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Children and: war, 9/11, bullying, graffiti and moreStories from the international child mental health conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre include: How thinking develops in the infant mindHow do we learn to think? Set our moral values? How do learn to form relationships? And how are our memories shaped to reflect who we are? Peter Fonagy, a world-leading professor of psychoanalytic psychology, can explain how your thinking as an infant, especially between ages 1 and 3, sets patterns for life. He is the world expert in the field and brought us the concept of “mentalisation” – or how thinking develops. Child soldiers - the cost of warChild Soldiers in Uganda are left with significant mental health issues. Illustrated with drawings by children, Grace Onyango from World Vision talks about 12 years working with former child soldiers. This is one of several presentations on child soldiers and the effects of war on children. Trauma and 9/11On the fifth anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the United States, US psychiatry professor a world expert Charles Zeanah is available to discuss how trauma affects children. Professor Zeanah is also familiar with the work of US researchers who have examined the effects of 9/11. 25 percent of children bullied once a weekWhat is being done about school bullying? Flinders University Professor Phillip Slee unveils a new survey, of 1479 adolescents at five Australian high schools, that finds 24.5% say they are being bullied “once a week or more often”. Professor Slee discusses what is being done to counter the worrying problems of bullying in school. Graffiti – have we got it wrong?Queensland University Professor Graham Martin says society is tackling graffiti the wrong way - that calling the police and making kids wash off walls is a waste of time, as is graffiti-resistant paint. Professor Martin, an expert in suicide in young people, argues the actions of many graffitists are a call for help and society should treat the problem differently. Playing games online – the effect on real world relationshipsGerman researcher Karla Misek-Schneider reports on a 10-year project examining the positive and dangerous aspects of on-line gaming, which has become an important part of many adolescents’ lives. The research includes why children find cyberspace so fascinating, and what happens if they spend hours in a virtual world, at the expense of developing relationship skills. How safe are the drugs used to treat ADHD? And are they over-prescribed?Every day about 50,000 Australian children take drugs to counter ADHD, yet there is still strong debate in medical circles about whether we are doing the right thing by out children. Susan Selwyn, Clinical Psychologist and conference spokesperson, said drugs need not be the treatment of choice, especially when early psychological intervention with children and their parents was effective and safe.
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