Adjustment Disorder
Anxiety caused by major changes. Frequent changes within a person’s life environment. Difficulties in school, work or home. Symptoms of depression (see Depression). Hyperactivity. Withdrawn. Fear and worry of change. Spike in grades or school behavior. Clinginess or more attached (younger children)

Anger Management
Intense, frequent mood swings. Aggressive, destructive behavior. Frequent verbal and physical outbursts. Easily aggravated.

Anxiety Disorders
Change or increase in normal behavior. Phobias about being in public setting or participating in social activities. Fears or reservations. Persistent. Nervous behavior. A feeling of being detached from the world (de-realization). Restlessness. Muscle tension. Sleep problems. Easily tired.

Attachment Disorder
Emotional Problems:
Low self-esteem, needy, clingy or pseudo-independent behavior, inability to deal with stress and adversity, depressed, unresponsive, resists comforting.

Physical Problems:
Susceptibility to chronic illness, obsession with food – may hoard food, gorge, refuse to eat, eat strange things, may be developmentally delayed.

Social Problems:
Lack of self-control, inability to develop and maintain friendships, alienation from parents, caregivers, and other authority figures, overly friendly and treating strangers like the primary caregiver, aggression and violence, difficulty with genuine trust, intimacy, and affection, lack of empathy, compassion and remorse, negative, hopeless, pessimistic view of self, family and society.

Learning Problems:
Behavioral problems at school; speech and language problems; incessant chatter and questions; difficulty learning.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-ADHD
Hyperactivity-impulsivity
o Feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming while seated
o Blurting out answers before hearing the whole question
o Having difficulty waiting in line or taking turns.
o Running, climbing, or leaving a seat in situations where sitting or quiet behavior is expected
Inattention:
o Often becoming easily distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds
o Often failing to pay attention to details and making careless mistakes
o Rarely following instructions carefully and completely losing or forgetting things like toys, or pencils, books, and tools needed for a task
o Often skipping from one uncompleted activity to another.

ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder-ADD)
The predominantly inattentive type (that does not show significant hyperactive-impulsive behavior) sometimes called ADD-an outdated term for this entire disorder; and the combined type (that displays both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms).

Bipolar Disorder
Extreme mood swings. Go from feeling very sad, despairing, helpless, worthless, and hopeless (depression) to feeling as if they are on top of the world, hyperactive, creative, and grandiose (mania). Alternate between two completely opposite poles, euphoric happiness and extreme sadness.

Depression
Feeling sad or blue. Crying spells. Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities. Significant weight loss or weight gain. Agitation or irritability. Fatigue or loss of energy. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, and/or thoughts of death or suicide.

EATING DISORDER

Anorexia/Bulimia:
o Dramatic weight loss in a relatively short period of time.
o Wearing big or baggy clothes or dressing in layers to hide body shape and/or weight loss.
o Obsession with weight and complaining of weight problems (even if "average" weight or thin).
o Obsession with calories and fat content of foods.
o Obsession with continuous exercise.
o Frequent trips to the bathroom immediately following meals (sometimes accompanied with water running in the bathroom for a long period of time to hide the sound of vomiting).
o Visible food restriction and self-starvation.
o Visible bingeing and/or purging.
o Use or hiding use of diet pills, laxatives, ipecac syrup (can cause immediate death!) or enemas.
o Isolation. Fear of eating around and with others.
o Unusual Food rituals such as shifting the food around on the plate to look eaten; cutting food into tiny pieces; making sure the fork avoids contact with the lips (using teeth to scrap food off the fork or spoon); chewing food and spitting it out, but not swallowing; dropping food into napkin on lap to later throw away.
o Hiding food in strange places (closets, cabinets, suitcases, under the bed) to avoid eating (Anorexia) or to eat at a later time (Bulimia).
o Flushing uneaten food down the toilet (can cause sewage problems).
o Vague or secretive eating patterns.
o Keeping a "food diary" or lists that consists of food and/or behaviors (ie., purging, restricting, calories consumed, exercise, etc.)
o Pre-occupied thoughts of food, weight and cooking.
o Visiting websites that promote unhealthy ways to lose weight.
o Reading books about weight loss and eating disorders.
o Self-defeating statements after food consumption.
o Hair loss. Pale or "grey" appearance to the skin.
o Dizziness and headaches.
o Frequent soar throats and/or swollen glands.
o Low self-esteem. Feeling worthless. Often putting themselves down and complaining of being "too stupid" or "too fat" and saying they don't matter. Need for acceptance and approval from others.
o Complaints of often feeling cold.
o Low blood pressure.
o Loss of menstrual cycle.
o Constipation or incontinence.
o Bruised or calluses knuckles; bloodshot or bleeding in the eyes; light bruising under the eyes and on the cheeks.
o Perfectionist personality.
o Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.
o Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
o Insomnia. Poor sleeping habits

Compulsive Overeating/Binge Eating Disorder
o Fear of not being able to control eating, and while eating, not being able to stop.
o Isolation. Fear of eating around and with others.
o Chronic dieting on a variety of popular diet plans.
o Holding the belief that life will be better if they can lose weight.
o Hiding food in strange places (closets, cabinets, suitcases, under the bed) to eat at a later time.
o Vague or secretive eating patterns.
o Self-defeating statements after food consumption.
o Blames failure in social and professional community on weight.
o Holding the belief that food is their only friend.
o Frequently out of breath after relatively light activities.
o Excessive sweating and shortness of breath.
o High blood pressure and/or cholesterol.
o Leg and joint pain.
o Weight gain.
o Decreased mobility due to weight gain.
o Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.
o Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
o Insomnia. Poor Sleeping Habits.

ABUSE

Emotional Abuse:
o Ignoring. Either physically or psychologically, the parent or caregiver is not present to respond to the child. He or she may not look at the child and may not call the child by name.
o Rejecting. This is an active refusal to respond to a child’s needs (e.g., refusing to touch a child, denying the needs of a child, ridiculing a child).
o Isolating. The parent or caregiver consistently prevents the child from having normal social interactions with peers, family members and adults. This also may include confining the child or limiting the child’s freedom of movement.
o Exploiting or corrupting. In this kind of abuse, a child is taught, encouraged or forced to develop inappropriate or illegal behaviors. It may involve self-destructive or antisocial acts of the parent or caregiver, such as teaching a child how to steal or forcing a child into prostitution.
o Verbally assaulting. This involves constantly belittling, shaming, ridiculing or verbally threatening the child.
o Terrorizing. Here, the parent or caregiver threatens or bullies the child and creates a climate of fear for the child. Terrorizing can include placing the child or the child’s loved one (such as a sibling, pet or toy) in a dangerous or chaotic situation, or placing rigid or unrealistic expectations on the child with threats of harm if they are not met.
o Neglecting the child. This abuse may include educational neglect, where a parent or caregiver fails or refuses to provide the child with necessary educational services; mental health neglect, where the parent or caregiver denies or ignores a child’s need for treatment for psychological problems; or medical neglect, where a parent or caregiver denies or ignores a child’s need for treatment for medical problems.

Sexual Abuse:
Often there are no obvious external signs of child sexual abuse. Some signs can only be detected on physical exam by a physician.

However, sexually abused children may develop the following:
o Unusual interest in or avoidance of all things of a sexual nature
o Sleep problems or nightmares
o Depression or withdrawal from friends or family
o Seductiveness
o Statements that their bodies are dirty or damaged, or fear that there is something wrong with them in the genital area
o Refusal to go to school
o Delinquency/conduct problems
o Secretiveness
o Aspects of sexual molestation in drawings, games, fantasies
o Unusual aggressiveness, or
o Suicidal behavior

Physical Abuse:
o Physical signs: Sometimes physical abuse has clear warning signs, such as unexplained bruises, welts, or cuts. While all children will take a tumble now and then, look for age-inappropriate injuries, injuries that appear to have a pattern such as marks from a hand or belt, or a pattern of severe injuries.
o Behavioral signs: Other times, signs of physical abuse may be more subtle. The child may be fearful, shy away from touch or appear to be afraid to go home. A child’s clothing may be inappropriate for the weather, such as heavy, long sleeved pants and shirts on hot days.
o Caregiver signs: Physically abusive caregivers may display anger management issues and excessive need for control. Their explanation of the injury might not ring true, or may be different from an older child’s description of the injury.

Oppositional Defiance
Challenges authority figures such as teachers or parents. Confrontational with authority figures. Defiant. Disrespectful and uncooperative with adults. Struggles with structure and following rules. Does not follow instructions, simple requests or prompts. Will not complete or participate in chores.

Grief
Symbolic loss includes life events that are not yet and never will be: high school graduations, weddings, and births. Actual loss is the death of a person we love and the deprivation of intimacy that flowed from our relationship with him or her. We lose companionship, laughter, sharing, and hugs. Feelings and symptoms associated with depression.

Low Self Esteem
Feelings of low self-worth. Low confidence. Avoids challenges. Withdrawn from social activities events, etc. Feels failure is inevitable. Feels success is a one time deal, won’t happen again.

Self Mutilation
o Wearing jackets, long-sleeve shirts, or any type of heavy clothing in warm weather (to hide cuts on the body) 

o Constantly wearing wrist bands (to hide cuts on the wrist) 

o Openly injuring themselves in subtle ways, i.e. pulling some hair out, picking one’s skin, softly hitting oneself, etc. (When people self-injure in front of others it is usually a subdued behavior – try to pick up on any subtleties that, along with other behaviors, may indicate self-injury) 

o Low self-esteem. (Low self-esteem is ONE of the problems people who self-injure possess) 

o Razor blades, razors, knives, sharp objects, lighters, and any other items that seem to be out of place or not normally used by the person in question. 

o Blood on clothes, in the room of the person in question, in the bathroom, etc. 

o Difficulty expressing feelings. (People who expresses frustration at an inability to express their emotions are at risk for self-injury) 

o Poor performance at school or work (This is particularly true when performance DROPS to a poor level without good reason) 

o Depression 

o “Negative” talk such as:
“I hate life” 

“No one likes me” 

“I’m no good at anything” 

“Life is meaningless” 

“I never feel happy.” 

“I feel empty.”