Understanding Cerebral Palsy And Mental Health
There is growing awareness around mental health concerns in both youth and adults with cerebral palsy. By pursuing treatment through psychotherapy or medication, individuals can encourage a virtuous cycle of improved mental and physical health.
If you are a parent of a child with cerebral palsy, its important to be aware of behaviors that may point to the development of mental health disorders. And if you are an adult with CP, you can take care of your mental health by seeking help and talking to someone.
Mental health professionals are great resources and would make a great addition to your medical team/regimen. We hope this article helped you understand how to pursue improved mental health with CP.
Research Is Also Lacking In Adult Populations But Movement Is Starting
But this hints at another issue faced by researchers of cerebral palsy. The vast majority of research involves children and their parents rather than adults.
In fact, with titles like, Economic Costs Associated With Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Hearing Loss, And Vision Impairment , Quality of Life and Mental Health Among Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy: The Influence Of SelfEfficacy and Coping Strategies and Time Demands of Caring for Children With Cerebral Palsy: What are The Implications for Maternal Mental Health? youd be forgiven for thinking that the focus isnt on patients at all.
What Are The Symptoms Of Depressive Disorders
Patients, care providers and physicians should be aware of the increased risk of behavioral and mental health disorders among children and young adults with Cerebral Palsy, as well as among their caregivers. Being aware of the challenges for children with CP and their families and being sensitive to the signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression, provides important opportunities for early identification, intervention and treatment.
Depression is a complex disorder, and the symptoms can vary widely from person to person. Not everyone with depression experiences every symptom. Symptoms and impacts of depression also vary in severity, from mild to serious, and include a number of physical and emotional ailments.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, common symptoms of depression include:
- Persistent sad, anxious or empty mood
- Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
- Feels of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies or activities that used to be fun
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Why I Can Talk About My Cerebral Palsy But Not Depression And Anxiety
In my lifetime, I have crossed paths with people who were curious about my cerebral palsy, and of course, I gladly explain to them what cerebral palsy is and how I do not let my cerebral palsy determine who I am as a person.
I find it very easy to talk about my condition in a positive light, but the one thing that is very hard to talk about when it comes to my cerebral palsy is the fact I also have severe depression and anxiety almost every single day. However, I do not tell a single person about my anxiety and depression because of one thing: I do not want people to think I am mentally unstable since I have always been the type of woman who inspires everyone who meets her.
I can only imagine what people would think of me if I were to wheel up to them and say, Hey guys, guess what? I have severe anxiety and depression, and I have to take pills every morning to keep it under control.
I can practically see the looks on their faces. Now, they would be astonished by that news because I seem to be a happy-go-lucky person on the outside, but on the inside, I fight a constant battle trying to keep a smile on my face regardless of what I want to do.
On my hard days with anxiety and depression, all I want to do is sleep. I hope that by the next time I wake up, my cerebral palsy would magically go away, but I wake up to still find it and I ask myself why I was picked to be in this body.
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Cerebral Palsy And Depression
Page Medically Reviewed and Edited by Sarah Schulze, RN, CPNP
This article has been fact checked by a Board Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Sources of information for the article are listed at the bottom.
For any content issues please Contact Us.
Children with chronic disorders that impair their motor abilities and independence, such as cerebral palsy, are at a heightened risk of developing depression. Depression rates can be twice as high for people with disabilities compared to non-disabled people. Therapy and medication are effective treatments for depression.
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Cerebral Palsy Increases Risk Of Anxiety And Depression
Catastrophic Injuryattorneys Birth Injuries cerebral palsy new york personal injury traumatic brain injury
Adults who have cerebral palsy face a heightened risk of suffering from depression and anxiety, according to a recent study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology. Researchers at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, over six years followed individuals who had cerebral palsy without intellectual disability and found that 18.3 percent of people with cerebral palsy had a new event of depression and 15.3 percent had a new event of anxiety.
What Are The Benefits Of Social Therapy
The benefits of social therapy are numerous. Children are naturally curious and are hardwired to seek companionship. Social therapy capitalizes on that attribute. Psychologists who practice social therapy are able to build on natural social abilities and implement a roadmap towards success in social situations.
At the crux of social therapy is the idea that the individual develop emotionally and psychologically in a fluid manner that is rooted in relationships with others, and that these interactions form the core of a persons ability to connect with others.
The psychological benefits of social therapy include:
- Enhancing relationships
Social therapy not only provides the skills necessary for participation in a group setting, it encourages families and friends to provide the child with special needs the opportunities for personal interaction in group settings.
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Who Provides Social Therapy
Social therapy is primarily performed by psychotherapists and social workers those individuals who have an extensive background in mental health counseling.
Relatively speaking, social therapy is still new, and there are few specific regulations put into place by state governments, and little in the way of certification requirements.
However, it is in the childs best interest that he or she participates in social therapy with a qualified practitioner that has completed some clinical training.
For example, The Camphill Community of California offers a work-based, four-year training program open to individuals in a variety of professions. This training program is specifically designed to help the practitioner develop the necessary skills to carry out social therapy concepts within groups of developmentally-disabled adults.
The East Side Institute offers an online certification program that is open to individuals employed in a variety of fields, including:
- Therapeutic observation
Despite Growing Research Mental Health Still Understudied In Those With Cerebral Palsy
- Research on cerebral palsy is still heavily focused on children and their parents.
- Mental health conditions are more prevalent for those with cerebral palsy.
- Physical symptoms are better researched than mental health and behavioral symptoms.
I was born with cerebral palsy , the most common childhood motor disability according to the Centers for Disease Control, a condition that is the result of brain damage. A lot of my early life was spent in physiotherapy, focusing on the connection between body and mind.
However, my mental health was never discussed by a health practitioner until I decided to announce my anxiety and depression publicly. This got me curious about how often mental health and cerebral palsy are researched together.
Experts say that while research on mental health for those with CP is growing, the historical focus on the easy-to-spot physical manifestations of the conditionspasms and increased pain as two examplesmeans that mental health has been under-researched. Combine that with a heavy focus on children rather than the adults they turn into, and you find a research landscape that leaves practitioners under-resourced.
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Adults With Cerebral Palsy Have Higher Risk Of Mental Illness Study Says
Adults with cerebral palsy without intellectual disabilities have a higher risk of developing mental illness, such as anxiety or depression, than adults who do not have cerebral palsy, according to a new study that examined data of thousands of patients from the United Kingdom.
The research paper, Risk of Depression and Anxiety in Adults With Cerebral Palsy, was published in JAMA Neurology.
Research has shown that living with a long-term disability is associated with a twofold to threefold increase in the likelihood of being diagnosed as having depression or anxiety, two of the most common mental illnesses in the worldwide population.
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition that develops during childhood. It is likely that people with cerebral palsy, as with any individual, experience psychological, social, and medical issues as they age. However, little is known about anxiety and depression in adults with cerebral palsy as the existing research on mental health outcomes of cerebral palsy patients has been primarily studied in children.
Of the existing studies on the occurrence of mental illness in adults with cerebral palsy, many present issues that need to be considered, namely that some of these studies have been cross-sectional one-off studies with different sample populations instead of longitudinal following a sample population and examining it as it ages.
What Causes Mental Health Problems In People With Cerebral Palsy
There are several categories of mental health disorders. Some common issues that individuals with cerebral palsy may struggle with include:
- Mood affective disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder
- Anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Adult personality and behavior disorders such as antisocial or avoidant personality disorder
The prevalence of mental health disorders in individuals with cerebral palsy is not necessarily related to the severity of ones disability. Rather, its more closely related to levels of stress, pain, fatigue, and perception of belonging.
Some social situations that can increase the risk of mental health disorders in individuals with cerebral palsy include:
- Bullying or teasing
- Inability to learn as quickly as peers
All these situations have something in common: they make the individual feel different. This can cause a ripple effect into someones mental health and cascade into their physical health, too.
Poor sleeping patterns, low physical activity, and pain also increase the risk of developing mental health disorders. For example, individuals with chronic pain may have reduced sleep quality, which can consequently lead to lower energy levels to participate in physical activity.
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Do I Need Health Insurance To Receive This Service
The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.
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How Is Depression Treated
APA reports that around 80% to 90% of people with depression respond favorably to treatment, which is excellent news for parents with children going through daily struggles.
Yet, to be successful, youll need to find the right approach. It takes some trial and error, but with effort, persistence, and with professional medical guidance, the odds of beating depression are typically favorable.
In general, most medical professionals recommend three types of traditional treatments. Some children can benefit from just a single treatment modality, while many have the best results from a combination of approaches.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for mental health disorders and often works well as the only treatment modality for mild to moderate symptoms.
Psychotherapy consists of retraining thought processes or negative patterns of thinking to change the way people process and react to the world around them. This teachable skill can change the way daily interactions or perceived and, therefore, the feelings and behaviors that result.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that there are numerous types of psychotherapy, some of which can be combined for better outcomes. Sometimes various forms of psychotherapy can be combined with medication, which may be more effective.
Some of the common types of psychotherapy for children include:
Medication
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Lack Of Research Lack Of Knowledge
This lack of research into ageing with cerebral palsy has a direct effect on the care services that are provided for cerebral palsy. Children with cerebral palsy usually have access to specialised care, but as adults, they are discharged from these services and often struggle to find health professionals with knowledge of their condition. The struggle to find care could also have an effect on the mental health of adults with cerebral palsy.
So what can we do to improve the psychological well-being of adults with this condition? The first step is getting researchers to do more studies on ageing with this condition. Although this is starting to happen in the US, Canada and the UK, a lot of the work focuses on physical health. But our work suggests that mental health should also be considered by researchers.
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Need For Mental Health Monitoring
“People living with any chronic physical health condition are two to three times more likely to have poorer mental health,” Smith said. This population should also have their mental health monitored, she added.
However, CP is an “umbrella term for a heterogeneous collection of symptoms,” which can make screening more challenging for clinicians, Smith acknowledged.
“These findings support the need to consider cerebral palsy as a lifelong condition and to identify and address mental health problems among people with cerebral palsy alongside physical health problems,” said coauthor Jennifer M. Ryan, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin.
“We hope that the findings of the study will help accelerate a response to adults with cerebral palsy who report inadequate provision of coordinated health services worldwide,” Ryan added.
Based on the current study establishing an association between CP in adulthood and greater risk for depression and anxiety, a next step could be to elucidate possible mechanisms.
The researchers report that studies are underway to assess how aging with CP influences the risk for developing and dying from noncommunicable diseases. In addition, they plan to investigate the risk for arthropathies in this population.
Are There Risks Or Special Considerations
There are few risks associated with social therapy, but to ensure the best outcome for the child, its important that therapy not move forward too quickly. Children with Cerebral Palsy are already facing a myriad of physical, developmental and psychological issues, depending on the severity of their condition. By proceeding too quickly, or introducing too many concepts or activities, a childs underlying apprehension or social phobia can be intensified.
Children with Cerebral Palsy may already feel self-conscious about their interactions with others. The point of social therapy is to expand a childs social functioning, not drive him or her into a shell. Its best to proceed slowly to make sure a child is not overwhelmed.
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Alcohol Tobacco And Other Drugs
The misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and prescription medications affect the health and well-being of millions of Americans. SAMHSAs 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that approximately 19.3 million people aged 18 or older had a substance use disorder in the past year.
Ethics Approval And Consent To Participate
In each country, procedures have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committees. France: For the CP population, the data were collected and stored in accordance with the reference methodology MR003 ) each patient having been informed individually of the research under Article L11221 of the Public Health Code for the general population, a joint authorization was granted by the Ethics Committee of the University Medicine Greifswald . Germany: Data collection in the CP population was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Lübeck for the general population, a joint authorization was granted by the Ethics Committee of the University Medicine Greifswald .
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Shifts In The Research Landscape
The University of Michigans Dr. Daniel Whitney studies both children and adults with cerebral palsy. He says that while there are a number of researchers working on CP and aging, there is still much that has not been explored.
The research landscape has recently shifted towards focusing more on health issues as individuals with cerebral palsy age into and throughout their adult years. However, there was not and still is an insufficient amount of research on components of aging with cerebral palsy.
He points towards resources produced by the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, including an adult health checklist and questions to bring to your primary care physician should you have concerns, as evidence of change. As a researcher with interests in both areas, Whitney says that working across the lifespan has a significant impact on his work.
My pediatric work often informs what I should be studying in the adult years, as problems with organ growth and function does not disappear in the adult years- it usually gets worse. For example, knowing that children with cerebral palsy can develop structurally abnormal bones during growth provides a unique insight into how their bones may continue to change in the adult years”
These insights on the evolution of physical symptoms over the course of one’s life ought to be studied in tandem with the evolution of psychological symptoms, as the two have always been interconnected.