Over the last few years, different people working in the field of Infant Mental Health in our country have noticed a significant increase in the demand f assistance. Among the different issues that support this increase we can find, on the one hand, the gradual loss of the stigma that until recently psychiatric aid for children and teenagers meant; on the other hand, social changes lived in the past few years have implied and increased in the psychosocial problems of this group f age. Diagnoses like ADD (attention deficit disease), defying negative disorder, depression or anxiety disorder are common problems that we can find in at least, one in each ten children and teenagers.
It is, therefore, necessary to have all the available resources to effectively diagnose and treat these problems. It is important to remember that mental health problems in children and teenagers are very specific problems at that age. That's why the adult psychiatric Will lack both the knowledge and these skills to help the patient. But at the same time, these problems have a different nature from the physical problems that may appear at that age, making it very hard for the pediatrician to cope with the problem.
There is, therefore, a clear argument in favor of the need to have experts in the field of Infant Mental Health, Within this field, there currently exists a clear difficulty to find professional with the specific qualifications. Spain is the only country within the European Community that does not have an Infant and Teenage Psychiatry Specialization Plan, and, accordingly, the number of a trained professional in this field is significantly below the European standards. Studies comparing the number of psychiatrist and assistance resources in the fields, place Spain’s socio-economic, educational and sanitary situation is very similar to those of other European countries.
Even though slow progress is being made, and there are more resources, both public and private, we are still far from being able to offer a quality assistance network to children and teenagers suffering from mental diseases. At the Clínica Mediterránea de Neurociencia (Mediterranean Clinic of Neuroscience) we are very aware of this serious problems and have been working for the last past 8 years on child and teenager psychiatry and psychology. We can provide both clinic services and hospital services to cope with all mental health problems that can appear during childhood and teenage years.
Dra. M. A. Javaloyes Sanchis (Director of the Children Mental Health Unit) MEDITERRANEAN CLINIC OF NEUROCIENCIAS
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