The number of children receiving psychiatric help for fears, behavioural problems and depression has almost doubled in recent years, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

The paper bases its claims on reports from health insurance companies such as Achmea and CZ, but says the exact number of children who are in therapy is unknown.
Child psychologists told the paper the increase does not mean more children have problems. Instead, parents and teachers are more likely to look for professional help, they said. In addition, a broad selection of mental health services were added to the basic healthcare package two years ago.
A survey by magazine J/M in August found most parents think raising children is stressful and one third are worried they will fail to do a good job.
Some 73% of parents surveyed said they were sometimes worried about their children’s behaviour and development, such as showing odd character traits. In a similar survey three years ago, 58% of parents were concerned about such issues.