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Update on Screening, Referring, and Treating the Behavioral, Social, and Mental Health Problems of Very Young Children

  • Mental Health (WF Njoroge and TD Benton, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Very young children can experience a wide range of mental health disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and parent-child relationship disorders, among others. These disorders cause young children true psychological suffering and family stress and often do not resolve without treatment. Pediatricians have a pivotal role in routinely screening all young children for mental health concerns and referring to specialized early childhood mental health providers when concerns are present. A “watchful waiting” approach is strongly discouraged. There are a number of highly effective evidence-based practices that exist to treat most mental health problems in young children. We strongly espouse dyadic mental health services that focus clinical interventions on the parent-child relationship, which is seen as the vehicle of change at these developmental stages. The conservative use of psychiatric medications should be reserved for preschoolers ages 3 and over, should occur only after a course of psychotherapy has been unsuccessful in ameliorating severe symptoms, and should be managed under the supervision of a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Center of Denver, 3401 Eudora Street, Denver, CO, 80207, USA

    Shannon Bekman PhD, IMH-E®(IV)

  2. Pediatric Mental Health Institute, Children’s Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Box 130, 13123 East 16th Avenue, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Celeste St. John-Larkin MD

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, 13001 E. 17th Place, Box F546, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Jennifer J. Paul PhD, Amanda Millar BA & Karen Frankel PhD, IMH-E®(IV)

Authors
  1. Shannon Bekman PhD, IMH-E®(IV)
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  2. Celeste St. John-Larkin MD
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  3. Jennifer J. Paul PhD
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  4. Amanda Millar BA
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  5. Karen Frankel PhD, IMH-E®(IV)
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Correspondence to Shannon Bekman PhD, IMH-E®(IV).

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Conflict of Interest

Shannon Bekman declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Celeste St. John-Larkin declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Jennifer J. Paul declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Amanda Millar declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Karen Frankel declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mental Health

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Bekman, S., St. John-Larkin, C., Paul, J.J. et al. Update on Screening, Referring, and Treating the Behavioral, Social, and Mental Health Problems of Very Young Children. Curr Treat Options Peds 3, 15–31 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40746-017-0076-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40746-017-0076-x

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