Important Links, Books, & Resources to Help Our Children

Perhaps your child is already diagnosed with a non-psychological condition affecting his or her brain (such as clinical depression, pediatric-onset bipolar, autistic-spectrum, hormonal issues, migraines, psychosis-nos, lyme disease, narcolepsy, Kleine-Levin syndrome, thyroid issues, or childhood-onset schizophrenia).

Or, you may still be in the early stages of thinking, “Something is distressing my child. The screaming, horrific nightmares, spacing out, acting like perhaps he/she is hearing voices, not sleeping or sleeping too much, and tantrums indicate that something is wrong.”). In either case, in addition to treating the more salient symptoms of the condition, we need resources to help the child’s underlying biology.

The Stress Connection: Meeting Hormonal, Nutritional, and Metabolic Needs

Many chronic illnesses are affected by stress (see Stress, Immune Response, and Illness). There have been many links between psychiatric symptoms, stress, mitochondrial function, and the endocrine system. A common thread connecting them all is nutrition.

The United States' government organization, NIMH, is currently running studies using nutritional substances to augment treatment of some neurobiological brain disorders such as autism, bipolar and schizophrenia.

Stress and Our Children. How Much is Too Much?

Responding to an acute stressor can boost our immune system. But the impact to our immune system, and the inflammatory response, from some stressors can be quite damaging.