What do we want for our children?
What's our goal?
Our goal is to have productive citizens that
are going to be part of thriving communities.
So how do we get from here to there?
As we grow up and as we move into becoming functioning
members of society, our mental health
is an important part of how we perform our responsibilities as adults.
Mental health can't be separated out
from cognitive development and language development
and social competence.
And they all have their roots early on,
in either a very sturdy or a weak foundation.
We certainly know that infants and very young children
can exhibit behaviors-- emotional behaviors, motor behaviors
which are predictive in certain cases
of subsequent mental illness.
What are the early signs of mental health problems?
I think that when people who look at children
and think about mental health problems
that they have in mind, often, is the kinds of mental health
problems that we see in adults.
They're looking to see the equivalent
of a depressed adult in a child or the equivalent
of a schizophrenic adult in a child.
And I think that because of the nature of development
that when children have mental health problems,
they just look different.
Some of the early signs of greater risk for mental health
problems are usually not called mental health problems by people.
They're usually called, you know,
things like behavior problems or a child
who has difficulty controlling his emotions.
Some of these may be early signs of what
might be a mental health problem later and some of which
may be just differences among perfectly healthy children.
So what does good mental health look like in a child?
Good mental health looks like a child who's
curious and interested in the world and wants to learn
and can sit and reflect at times about what's going on.
It's the ability to experience love, affection, emotions.
Get upset when things are upsetting
and bring yourself back into levelness
without needing intense intervention.
How do mental health impairments development in early childhood?
21st century science at the molecular level
is very clear that all aspects of brain function
are the result of an interaction between genetics
and experience.
Mental illness, as most people think about it,
is a very heavy genetic component.
Mental health, behavior, personality
also has a genetic component but it's
much more malleable in the face of environmental influences.
Genes and experiences, as far as nature is concerned,
are just different ways of setting up operating systems,
brain systems, neurons.
What happens when a child experiences
what we call toxic stress?
Severe experiences that could be damaging to its developing architecture.
Those toxic experiences essentially
create this unstable environment,
this unstable foundation.
If sound mental health provides a foundation of stability
for a child's development, mental health problems
can be thought of like a wobbly table.
With a child or a table, there may be
many reasons for instability.
Identifying which factor is causing instability
is the first step towards solving the problem.
So how do we restore stability to a child's mental health?
We can detect the early signs of instability
recognizing what these signs are
provides a child
with the opportunity then to be placed with
healthcare professionals who are trained
to develop a more balanced set of skills
on the emotional control side.
The prescription is to provide support
for parents
and in that environment
in order to reduce conflict
and that, in turn, will lead to a reduction in
dysregulated behavior in the infant and young child.
Most potential mental health problems
will not become mental health problems
if we respond to them early.
Providing the right kinds of supports and intervention
early on will reduce the extent to which
this will be a potentially more serious problem later.