Mental health difficulties in children are often missed or dismissed. Adults too are often wary of bringing their children to such a facility. This paper is a descriptive study of a child mental health service utilization in Kuala Lumpur. Methods: The cases consisted of new cases from the month of January to December 2007 who attended the Psychiatry Adolescent and Child (PAC) Unit, University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC). Results: The children presented with a range of development, academic, behavior and emotional difficulties. There were 373 new cases of which the highest number of children were in the primary school-going age group (54.7%) and males (65.4%). Sixty percent of the cases had one single diagnosis. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) were the highest disorder seen in the single diagnosis group (27.3%) as well as in those with more than one diagnosis (61.5%). Primary support group difficulties were the most common co-morbid condition noted. Conclusion: It is essential that extensive screening of children and their families be done to detect family difficulties and co- morbid conditions, which would be necessary for favorable outcomes to be met.
The population of incarcerated sex offenders in Malaysia is steadily growing. Objective: This is a descriptive study to look at what clinical and developmental characteristic are present amongst the sex offenders in Malaysia, which could be possible mitigating factors. Methods: Data was collected from offenders located in 3 prisons where the offenders are held. Results: a total of 147 prisoners participated in the study. Slightly more than half of the victims were below the age of 18, of which 10% were below the age of 12. Three quarters of offenders were thirty years and older, while 12% were below 18 years. However their problems begun much earlier in their life with 50% of the offenders reporting that they had difficulties in their
primary support group, resulting in them feeling their families were less expressive, their parents were distant and unsupportive.29% of the offenders had not lived with their parents from the age of 16. More than half of the offenders reported academic, behavior and developmental difficulties; they reported losing interest in their studies and were struggling during their schooling days. 43% had history of aggressive behaviour during their adolescent years and 76% had peers who often indulged in risky behaviors. 85% of the offenders were Muslim. 40% made the criteria of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and conduct disorder while a quarter were diagnosed with having personality disorder. Slightly more than half of the offenders had alcohol and drug-related problems, 36% had history of previous crimes, mainly drug and theft offence. Conclusion: The findings show that the sex offenders are indeed a heterogeneous group with pervasive familial, behaviour, academic and social problems which are possible risk that can be identified early in the lives of offenders.