Kids' Mental Health: What to Look for, When to Worry, What to Do

Key points

Every parent and caregiver needs a way to assess possible psychiatric or behavioral problems with their kids.

A framework for this assessment is based on what to look for, when to worry, and then what to do.

This model outlines biological, psychological, and social changes that may point to a significant problem.

When it comes to medical or psychiatric issues challenging our children of all ages, we often know something is wrong but don’t readily know how to assess the problem. We might see changes in their behavior or emotions that we know are deviations from their baseline.

For example, a child may have a rash, or lose their appetite , or become lethargic. We might then commonly go online to see what this could be—often a precarious enterprise. What might simply be st