Indrani Garganigo

3 September 2019

Pediatric Medicine

Research Assessment #1
Early Childhood Mental Health

“InBrief: Early Childhood Mental Health.” Center on the Developing Child at Harvard

University, https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-early-childhood-mental-health/.

Mental Health can have a big impact on someone’s life, as it has

the power to alter how we as humans perceive not only others, but

ourselves as well. In the InBrief article provided by Harvard

University's Center on the Developing Child, various authors support

the idea that a person’s mental health is directly related to their

childhood relationships with different caregivers such as parents

and/or extended family members. These foundational relationships, if

fostered well, can lead to immense success in a child’s life. However

if not taken care of, these relationships can negatively affect a

child’s life causing problems ranging from “failure to complete high

school, incarceration, to homelessness.”

With a statistic like “16% of children are diagnosed with some

sort of mental health disorder” it's a wonder that we as a society are

not paying more attention to the foundation that kids need in order to

enjoy a happy, stable environment in early childhood years. However,

this raises ethical questions such as “what makes a good parent” and

“how does one distinguish what parenting strategies work effectively”

while remaining efficient. Some institutions, such as the American

Foster Care System, are trying to answer these subjective questions,

and have gone to great lengths to add in additional home visits to

ensure children are comfortable with their placements. Despite all

these extra measures, the foster care system is still failing a lot of

children, allowing them to be placed in potentially abusive homes,

which does not provide the necessary foundational relationships needed

for good early childhood mental health.

Another point that the article highlights is the fact that toxic

stress can “damage the architecture of the developing brain and

increase the likelihood of significant mental health problems.” In

this ever increasingly stressful world, toxic stress can infiltrate a

child’s life quite easily through little things such as body language.

Kids pick up on nonverbal cues from adults all the time, which can

impair their school readiness, academic achievement, and not only

mental health but physical health too. This increases the importance

of the foundation of a child’s life. In addition to being proactive in

helping children develop strong emotional bonds, society needs to do a

better job helping parents and expecting parents manage stressors.

While parents would have more brain space to comprehend situations at

home, they could also spend more time with their children. This could

help support children who have been diagnosed with mental health

disorders, along with managing the lives of those who have yet to be

diagnosed.

Situations are not as one dimensional as they appear at first; we

are told that children need a solid foundation in order to be

successful and achieve greatness in life, and while that might be the
stereotype, it's not always true. In order to see what’s really

affecting a child’s life, one must look at the present factors on a

case by case basis.