From Symptoms to Solutions: A Parent’s Role in Managing Children’s Mental Health

Dr. Mojgan Makki, MD, DFAACAP, is the Founder of Psychiatry Studio, a mental health organization that focuses on treatment, education, and prevention. With over 20 years of experience in the mental health field, Dr. Makki is a double board-certified psychiatrist by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry. Her extensive experience spans private, community, and university systems, where she has taught and promoted mental health and wellness. Dr. Makki serves on the board of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Determining when to consider medication versus continuing with talk therapy
The importance of documenting your child’s patterns and symptoms
Dr. Mojgan Makki talks about handling kids who might be dependent on medication
The benefits of early intervention and treatment for anxiety disorders
Why parents’ patience and collaboration are the keys to success
How anxiety can lead to irritability or avoidance among children and adolescents
What do parents need to discuss with psychiatrists to formulate a treatment plan?
Common side effects for kids treated for anxiety or depression

In this episode…

Managing your child’s mental health can feel overwhelming and filled with questions, decisions, and uncertainties. As parents, how can you take the reins and help guide their journey through these challenges?

According to Dr. Mojgan Makki, a renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist, the key lies in parents’ education and their active roles as advocates for their children. She emphasizes the importance of early detection, diligent documentation of symptoms, and understanding the role of medication in treatment. When considering medication for your child’s mental health disorder, assess how their symptoms impact their daily lives and consult with professionals to evaluate your options.

In this episode of The Coping Podcast, host Dr. Leigh Weisz talks with Dr. Mojgan Makki, Founder of Psychiatry Studio, about the pivotal role parents play in managing their children’s mental health. They discuss when to consider medication versus continuing with therapy, the role of early intervention and treatment in anxiety disorders, and how to formulate a treatment plan with your child’s psychiatrist.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Coping Partners.

Coping Partners is a mental health practice dedicated to helping children, adolescents, and adults manage various challenges including anxiety, divorce, behavioral issues, relationship problems and much more in the Chicago suburbs.

Our practitioners are devoted to building on our clients’ strengths and bolstering weaknesses.

To gain insight and tools for getting unstuck check out our website at CopingPartners.com, email us at support@copingpartners.com.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:01

Welcome to The Coping Podcast where we share strategies for coping with the stressors of life, especially the difficulties of parenting. And here is your host, Dr. Leigh Weisz.

Dr. Leigh Weisz 0:15

This is Dr. Leigh Weisz. I am the host of The Coping Podcast, where I feature top experts on topics like raising healthy children, parenting and so much more. Past guests include family law attorney Beth McCormack, therapists Dr. Aryn Froum and Ben Kessler, confidence coach Leslie Randolph, dietitian Lara Field and many more. Just a quick disclaimer, the information provided is for educational and informational purposes only. This is not intended to provide mental health treatment and does not constitute a client therapist relationship. The information provided is not a replacement for being assessed and evaluated by a licensed professional and is not intended to replace mental health or medical advice. Before we dive into today’s topic, I wanted to introduce today’s guest, Dr. Makki. Dr. Mojgan Makki is a Distinguished Fellow at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and holds a double board certification in child and adolescent as well as adult psychiatry. With over two decades of dedicated service, Dr. Makki serves as an adjunct faculty and assistant professor at various academic institutions, extending her commitment to mental health by teaching as well as engaging in direct clinical work. In her leadership role at Psychiatry Studio, Dr. Makki has pushed new models of patient care, dedicated to improving health and raising mental health awareness within the community. She serves as a trusted consultant to numerous school districts, offering mental health consultations and wellness to support educational teams, community and students. In addition to her clinical achievements and her educational background, her journey is diverse and marked by her education at PAX Medical University, Washington University,and UIC as well as numerous impressive roles such as a medical directorship at inpatient child and adolescent hospitals in St. Louis, founder of Young Child Clinic Tips at Rush. And she serves on the board of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders. So you are very qualified to talk with us and with parents who may not know that much about the world of psychiatry with children, adolescents, and we really want to thank you for being here.

Dr. Mojgan Makki 2:50

Thank you so much. And thank you for inviting me. And for the wonderful introduction.

Dr. Leigh Weisz 2:55

Of course, I’ve I’ve learned so much from you, as you know, over the years, both when we collaborate on cases, and you even come and done a lecture for our office for our therapists so that we can, you know, be in more more informed about the work that you do. You’ve always been so collaborative, and I figured you could teach some of the parents listening a little bit about medication in children and adolescents. So we’re gonna dive in. One question that I get a lot from parents is, you know, how do they know when it’s really time to consider medication versus just continue with therapy alone?

Dr. Mojgan Makki 3:34

Yeah, those are some of the really good questions. And it depends on the person, it’s not always the same. We can’t we don’t really have a formula to put out there and say, if you get to this point, you really need to consult with a pediatrician or a psychiatrist about medication. But it really comes down to impairment and the symptomatology and what effect the symptoms have on the child or on the youth every day living in the US, we may see that there is a change like a child who was otherwise engaged and you know, ready to go out and about ready to go out with a friend or go on vacation with family, maybe all of a sudden we see that they are isolating or they are becoming a little bit avoidance of situations or they seem irritable so it’s either we see there is a change in behaviors and presentations, or it seems like they’re kind of have the same temperaments but It’s becoming more complicated. Like more, those are the times that we say, let’s just get connected to a professional to just kind of process your observation. And it may not necessarily be that time where you would need medication. But I think it’s important when you see a change, and you see that the child is not doing as great that they used to, to make sure that we contact and talk to the primary care physician, so the pediatricians even to schools, or if you already have an existing relationship with therapists to kind of discuss some of your observations with them.

Dr. Leigh Weisz 5:46

So it sounds like parents, if they’re even contemplating medication, but they’re not yet sure, it would be okay for them to reach out to a child psychiatrist or an adolescent psychiatrist, and just have a consultation just to get some information, and maybe even start monitoring the symptoms.

Dr. Mojgan Makki 6:05

Yes, you know, I think that one of the areas that’s really important for my work, and I dedicate a lot of my time to education, it’s not, it’s not so it’s not so clear that when we would think that the child is now going from like having some worries to an anxiety disorder, and so the really best way to manage this is to be educated, and to real tight, and to find ways that you can monitor and find ways that you can keep track of the behaviors.

Dr. Leigh Weisz 6:43

I like that, and I tell my clients also to monitor, you know, because they might have a really bad day with their child, major tantrums or major anxiety, and think, oh, my gosh, this is not normal, we need to quickly, you know, call someone and, you know, that happens that we have bad days. But if it’s something that’s consistent, if every single day, that child is unable to get to school, because of debilitating, you know, anxiety about what’s to come. Right, it seems like it’s it’s impacting our functioning that’s more more severe. And I like what you said about, you know, also if it’s a market change that that’s important to monitor.

Dr. Mojgan Makki 7:21

Yeah, so did the even you know for other diagnosis is, there is always a timeline, we would never say someone has like a panic disorder, or anxiety disorder, if they have a bad day, everyone is allowed bad days, right. So for example, for anxiety for general anxiety disorder, we say that they have to present with the symptomatology more days during the week, more times more hours during the week, and that this pattern has been existing for at least six months, and that there is an impact on their function. Right. Right. So, but it’s difficult for some of the parents to kind of know, as it’s been six months, does it meet the criteria? So sometimes we just make suggestions that keep track of it, like make, like a quick note on your diary, or on the calendar, like, this week has been a good week, or this week, she’s struggled three days out of the seven, right? So you have some idea as what, like quality, quality of qualifying the difficulty, right? So to be able to keep track of buttons, right?

Dr. Leigh Weisz 8:44

Absolutely no documenting, documenting a pattern and documenting the symptoms. So if the parents, you know, they do decide, Okay, we’re ready to for at least the you know, to get some information. I know, one of parents fears tends to be, oh, my gosh, if I’m starting my, you know, child or even adolescent on medication, is this going to be a lifelong thing that I need to continue? And so I’m wondering if you can kind of tell me what you would say to parents who worry about that, or maybe even worry that their kids might be dependent on medication? Kind of like, how do you handle that question?

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