Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Child Mental Health
It's important to recognize and treat mental illnesses in children early on. Once mental illness develops, it becomes a regular part of your child's behavior. This makes it more difficult to treat.
But it's not always easy to know when your child has a serious problem. Everyday stresses can cause changes in your child's behavior. For example, getting a new brother or sister or going to a new school may cause a child to temporarily act out. Warning signs that it might be a more serious problem include:
- Problems in more than one setting (at school, at home, with peers)
- Changes in appetite or sleep
- Social withdrawal or fear of things he or she did not used to be not afraid of
- Returning to behaviors more common in younger children, such as bedwetting
- Signs of being upset, such as sadness or tearfulness
- Signs of self-destructive behavior, such as head-banging or suddenly getting hurt often
- Repeated thoughts of death
To diagnose mental health problems, the doctor or mental health specialist looks at your child's signs and symptoms, medical history, and family history. Treatments include medicines and talk therapy.
It sits within Children and Teenagers and Mental Health and Behavior.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Mental Health.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Child Mental Health
806 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- A Mentalization Based Prevention Program to Foster Well-Being and Mental Health in Pre-Adolescent Children and Their FamiliesSvenja Taubner
- Prenatal Maternal Mental Health and Neurodevelopment in Congenital Heart DiseaseInstitut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
- Mechanisms and Outcomes of Children and Adolescent PsychotherapyShalvata Mental Health Center
- Disrupting SRFOH to Improve Substance Use and Mental Health Outcomes for Parents in Rural RegionsChestnut Health Systems
- Impact of a Medical-Financial Partnership Intervention on Parent Mental Health, Perinatal Outcomes, and Child Developmental RiskUniversity of California, Los Angeles
- Reducing Parental Substance Use and Enhancing Family Resilience Among Rural Families Through Ohio STARTOhio State University
Research already completed
- The IGNITE for Kids Study on Concentrated Investment in Black Neighborhoods and Child Health and Well-BeingUniversity of Pennsylvania
- Technology and Family Thriving StudyUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
- Health Behavior in School-Age Children: NEXT Longitudinal Study 2009-2016Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- Growing Together: Women in Opioid Treatment and Their InfantsBoston University Charles River Campus
- Reducing Disparities in Behavioral Health Treatment for Children in Primary CareChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- About Children's Mental HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Child and Adolescent Mental HealthNational Institute of Mental Health
- Children and Mental Health: Is This Just a Stage?National Institute of Mental Health
- Emotional DisturbanceCenter for Parent Information and Resources
- Mental Health Emergency CareChildren's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
Diagnosis and Tests
- Comprehensive Psychiatric EvaluationAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Mental Health ScreeningNational Library of Medicine
- Mental Illness in Children: Know the SignsMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Treatments and Therapies
- Mental Health MedicationsNational Institute of Mental Health
- PsychotherapiesNational Institute of Mental Health
- Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents: Different TypesAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Residential Treatment ProgramsAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Related Issues
- 3 Ways to Help When Kids Feel LonelyNemours Foundation
- About Adverse Childhood ExperiencesCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Buffering Childhood Stress: Safe, Secure Relationships For Better HealthNational Institutes of Health
- Childhood Adversity: Buffering Stress and Building ResilienceAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Grief and ChildrenAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Hearing Voices and Seeing ThingsAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Traumatic EventsNational Institute of Mental Health
- How Can Social Connection Help Kids and Teens Feel Less Lonely?Nemours Foundation
- How to Help Children Build Resilience in Uncertain TimesAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
Statistics and Research
- Green Spaces May Improve Kids' Mental HealthNational Institutes of Health
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Child Mental DisordersNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Child Mental HealthNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Mental Disorders, Mental Health, Psychology, Child, Child Psychiatry. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Child Mental Health, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.