Mental Disorders

The disorders included in this last category involve more extreme deviations from normal development than the externalizing and internalizing behavior disorders. Parents typically become extremely concerned when symptoms of these disorders emerge. Two of these disorders, autism and childhood schizophrenia, are considered pervasive developmental disorders in the DSM-IV, a term suggesting not only that the disorders emerge early but also that they affect all of the developing systems, including social, language, and cognitive-intellectual.