Some temper tantrums can be red flags: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Children who have long, frequent oraggressive temper tantrums may be at risk of depression ordisruptive disorders, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
They said tantrums were often the sign of a sick, hungry oroverstimulated child. For most parents, they were a normal partof development and should be viewed as a teaching opportunity.
But parents of children who hurt themselves or others andthose who cannot calm themselves without help should seekmedical help, they found. Healthy children tended to have lessaggressive, and generally shorter tantrums.
"I think parents to some degree should expect theirchildren to have tantrums," said Dr. Andy Belden of WashingtonUniversity School of Medicine in St. Louis, whose studyappeared in the Journal of Pediatrics.
"If they are having extreme tantrums consistently. Ifalmost every time they are having a tantrum they are hurtingthemselves or other people, that is a valid reason to go andtalk to your pediatrician," Belden said in a telephoneinterview.
His team analyzed parent reports of tantrum behaviors in279 children aged 3 to 6. They compared tantrums in healthychildren with those in children previously diagnosed withdepression or some type of disruptive disorder, such asattention deficit hyperactivity disorder or oppositionaldefiant disorder.
From their observations, Belden's team devised fivehigh-risk tantrum styles: Tantrums marked by self injury;tantrums marked by violence to others or objects; tantrums inwhich children cannot calm themselves without help; tantrumslasting more than 25 minutes; and tantrums occurring more than5 times a day, or between 10 and 20 times a month.
Of those, Belden said tantrums in which children harmthemselves were most often associated with depression andshould be considered very serious.
He said any of those high-risk behaviors would warrant acall to the doctor.
"If it gets to the point where the parent is uncomfortableleaving the house because they are so fearful their child willhave tantrum, that should be a sign to the parent (to seekhelp)" he said.
(Editing by David Storey)