Do any of you watch Private Practice?  I must admit I am a bit of a TV junkie and Private Practice is one of my favourite shows.  I think I watch them for an escape...but we can analyze my TV habits in a different blog.  This blog is because this week on Private Practice a young girl of 11 came into the Practice of our favourite physicians with a cut on her head, and after about a 1 minute conversation with her, and her imaginary friend the Pediatrician became concerned enough to consult with the psychiatrist.  The psychiatrist saw her at 2 that afternoon, and had a brief consultation with her, from which he diagnosed schizophrenia.  Later in the afternoon, the parents were called in to discuss the diagnosis.  Of course it was not a welcomed diagnosis.  BUT, I think it might have been the next day (it is hard to tell the time lines sometimes in these shows) the parents returned, and came quickly to acceptance after dad disclosed that his sister had been taken from the family, locked up, and later committed suicide.  After a brief period of consoling dad, they proceeded to the hospital, where the young 11 year old was promptly admitted for care and treatment.
 
As I watched I thought to myself a few things, some good, some not so good.  What is good?  We are exploring children's mental health in a more public forum, not so much a secret and something that is never talked about anymore.  The girl was 11, truly a young girl, not a teenager, not a young adult, but a child.  The illness was not displayed by symptoms of violence and the girl was actually quite successful academically, although isolated from peers and a social network because of her "quirky" nature.  All of this to me is good.  Lets remember a one hour show that focuses on more than one character is limited, so really this message was delivered I would say in less than 15 minutes.  BUT it was 15 minutes of talking about children's mental health, prime time TV, and not in a menacing manner.  It portrayed the family history as a component of diagnosis, and the parents initial reluctance and fear at the diagnosis.  All these things good, of course taking into consideration the time frame of the episode.
 
What was bad?  Well....to jump from talking to an imaginary friend and immediately going to the psychiatrist - that in itself is not bad, in fact I would think good, but not an adequate display of what it takes to have a psychiatric illness diagnosed, especially at such a young age.  Then the speed at which everything moved, from thinking there was a problem, to consultation, to diagnosis, to parent acceptance, to eventually admission to a lovely in-patient hospital setting.  Even taking into consideration the time frames and the fact it was TV, very unrealistic.  I kept thinking to myself, if only, if only it were that seamless and that easy to get help, and if only our children had to display very mild symptoms before diagnosis what a different life we would all be leading right now.
 
As I write this, I think bad is perhaps a strong word.  So I am going to look at this in a completely positive light, and celebrate that we were able to demonstrate that Children's Mental Illness is real, it is serious, and it does begin at very young ages.  I am going to applaud a TV show for not "hollywooding up" the child's symptoms and making her a menace, but rather a confused, young girl doing her best in school and with her friends, and not understanding much of any of what is happening to her.  They tried to represent that most parents although not welcoming at first at the thought of having their child suffer from a mental illness, do in fact come to accept it, and do want to do all they can to help their children.  I am also going to applaud the show for showing what it SHOULD be like for all children who are suffering from a mental illness.  Help should be that seamless and apparent and available, because with that in place, our children would not be at risk, would not have endless years of suffering and torture, and their families would be equipped to cope and provide the support they need.  I applaud them for showing this in a medium that is perhaps more acceptable sand for showing the public that this is what we need for our children, youth and their families, and it should be as easy and acceptable as that.  It was no different than a child coming into the Pediatrician's office with a physical health problem - concern, consultation, diagnosis, treatment.  That simple - only still it isn't.