Controversial topic!

Not sure if this will get deleted or not........

Regarding children being allowed on mental- health websites.

If you were a parent..........how would you feel about your child coming on a website like this?

Would you be happy that your child was reading about all the things that affect mental health?........(!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Would you as a parent prefer that they went on a website specifically aimed for their age- range?

What do you think?

I have always been an advocate of learning. The internet was not around when I was raising my children. I do have grandchildren

While I trust PC very much, there are still common dangers that come with using the internet. Knowing PC as I do, and it's adult nature, I would say I would not allow any child of mine to come here, with or without any disorder.

I find it difficult to believe that any professional would send a child to an adult site, really. The thought processes and concerns are totally different.

I'm sure there are sites out there for the younger internet user, with appropriate moderation, where they can go for peer review. How can they relate to us here? How can they feel like they fit in here? Maybe in a certain forum, if disodered, but not overall? I think they need the peer responses that adults have to work at: how was school today? Did your mom rag on you for not doing your chore? etc.. and to have a response that doesn't necessarily include what an adult would "normally" express.

Though they can still read here, children are more impressionable, and might be more inclined to read and believe they have something terribly wrong with them when instead it's just part of growing up!

Sorry, as good as PC is, the child needs something better for herself! (IMO)



edit added "impressionable" sentence.

Both of u.

I think children should not be aloud on adult mental health sites.....I feel they should go on a mental health site appropriate to their age...These kids are reading things they have no way of understanding... and should not be reading..

I do think the age limit here at PC is 13.... I at times think this is even too young to be on an adult oriented mental health site......as always IMHO

I agree sky. There are a couple of kids here that do listen and do seem more mature than others. I would not allow my child to go into a predominant adult chat area. Although we are pretty safe here I do have concerns about kids seeing some of the topics here. I think maybe they end up thinking they might have an illness that really they do not have. There is so much information here that even adults can get confused...imo

I'd be inclined to suggest that the age of consent should be the minimum here.

After all there are a lot of issues around sex which are addressed here.

Not that a younger person may not have experienced those things, but IMO they need somewhere more appropriate to their age.

Young people can also be suggestible - do we want them worried that they have a disorder they don't have because they start to see symptoms in themselves they have read about here?

I posted something about an R18 movie in Social (yes, I warned in the title that I was talking about 'disturbing' films). I don't feel comfortable doing that with 13 year olds reading the site, yet why should we not discuss things like that?

I think it's pretty irresponsible to direct young people here - surely there must be a more appropriate site for them that they would enjoy more?

Does anyone know of one?

Snap bebop

I personally think that children who have problems should be seeking help from professionals, counsellors, doctors or teachers.

In the UK we have something called 'child-line' which a child can ring if having problems at home or being bullied etc.

imo............if I had a 13 year old daughter I would be horrified if she went on a mental-health website and was reading or posting things that happen in therapy etc.

Sorry PC, just my opinion........

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I think it's pretty irresponsible to direct young people here - surely there must be a more appropriate site for them that they would enjoy more?

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? If this is the best the internet has for young people.... WHOA!!!

dsf snap? huh?

I completely agree....when there are teens in the chatroom and someone mentions sex I try to remind them kids are present and it should not be discussed. I don't care if they have experience in sex or not...to me it is a moral thing. I would not allow my 13 yr old to be in chatrooms like that. imo

.......Maybe DocJohn could make a seperate site just for children????????

Psych Central for Kids!

sounds good to me!! lol

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bebop said:
dsf snap? huh?


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You also said that younger persons might develop the idea that they have a disorder they don't actually have. We posted at about the same time

oh yeah lol I saw that one lol
but I have seen it happen!!

which is super scary ...

I am a person who has struggled with my severe major depression since I was 15 yrs old. I am also a mother of 4 young adults (21-27), the youngest who has struggled with her own major depression since she was 14.

That being said, I must say that I would have recommended this site to my daughter at the age she began to cope with her own MI.

I have found this site to be very safe for young adults. And although I have not gone to all the topics on this forum, to think that young people due not need access them, is to sadly have your head stuck in the sand.

Unfortunately, with these types of struggles "age" is relative. Hopefully, witnessing "adults" productively and sometimes non-productively, work through these same issues will help this young adult grow as well.

I don't think we have our heads in the sand at all. We deal with these kids every night and frankly most don't listen to the adults in here. Some do but most don't. I do feel all kids are different. Some are more mature than others. You would think some 13 yr olds are alot older than some of the 16 or 17 yr olds. again my opinion as I am sure some of the others here share. We deal with it every night in chatroom.

so could the answer be that perhaps it needs to be considered that if you are 13 to 18 you should fill out a short application to be on site? sort of to judge wether the person is mature enough to cope with the site. I mean, it is not like we can ask parents in many cases.

I am on a wire on the issue. When i was that young this site probably would have saved my life a few times, and definetly would have helped me.

rainbowz maybe. I don't know what the solution should be.

Maybe an adults only area chat room and a communal area ... I dunno ... but not happy with the status quo.

My issue is mainly with having to be so careful in the chat room and the disturbance some members are creating in there.

I guess they are gonna read this stuff anywhere so perhaps censoring the forums is not so relevant.

I might have to rock the boat on this one.

I think this site is fine for someone who would need to use it.

I'm sorry but more and more younger people are dealing with things that you could not imagine. I think if we judge people by their age then we are not even giving people a fair chance and do in fact invalidate them.

I see too many children dealing with issues like rape, trauma, violence, etc. and if we think they don't know about these things then we've got blinders on to the world.

I was raped at 4. I've been dealing with this stuff since I was that old and to say someone like me doesn't know certain things or can't comprehend things because of my age then that would only make me even more isolated and alone.

I've heard so many people say I (or someone else) is too young to understand something or that we wouldn't have a clue about some things because we aren't old enough to have the experience...but that is only a judgement on your part.

Plain and simple.

I'm a little disappointed by some people's attitudes towards some folks here. I feel as though the same stigma that folks with mental disorders face in general society is being replicated here against teens or children facing the same or similar issues.

The fact is that over 50% of mental disorders can be traced back to childhood or teenage years. If earlier assessment could identify such folks, it's likely they would suffer far less in adulthood with quicker treatment and better understanding of their issues.

Does that mean that adults and teens/children face the same issues? No, they don't. Teens and children face very different issues than adults, and have a very different set of social skills than adults. And that, to me, speaks for the need to, at the very least, consider again the need for a teen place on Psych Central.

This time around, I'm fairly convinced it's time to create such a place for teens, including their own chat room. I don't want to stigmatize or exclude a set of the population due to no fault of their own (their age), and I see no reason to do so.

DocJohn

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DocJohn said:

Does that mean that adults and teens/children face the same issues? No, they don't. Teens and children face very different issues than adults, and have a very different set of social skills than adults. And that, to me, speaks for the need to, at the very least, consider again the need for a teen place on Psych Central.

This time around, I'm fairly convinced it's time to create such a place for teens, including their own chat room. I don't want to stigmatize or exclude a set of the population due to no fault of their own (their age), and I see no reason to do so.

DocJohn

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Isn't this exactly what most of us are saying?



the issue i see is chat, it's a little hard to deal with for many of us at times (frustrating anyways).

maybe also having some communal chat space would be useful, but there definitely needs to be something for younger people to have to themselves.

I'm perplexed by this thread. There are a few issues here.

I hope we don't exclude teens.