Psychological problems can manifest as physical complaints.

Psychological needs of a child are as important as physical needs. Every child longs for parental attention, love, recognition and appreciation.

Parents should be willing to analyze their own life styles and bring about suitable changes.

Parents should cooperate with a doctor who wants to explore psychological causes for a physical complaint instead of dismissing such a suggestion.

Every now and then we come across a child who complains of some pain (headache, abdominal pain, pain in the legs and so on), giddiness or fatigue but whose thorough physical examination and investigations do not reveal any disease.

It is very important not to miss any physical disease and hence examination by a doctor is necessary. This article deals with those children who do not have any bodily ailment.

A human being is an extremely complicated entity. His body represents the most tangible but not the sole dimension of his being. Hence it is much easier to deal with the problems directly affecting the body.

But the body cannot be separated from the other dimensions namely the mind and the soul, when a person is alive. They are intricately interrelated and interconnected.

It is well known that a man’s breathing and heart beat slowdown when he is asleep and go up when he is mentally disturbed. Mental status affects the body and diseases of the body agitate the mind.

A child is a constantly developing individual. He is struggling to find his own identity. For this he needs perpetual help and guidance. When exposed to an unfavorable environment the smooth development of the delicate and immature mind can be affected easily.

As a child’s mind is pliable any event can quickly influence it. A child finds it very difficult to verbalize mental problems. He may not be able to say that he is depressed or anxious. He only knows that he is uneasy. This uneasiness may be expressed as headache, abdominal pain, limb pain etc.

Just as a child needs food, water and clothing he also requires love, recognition and attention. Adults often fail to understand the psychological needs of children.

Children want their parents to talk to them, sometimes continuously for hours. They ask all sorts of silly, stupid and annoying questions and demand answers.

In today’s world parents are not spending enough time with their children. A child may soon realize that the only way to get the attention of parents is to feign illness.

A child complaining of headache may want to go out with parents. A child with abdominal pain perhaps wants his mother to sit with him for some time and hug him. Mothers can certainly spend more time with their kids if they learn to earn money online and work at home.

When parents bring the child to a clinic and the doctor asks the child to point out where the pain is, the child may say that he does not have any pain. It is a pity that parents expect doctors to give some drugs when what the child requires is some love and attention.

More information on child psychology

Many parents do not want to accept the fact that the child has some psychological problem. They vehemently say that child is being well cared for.

By this they often mean that they are giving highly nutritious food, expensive clothes and fancy toys to their children or that they have appointed a special servant to look after the child.

But for a sensitive doctor the facial expression of the child is so eloquent and the silent cry of the child clearly audible.

It is not very easy for a doctor to collect all the details about the family. People do not readily divulge all the information. They may even become suspicious about the doctor and try to seek a remedy somewhere else.

It need not come as a surprise if they conclude that the doctor is eccentric. They go on fooling themselves for a long time with disastrous consequences.

After visiting several doctors the child may get fed up and stop complaining about any pain reinforcing the parents’ belief that their efforts have borne fruit even though the root cause namely parental neglect has not been removed.

The child may console himself with the temporary parental attention he could secure for himself but the psychological problems persist.

Feelings of neglect and loneliness, deprivation and despondency continue to simmer and smolder in the subconscious mind, only to erupt like a volcano during adolescence or adulthood.

He/she may try to take revenge on the parents often without consciously realizing the motive for such a behavior. This may be one of the reasons for the increasing number of old age homes in the world.

Hence when a doctor tells the parents that there is no physical illness they should carefully analyze their family life. Are they coming home very late every day? Do they spend some time with their children daily?

Are they taking regular break from their work to take their children out? Do they eat with their children at least once in a day? Such a scrutiny may save a lot of money and their precious time.

I want to emphasize once again that drugs cannot solve all the problems. Parents should understand their own role in bringing up a child. They should be sensitive to the psychological problems of the children and be able to recognize the warning signs of early emotional disturbance.

Giving sufficient importance to spiritual development of children will also help in reducing psychological problems. They should be willing to listen to a doctor who tries to explore psychological causes for a particular complaint and cooperate with him.

Back to common childhood problems from psychological problems