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Tag Archives: families
Why are so many parents open to ADHD medication for their kids?
The end result is that the consequences of a lack of success in our educational system can be dire, and if we conceptualize kids having to pass through an ever-increasing number of “round holes” in our schools, the desperation of parents to get their “square peg” through those round holes is mounting. The end result is that parents pursue medication, tutoring, alternative schools and other approaches for their kids who struggle academically because they fear the long-term consequences associated with academic underachievement. Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Advocacy, Controversies, Key Ministry
Tagged ADHD, ADHD Does Not Exist, ADHD medication, Dr. Richard Saul, families, Parents
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Sensory processing as a barrier to “doing church”
Ministry environments that some kids find engaging may be experienced as noxious by children with heightened reactivity to sensory stimulation. Let’s consider the range of potential situations that would present challenges to families of kids with sensory processing difficulties. Continue reading
When should parents consider non-medical treatment first?
Many mental health conditions are commonly seen in kids for which medication generally isn’t the first step in a well-developed treatment plan. Today, we’ll look at some situations when parents and clinicians might consider non-medical treatment alternatives first. Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Controversies, Depression, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health
Tagged ADHD, anxiety, children, Depression, families, mental health, non-medical treatment, OCD, Parents, PTSD, teens
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First impressions of the DSM-5
The weakness is its lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever. Indeed, symptom-based diagnosis, once common in other areas of medicine, has been largely replaced in the past half century as we have understood that symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment. Continue reading
Posted in Controversies, Mental Health
Tagged children, Dr. Thomas Insel, dsm-5, families, first impressions, mental health, NIMH, psychiatry, teens
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Contributing to a conversation about faith and mental illness
What if the environments in which we “do church” are distressing to large segments of our population who struggle with common mental illnesses? And what about the family members of a child or adult with a mental illness who miss out on learning about Jesus or growing in faith in Jesus because attending church or belonging to a small group or participating in a service ministry is too overwhelming to their brother or mother? It’s not unreasonable to assume that a significant chunk of people in any given community have some experience of church but don’t regularly attend church because of the subtle, but real ways in which mental illness presents a barrier to the environments in which we do ministry. Continue reading
Joe Padilla…The Church Response to Families Impacted by Depression
The church can consider having biblically based mental health support groups for these families. We (Mental Health Grace Alliance) have designed Family Grace Groups for family members who have a loved one affected by mental health difficulties and disorders. The groups are led by non-professionals and work in any church. The groups follow a faith-structured curriculum of topics to help understand and navigate challenges and even learning their own self-care. Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Depression, Families, Mental Health, Strategies
Tagged church, Depression, families, Joe Padilla, Key Ministry, Mental Health Grace Alliance
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Families impacted by depression…How can the church help?
How can churches help families impacted by depression to experience the love of Christ? Here are some thoughts…
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What if Mom is depressed?
But for the sake of this discussion, it appears that in examining depression as a specific disability, regular involvement of either the child or the parent with depression at church not only produces spiritual benefits, but actually helps reduce the risk for the condition itself. Continue reading
Posted in Depression, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Resources, Strategies
Tagged children's ministry, church, Depression, Faith Net, families, Family Ministry, Grace Groups, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health Grace Alliance, mothers, NAMI, youth ministry
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