Emotional and behavioral disorders are classified into two types which are internalizing and externalizing. Internalizing behaviors are what the child feels inside such as worry, fear, self-conciousness, sadness, and happiness. Externalizing behaviors are what the child displays to others such as disobedience, aggressiveness, and hyperactivity. There are several different types of emotional/behavioral disorders that fall in one or both of these two categories. It is not uncommon for a child to be diagnosed with more than one disorder at a time. A few of the disorders are as followed….
1.) Anxiety Disorders: The most common childhood disorder with 13 out of every 100 children, whose age range is from 9-17 years old , having at least one of the different types of anxiety disorders. Some common symptoms are:
- excessive fear
- excessive worrying about incidents that they have never experienced
- unnecessary repeated behaviors and thought patterns
- sudden rapid heartbeats and dizziness
- repeated flashbacks of traumatizing events that have occurred in the child’s life such as a car accident, sexual assault, or any other type of violence
2.) Severe Depression is a disorder that was once believed to be only experienced by adults, but now studies show that 2 out of every 100 children have been experiencing this disorder also. Severe depression is marked by:
- Severe lost of interest in friends and activities
- Very low self-esteem
- Lack of any type of motivation
- Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
- Increased amount of sadness
- Thought of suicide
3.) Bipolar Disorder is a disorder that affects the child’s mood. Bipolar disorder is recognized by:
- Mood swings that range from extremely high to extremely low
- High moods will be marked by hyperactivity, little sleep, and careless judgement
- Low moods will be marked by depression
4) Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a disorder that affects the way a child is able to focus. Usually identified when child is displaying the following symptoms at home or school. Apparent symptoms are:
- Inability to focus
- Inability to follow directions
- Inability to sit still
- Inability to remain quiet
- Inability to cooperate with others
5.) Conduct Disorder is a “destructive pattern of antisocial behavior that violates the rights of others.” 4 out of every 100 children with age ranging from 9-17 have this disorder. Signs that a child may have this disorder are:
- Aggressiveness with peers, teachers, pets, and strangers
- No regard for rules
- Repeated destruction of others’ property
- Constant criminal activity
6.) Eating Disorders affect the way a child views their body and how they consume food. Girls are more likely to have eating disorders, but boys have been diagnosed with them also. There are different types of eating disorders and they are:
- Aneroxia Nervosa- where the child has a fear of weight gain therefore they starve their bodies of food and nutrients that the body needs.
- Bulimia Nervosa- where the child will consume food very quickly then vomit or take laxatives to rid their body of the food in order not to gain any weight.
- Binge Eating- where the child will consume an excessive amount of food at one time. They will not vomit,but they will repeatedly put themselves on a strict, unhealthy diet afterwards.
7.) Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects the child’s mental ability to differentiate between what is real or unreal. This disorder develops slowly through a child’s life till their adult years. 5 out of every 1,000 children develop this disorder. The symptoms are:
- Inability to separate real experiences from unreal experiences
- Hallucinations
- Inability to think logically in situations
- Irregular emotional responses to situations
- No emotion
- Hyperactive emotions
- Paranoia
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Children 