Parents Lead

Mental illness is many things. Like physical illness, mental illness can affect anyone and has many forms. The first important point to see is that mental illness is not just one illness but is many illnesses. It will help you to think about it in this way. There is the part of the young person that thinks and understands. You can call this part the child’s mind. There is the part that feels happy and sad, frightened and calm, angry and joyful. You can call this part the emotions. Also there is the part that does things and takes action based on what the youngster thinks and feels. You can call this part behavior. What is mental illness? The child’s mind, emotions, and behavior normally work together as a team. When children become mentally ill, the three members of the team stop working together. They each start doing their thing and the child cannot get them to start working together again. Some kinds of mental illness affect the mind the most. The youngster is unable to think clearly and understand things