Smart Talk: Focus on children during Mental Health Awareness Month

 

What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, May 28, 2015:

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and on Smart Talk, we’ll focus on children and mental health.

Among the issues to be addressed are what mental health issues affect kids the most and how to identify symptoms that can be associated with illnesses that include ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.

What can parents do to properly handle a situation like this?  Often, parents want to know when to seek psychiatric help for their child, and how to decipher whether certain behavior is normal or abnormal for a child.

It sometimes can be difficult to tell when a child has a mental disorder. Depending on a child’s age, whether they’re a toddler or a teenager, certain habits can be seen as being healthy or unhealthy.

We will discuss what the top factors are that can impact a child’s mental health status.   

Joining us on Thursday’s program are two pediatric health care professionals.  Dr. James Waxmonsky is an associate professor of psychiatry as well as the Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Penn State Hershey’s College of Medicine.  Dr. Melissa Brown is a clinical psychologist at Pinnacle Health, who regularly treats children of all ages who have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.