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It’s an assumption of youth. Age is meant to be a defender of good mental health; a lack of years is meant to offer security. Children aren’t supposed to suffer from disorders — their minds are still unformed, their moods are still being shaped. It should be impossible therefore to detect the presence of problems. Only adults should suffer from the tragedy of disease. This is the certainty that’s passed from parent to parent.

Such a certainty is incorrect, however.

Mental disorders are not discerning in their victims. They bound through generations, attaching themselves to thoughts without discrimination. Choosing to believe that no child can have an emotional disease is therefore unwise — and potentially dangerous.

It is estimated that 12 million youths under the age of 18 have a complication: with the most common problems being obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and extreme anxiety. Of these individuals only one third will receive proper medical treatment. The rest will instead suffer from misdiagnosis and misunderstandings — with their families unable (or unwilling) to recognize the signs.

And this can lead to tragic consequences. It is believed that five percent of children in juvenile detention facilities have some form of mental illness (with their diseases directly linked to their incarcerations); and suicide is the third highest cause of death among adolescents, claiming millions each year.

These numbers are all too tragic and all too avoidable — if treatment could be offered instead of misconceptions.

Children can suffer from mental diseases. Their age is not a barrier that somehow shields them. This must be understood so that professional care can be provided.