Protect your child from emotional illnesses

Do you know when your child has an insistent pain that never goes away? This symptom can have an emotional background, like a fight at school with a friend. Emotionally based illnesses (called psychosomatic illnesses) are caused or aggravated by mental problems.

”This type of evil has already been proven in several studies. These diseases arise because of unresolved issues in the family or at school”, says psychopedagogue Eliane Pisani. Vomiting, gastritis, irritated throat, headache and allergies are some of the symptoms that appear in children.

It’s important for you to know that your little one doesn’t invent pain: he really feels it. ”The problem does exist, it’s true. And, many times, it even lasts longer”, says pediatrician Aneti Colucci, from the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp).

Know the most common emotional illnesses and learn to deal with them. Understanding the child’s situation makes healing easier. But be sure to take your child to the doctor and follow the indicated treatment. And most importantly, give the child patience and love – things you have in abundance!

When the problem is school

It is at school that your child spends most of the day. If it is not a pleasant period, he may develop a disease as a defense. “If the child has a stomach ache or a headache only when going to school, be aware”, reveals Eliane Pisani. Talk to the teacher and find out together the cause of discomfort – it could be rejection from friends, for example. Or take a test. Instead of taking him to school, invite him to another program. If he doesn’t feel anything, the problem may be at school. And maybe it’s even a case of changing schools.

Are you old enough for this to show up?

There is no right age for psychological background illnesses to emerge, but they have stages of development. For example, allergies are most common up to age 7. Already in adolescence, the greatest risks are bulimia and anorexia, because of social pressure for a thin body. Another thing that can happen is that an illness affects your child in childhood and returns in adolescence. ”Some children develop bronchitis in childhood because they feel suffocated by their parents or close people. When they become young, the disease manifests itself again because of suffocating love relationships”, says the psychologist.