ABSTRACT
Understanding psychiatric presentations in children requires an understanding of normal development and the range of normal emotions and behaviours present at each age. Some disorders represent abnormalities in terms of degree, or presentations that are outside the norm for a child’s age, whereas others are qualitatively abnormal; that is to say they involve features that are abnormal at any stage of development. Emotional and behavioural problems are very common during childhood and adolescence. They are considered disorders when they cause suffering, affect education or relationships, or seriously interfere with development; that is, when they pass a threshold of impairment.
