Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. Feb 8, 2018; 7(1): 9-26
Published online Feb 8, 2018. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v7.i1.9
Behavioural and emotional disorders in childhood: A brief overview for paediatricians
Michael O Ogundele
Michael O Ogundele, Department of Community Paediatrics, NHS Fife, Glenwood Health Centre, Glenrothes KY6 1HK, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Ogundele MO conceived the idea, collected and analysed the data and prepared the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Michael O Ogundele, MBBS, MRCP, MSc, Consultant Paediatrician, Department of Community Paediatrics, NHS Fife, Glenwood Health Centre, Napier Road, Glenrothes KY6 1HK, United Kingdom. m.ogundele@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-1592-765096 Fax: +44-1592-765096
Received: October 27, 2017
Peer-review started: October 29, 2017
First decision: November 20, 2017
Revised: November 30, 2017
Accepted: December 5, 2017
Article in press: December 5, 2017
Published online: February 8, 2018
Processing time: 101 Days and 9.5 Hours
Abstract

Mental health problems in children and adolescents include several types of emotional and behavioural disorders, including disruptive, depression, anxiety and pervasive developmental (autism) disorders, characterized as either internalizing or externalizing problems. Disruptive behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional, defiant or conduct disorders are the commonest behavioural problems in preschool and school age children. The routine Paediatric clinic or Family Medicine/General Practitioner surgery presents with several desirable characteristics that make them ideal for providing effective mental health services to children and adolescents. DSM-5 and ICD-10 are the universally accepted standard criteria for the classification of mental and behaviour disorders in childhood and adults. The age and gender prevalence estimation of various childhood behavioural disorders are variable and difficult to compare worldwide. A review of relevant published literature was conducted, including published meta-analyses and national guidelines. We searched for articles indexed by Ovid, PubMed, PubMed Medical Central, CINAHL, EMBASE, Database of Abstracts and Reviews, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews and other online sources. The searches were conducted using a combination of search expressions including “childhood”, “behaviour”, “disorders” or “problems”. Childhood behaviour and emotional problems with their related disorders have significant negative impacts on the individual, the family and the society. They are commonly associated with poor academic, occupational, and psychosocial functioning. It is important for all healthcare professionals, especially the Paediatricians to be aware of the range of presentation, prevention and management of the common mental health problems in children and adolescents.

Keywords: Childhood behavioural disorders; Disruptive behaviour disorder; Conduct disorder; Challenging behaviour; Emotional disorder; Anxiety; Depression; Autism; Pervasive developmental disorders

Core tip: Mental health problems in children and young people (CYP) include several types of emotional and behavioural disorders, including disruptive, depression, anxiety and pervasive developmental (autism) disorders, characterized as either “internalizing” or “externalizing”. The routine Paediatric or General Practitioner clinic present with several desirable characteristics that make them ideal for providing effective mental health services to CYP. Childhood mental health disorders have significant negative impacts on the individual, the family and the society. It is particularly important for all Paediatricians to be aware of the range of presentation, prevention and management of the common mental health problems in CYP.