But children with depression can be helped with therapy and medications appropriate to their particular needs. Most children with anxiety disorders show dramatic improvement with short-term therapy. Other childhood disorders are just as disturbing in a more disruptive way. Children with attention deficit disorder are easily distracted, impulsive, and hyperactive. They have frequent angry outbursts, act disruptively in school, and have difficulty organizing their work.
Conduct disorders develop in late childhood or early adolescence.
Symptoms include truancy, lying, stealing, fighting, or refusing to accept authority figures. These behaviors are not easy for other family members to tolerate. Siblings, as well as parents, may feel angry, or even ashamed of the child who is repeatedly in trouble. Feelings of frustration and helplessness about the present and fears for the child's future are common. Treatment for these disorders focuses on teaching children problem-solving skills to equip them with constructive ways of dealing with tension, anger, and difficult situations.