After a thorough consultation, observation and examination by a specialist, if the doctor thinks it is necessary for the child to take medication, I personally think it should be taken before it is too late. If you don’t take medication, wait for a while and delay, it is possible for individual patients to improve on their own or heal on their own, but most patients will have more advantages than disadvantages if they delay, not only delaying the treatment, making it more difficult to treat and causing them to take more medication in the future. If you delay the decision to take the medication until almost the time of the entrance exam, you will be more passive at that time, because it takes time to observe, adjust and adapt to the side effects of the medication, titrate the minimum effective dose, and obtain the best efficacy. It would be ideal to start the medication before New Year’s so that the child can use the 2 to 3 weeks of winter break to get used to the medication. The doctor can use this time to observe the initial efficacy and side effects of the medication, as the child has time for more follow-up visits to the hospital. It is also easy for parents to use this time to help their child cooperate with the doctor’s systematic diagnosis and treatment, such as supervising the child to take the medication on time and in the right amount, closely observing the child’s reaction to the medication, and timely reflecting to the doctor the changes in the child’s condition after taking the medication. With medication, most of the mental illnesses improve within 2 months, so if the child starts taking medication before New Year’s Eve, the child usually has 2 to 3 months to prepare for the college entrance examination in a better mental state. There are a few children who do not see the effect of treatment for 2 months and need a longer period of systematic treatment, so if you can take the medication before New Year’s Eve, the treatment time is relatively generous. Of course, if you can start taking medication earlier, you will be more proactive. If you start taking medication at this time in early April, although time is already a bit tight, it is still a relatively good opportunity to start medication now, because if things go well, there will be more significant improvement before the college entrance exams. There are some patients who start medication before New Year’s Eve and do not see significant improvement by the time of the college entrance exams, but these patients are a minority of first-time treatment patients. Depression, generalized anxiety disorder, type I bipolar disorder, some type II bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia with first-time onset are usually effective in 3 to 4 weeks, with most showing more significant improvement within 2 months. Some types of schizophrenia and type II bipolar disorder are slower acting and more difficult to treat, which I will discuss in a separate article. Panic disorder, restless legs syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and some somatoform disorders usually show significant improvement within 1 week, or as quickly as within a few hours, although symptoms often fluctuate and tend to recur when medication is discontinued, and it can take years or more to be truly cured. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, afterglow phobia, disease phobia, school anxiety disorder, somatization disorder, hypochondria, neurosis, some patients of these eight diseases can see significant results within 2 months, if treated for six months then most can see varying degrees of effectiveness. Stage fright, exam anxiety, anxiety-induced insomnia, fidgeting, headache, chest pain, back pain, chest tightness, difficulty in whistling, palpitations, panic, stomach pain, stomach topping, a rush of gas upward, abdominal pain, frequent diarrhea, numbness and weakness of the limbs, fear of falling, if never treated, if the goal of treatment is only to cope with the college entrance examination, with some targeted antidepressant anxiety drugs, some patients can see results in about 1 hour, but It is not recommended to start medication only during the college entrance exams because the efficacy, drug dose and side effects vary from person to person and need time to observe, adjust and adapt. Insomnia and anxiety are more common among college entrance exam candidates and often affect the level of play in the college entrance exam. I still remember clearly the pain and distress brought to him by severe insomnia, due to various objective reasons he was not able to receive professional treatment, a pity, with the current treatment technology of tertiary hospitals, his insomnia and anxiety should be very treatable. Various Valium drugs (i.e. benzodiazepine anti-anxiety drugs) for insomnia and anxiety, if necessary, can be combined with other drugs, if used properly, the effect can be seen that night, but the treatment of early drug side effects may affect the function of the next day, affecting the examination, so it is not recommended to start using Valium drugs only in those days of the entrance examinations. New short-acting sleep aids have less impact on the next day’s function and are relatively less dependent and tolerable, but side effects often occur when the medication is first used and can also significantly affect the next day’s function, so new sleep aids are not recommended to start using only during the entrance exams. Some doctors have also used small doses of olanzapine, doxepin and other drugs to improve patients’ sleep and anxiety. These drugs have the same problem of side effects that may affect daytime functional status early in treatment. If sleep aids can be tried more than 2 weeks in advance, the doctor can usually gradually adapt by adjusting the medication to maintain its efficacy and reduce side effects. Only medication is mentioned above. Active self-adjustment of the patient, psychological support from the doctor and close cooperation from family members are also important. The above describes a single disorder that has never been treated. If there are also other disorders, such as co-morbid personality disorder, co-morbid thyroid disease, co-morbid mild autism (note: often missed, especially atypical, or female Asperger’s syndrome, because girls are better at masking symptoms of autism than boys), repeated self-injurious and self-harming behaviors, or the child’s parents have a bad relationship, or the child has a very poor relationship with classmates and teachers If the child has been treated and is in a chronic state, or if the child is in a drug-tolerant state, then treatment is much more complicated and usually slower to work. Note: The information provided in this article is my personal clinical experience, not the results of scientific research, and may not be accurate, so please refer to it only with caution.