Recognising development risks in girls and young women

10 April 2018. Psychological, psychosomatic and psychosocial anomalies develop differently in girls and usually become apparent later than is the case with boys. Although in the last few decades substantial progress has been made in the promotion of education and training opportunities for girls, 10 to 20 per cent of girls and young women continue to be hampered in their development through familial and social strain or traumatisation, and develop anomalies as a consequence. This often manifests itself in emotional disorders, eating disorders, unstable personalities and other psychological anomalies, which require therapy.

In this psychology lecture, Dr Oliver Bilke-Hentsch, senior consultant for child and youth psychiatry of the Modellstation Somosa clinic in Winterthur, and Dr Dieter Stösser, senior physician of the Child and Youth Psychiatric Services of the Canton of Thurgau, will describe development lines of present-day biographies of girls and young women with their many-faceted familial, educational and social challenges. Subsequently, they will identify step by step the early warning signs of the psychological disorders that are typical of girls and young women. In doing so, they will also pay attention to the significance of social media for development, as well as to the phenomena of dissocial or criminal activities that have become apparent in girls and young women in recent years.

Picture: Fotolia/hikrcn