Brain health · Sanctum

Always in trouble

Told off, sent out, the naughty one, the difficult one. A child who seems to be in trouble more than anyone else, building a picture, of themselves and to everyone around them, of a child who is simply bad.

A lot of what gets punished is genuinely not yet within a child’s control: the blurting, the moving, the reacting, the forgetting. When a brain works differently, the behaviour that follows is met as defiance, when it is often a child doing their best with a nervous system that is ahead of them.

Because the behaviour is what gets seen, the reason underneath is missed, and discipline piles onto a child already absorbing the message that they are the problem. The self-esteem damage starts early and runs deep.

We look at what is driving the behaviour rather than just the behaviour itself, because so much of it is not yet within the child’s control. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director