Kids With Mental Health Problems Wrongly Diagnosed With Physical Illness

Most children taken to hospital with mental health problems are wrongly diagnosed and are treated for physical disease.

A new study published in the journal, "Nursing Children and Young People," claims that children with mental health problems admitted to general hospitals are mistakenly treated for physical diseases.

They state that certain somatic symptoms such as abdominal pain, limb pain, headache and tiredness often cover the underlying health issue. Due to this, the NHS spends money on several investigations to eliminate the wrongly diagnosed disease.

 The researchers noticed that most of the somatic complaints were associated with the children's upbringing as well as the environment at home, including unstable home live, chaotic upbringing and parental over protectiveness, according to news release.

The study focuses on the risk factors that influence the somatic symptoms in children of age one-18 years. Nurses who work in wards and monitor these children are in an ideal position to examine the case of children with somatic symptoms, the study suggests that they can help to address the issue by providing holistic care.

They emphasize on the need of nurses to be trained so that they can quickly diagnose a somatic problem and provide the right holistic care at the earliest. Also, they should be able to assess the factors along with physical symptoms in order to inform the doctor about the child's complete circumstance and health care.

The article concludes that, "Somatic disorders can, to some extent, be predicted when nurses take into consideration issues such as poor family situations and parental influences, psychosocial stress, and poor emotional functioning."