When children are unable to form normal attachments to parents or guardians, they develop Reactive Attachment Disorder. If your child fails to form an attachment, it is a symptom that cannot be ignored. Such a problem needs serious consideration, and it needs to be resolved during early childhood, or else it could lead to conflicts later in life. This disorder can severely affect how the child deals with other people when he grows up.

It is important to understand that normal parenting and parenting a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder are very different. When this disorder is not properly managed, it can impair the growth of the child as well as his ability to express himself emotionally and to form relationships.

>> Read more

In Canada and USA almost every child in a public school gets accessed for giftedness, typically in grade 3. Yet, it excludes many children in private schools (e.g. Montessori or Waldorf) or children who missed school testing e.g. new immigrants. Even gifted immigrant children who are not fluent in English may not pass standardized tests as their verbal IQ will not be properly reflected. In those situations parents can wait and then request the school to reconsider and retest their child. The school will typically send them to licensed psychologists for  a privately conducted gifted assessment. The costs of these private assessments may be prohibiting, especially for new immigrants. There are many online resources for parents such as Gifted 101 at Hoagies Gifted Education website or online gifted screening test at Advanced Psychology website.

>> Read more

Life is full of deadlines, wrangles, demands and frustrations. For a huge number of people, stress is so common  that it has become part of their life. It is not that stress is always bad. In moderate amount, it can encourage you to do your best and also help  you work under pressure. However, when you are regularly under pressure, your body and mind become affected. You can secure yourself by detecting the symptoms and signs of anxiety caused by extreme stress and making a move to prevent or mitigate the damages.

What is stress and anxiety?

Stress is a usual physical reaction to happenings that make you feel upset or threatened by your stability in some manner.

>> Read more

Cases of suicides and depression have been on the rise all over the world for one reason or another. While depression could be a primary cause for suicidal acts among many teenagers today, contributing factors such as unemployment, neglect, pain due to chronic and incurable diseases, as well as racism, are largely contributing to many suicidal deaths.

With the development of a comprehensive suicidal test system known as the Rorschach test in 1921, a number of potential suicidal cases have been detected and averted. The Rorschach test, otherwise known as the Rorschach Inkblot test, was established to detect or predict group membership and categorizing them into color dominated responses, morbid content, vista responses, and color shading blends.

>> Read more

Typical signs of ADHD such hyperactivity, acting on impulse without consideration for consequences, short attention span, and reduced working memory capacity affect almost individuals who have ADHD, no matter their age. However, severity of these symptoms often ranges by age. Signs may be difficult to notice in preschool-age children. Common behavior in active children  periodically involves all of the main symptoms. What differentiates ADHD from common behaviors is the consistency and severity of symptoms.

Commonly, more obvious symptoms of ADHD are more noticeable in children from the ages of 6 to 12 than the other age groups. Starting school typically increases severity of symptoms and makes them more recognizable. For  ADHD children, school is the biggest challenge both from the point of socialization with other kids and their academic performance.

>> Read more

What does being emotional mean?

Being emotional does not imply that you lack control; it has to do with three tendencies that produce emotional stimulation in various ways. These include:

Emotional Reactivity

Emotional reactivity is the term often used in connection with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). An individual with BPD not only responds with excessive emotion, but also behaves intensely, and in ways that don’t suit the circumstance. They may scream in public, sleep for a few days, or harm themselves. Shari Y. Manning, PhD, in her book “Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder” explains that this reactivity is not manipulative or self-indulgent, which is a common  myth connected to BPD.

>> Read more

Young children are prone to a variety of disorders. However, it is separation anxiety that continues to baffle experts the most. The phenomena starts from the age of seven months to two years, but can progress to beyond in extreme cases. Symptoms of separation anxiety vary but this disorder is often manifested by a child crying and appearing uncomfortable if separated from loved ones.  Yet, for many experts in child psychology, this condition is just a normal phase in childhood development and should only be worrisome if it continues for a long time.

How it Starts

Babies younger than six months often have no problems warming up to their caregivers. This is so,

>> Read more