In the last ten years, the number of cases of angry children, easily annoyed, who scream when they ask for something or when they support their point of view, who carry out commands in reverse and defy or refuse to obey the rules, both at home and in kindergarten, has increased alarmingly. or at school. At least this is the opinion of the doctor of psychology Geanina Cucu Ciuhan.
How to react correctly as a parent
If you have already tried a lot of methods to correct your child’s aggressive behavior, whether you spoke to him in a calm tone, or applied harsh disciplinary methods, punishments of all kinds, find out that behind the aggression of the little one can hide states of anxiety and low self-esteem.
Specialist studies in recent years have revealed a link between defiant oppositional disorder in preschool children and phobia (95% in 3-year-old children) or excessive and separation anxiety (95% in 5-year-old children).
“As a rule, classical methods tend to increase the child’s resentment, which manifests itself more and more violently and is increasingly difficult to control.
We found from practice that when we intervene on the anxiety and low self-esteem of these children, the behavior problems also decrease.
In other words, these two basic components – anxiety and low self-esteem – underlie the anger and oppositionalism of preschoolers and young schoolchildren.
Keeping this in mind, it is very important for parents to seek the specialized help of a psychologist when their child frequently exhibits provocative behaviors and fits of anger, the emotional evaluation of the child being essential in such cases.
The correct psychotherapy programs in these cases include child psychotherapy, family psychotherapy, systematic observation at school and behavioral management of the child in the classroom, in close collaboration with the educator or teacher”, explains the university professor. Dr. Ciuhan.
Increased risk of suicide
If no measures are taken to help the anxious child or with low self-esteem, his condition can worsen over time, evolving into depression and suicidal thoughts. Doctor of psychology Geanina Ciuhan warns:
“When I did the psychological evaluation of these children, I found that, in addition to behavioral problems, there appear (…) in more serious cases, elements or depressive thoughts and even thoughts of suicide. Things are all the more serious when we are talking about 6-7-year-old children with quite definite ideas of suicide”.
