Sometimes it can be difficult for parents to come to terms with the fact that their child might be suffering from a psychological disturbance. Parents tend to find excuses for the problems that their children might be facing and dismiss them as just another phase in teenage life. However, look closely for signs of disturbances in your kid’s life and get hold of a good therapist ASAP.

Signs to look out for

• Finding refuge in gaming: Is your child spending all his free time playing video games and ignoring your calls? If this is so, then he/she might also be acting out of place in school. Therapists suggest that the obsession with video games indicates an inner conflict in the teens and the act in itself indicates anger and fear. In other words, your child is trying to avoid you by holding on to negative emotions from the past. In such cases, the best therapy for kids is continuous family support.
• Foodies of a different kind: If your child is eating too much or too little, there’s a good chance that he/she might be suffering from an eating disorder. Evident signs of this disorder include, excessive consumption of junk food, eating under stress and shying away from exercise.
• Rowdy school tales: A child suffering from depression will have trouble concentrating in class, will be restless and will pick fights with students and teachers. Before jumping to any conclusions about the condition of your child, try to dig in deep into the mind of the kid to unravel the mystery behind his/her odd behavior. Taking your child for psychotherapy will allow your child to take the lid of their bottled up feelings. Just sit back when the volcano erupts.
• Sleepy heads all the way: Children suffering from depression tend to sleep for long hours. Depression also leads to poor performance at school, delinquency, phobias, violence, and in worst cases, suicide. Children cannot decipher these feelings on their own and it is your duty as parents to look for signs of disturbance in your teen’s life. Counseling for children is very important at this point in your teen’s life.
• Drugs and other highs: You have started noticing that your teen son/daughter is lying to you, disrespecting curfew hours, becoming verbally and physically abusive towards people around them, staying in their rooms for long hours, and most obviously smelling of alcohol, then have no doubt that your child is consuming alcohol or smoking pot. Acting quickly in this regard will save your teen from getting permanent brain damage or worse.
• Anxiety stricken: Sometimes children develop unusual fears about different things. Sometimes they lose interest in all the activities that they previously enjoyed doing. In any case, the chances are that your teen is suffering from an anxiety disorder. Some symptoms of this condition include: insomnia, physical discomfort, constant worry, loss of self-esteem, and fear of social contact.

The one thing that all parents need to do when they see the above mentioned signs in their children is to head out to a therapist’s clinic. The sooner the problems are addressed, the better.