment for these children, because many symptoms of illness, like dizziness, fatigue, nausea, and headaches, can also be mental symptoms. As a result, collaboration between your child’s medical team and their mental health clinician. Communication between these two aspects of your child’s care allows for symptoms to be understood from a holistic perspective, and for the most effective approaches to be identified. Part of this coordination between the medical team and mental health team allows for the close monitoring of symptoms which is crucial for identifying which team is more appropriate to intervene.
In the assessment phase, mental health providers will be mindful of where your child and your family are in the diagnostic and treatment process for chronic illnesses. Feelings of sadness, grief, and anger are normal at the time of diagnosis, and frustration with the realities of living with chronic illness are valid and normal post-diagnosis. Different members of the family might process news and events differently, and a mental health professional can help you understand your child and how they might be experiencing their health and treatment.
You might consider reaching out to mental health support services if your child seems to worry or experience mental health symptoms to a greater degree than one might expect. For example, if your child seems to be unable to stop worry thoughts about the condition, treatments, and possible complications, if they have difficulty concentrating or difficulty sleeping, or if they seem to avoid reminders of their illness, perhaps even to the detriment of treatment. While some of these symptoms are typical in smaller phases, if your child is experiencing symptoms like these, or others, for 1-2 weeks and you notice that it is impairing their ability to function in day to day activities, that is a good reason to seek out an assessment.
While many kids with chronic illnesses proceed as expected with emotional development, sometimes stressors like chronic illness and extensive medical care can result in feelings of depression of anxiety. As a result of medical care, children may feel different from their peers, socially isolated, restricted in their activities, or have trouble keeping up in school. For kids displaying depression or anxiety symptoms, the same approaches that help kids without chronic illnesses will be effective for them too. There are also ways to adapt these treatments to address concerns specific to the children and caregivers who are managing chronic illnesses. For example, a mental health professional may be able to empower youth to make meaning out of their medical experiences through advocacy and focusing on the aspects of their lives that they can control. In addition, a mental health professional may give coaching to caregivers on how to talk about difficult topics like medical diagnoses, long term health issues, or difficult treatments, in a developmentally appropriate way. They also might provide some guidance for skills to use as caregivers that can give children back feelings of choice in a life that may feel very rigid.
Coordination between the medical team and mental health professionals can help ensure that skills and strategies are being applied in a way that is safe for the child and the family. Often, caregivers of children with chronic illnesses worry that their actions may result in a medical episode, even if a skill may be helpful behaviorally. For example, if a therapist is working with a child with epilepsy, it is important that they check in with the medical team about special considerations that may need to be taken regarding typical interventions. If a child with epilepsy has behavioral difficulties, caregivers may shy away from introducing limits or consequences. Implementing these types of strategies can be very hard, because parents often feel guilty or worry about their child’s condition, and as a result may not implement the skills consistently. When the skills are implemented, they may see their child become dysregulated and fear that upsetting their child may increase the chances of their child having a seizure. If the mental health team is consulting with the medical team, all providers can be thoughtful about how to limit chances of physical harm, and provide well-informed reassurance that behavioral strategies are safe to implement.
In some cases, experiences with chronic illness or invasive treatments can be traumatic. This is often the case when a child experiences a painful or shocking episode or surgery, and it results in marked fear and traumatic stress-related symptoms. If it is determined that your child meets this threshold of distress through assessment, a trauma-specific treatment may be recommended.
Working with mental health professionals to care for your child’s emotional needs can be relieving to caregivers, especially if coordination with medical professionals is done well. Caring for a child with chronic illness requires a team of individuals with different areas of expertise. As caregivers, you are the expert on your child, but you are not expected to manage your child’s chronic illness alone.
Want to learn more?
- Book an appointment for treatment
- Contact us
- Watch our chronic illness webinar
- Read Mental Health Considerations for Children with Chronic Illness