Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am
July 2024
The majority of a psychiatrist's training and clinical attention is devoted to mental illness rather than mental health. This article suggests a broader understanding and application of mental well-being that can benefit both those already struggling with mental health challenges and those trying to stay well. Recommendations for being a well-being-oriented psychiatrist include increasing one's knowledge about well-being and health promotion and adjusting one's practice to incorporate these principles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
January 2024
Recently, it seems like youth are presenting for their initial psychiatry appointment with a clear self-diagnosis in mind. For years, parents have come to appointments with hopes that I might rubber stamp their suspicions about a bipolar or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. The use of this approach from youth themselves is newer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Characterize the prevalence of chronic physical illness types and mental illness and their comorbidity among adolescents and young adults (AYA) and assess the association of comorbidity on hospital utilization.
Methods: This study features a population-level sample of 61 339 insurance-eligible AYA with an analytic sample of 49 089 AYA (aged 12-21) in Vermont's 2018 all-payer database. We used multiple logistic regressions to examine the associations between physical illness types and comorbid mental illness and emergency department (ED) use and inpatient hospitalization.
Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks)
January 2022
Background: Personality traits are important factors with regard to the tendency to experience and response to stress. This study introduces and tests a new stress-related personality scale called the Virtual Inventory of Behavior and Emotions (VIBE).
Methods: Two samples totaling 5512 individuals (with 66% between the ages of 18 and 34) completed the VIBE along with other measures of personality, stress, mood, and well-being.
Bullying is a complex and widespread public health issue that affects children of all ages and adults. For decades, childhood bullying has been viewed as an unpleasant but generally harmless rite of passage that carries with it few long-term consequences. Research has increasingly documented the serious and long-term behavioral and health consequences of bullying.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPersonality traits have been found to be related to a variety of health outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine how personality traits were associated with adjustment to the COVID pandemic in college students. The sample included 484 first-year university students (76% female) attending a northeastern university who completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) personality assessment at the beginning of a semester that was disrupted by the COVID pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with reduced school performance. To determine which ADHD symptoms and subtypes have the strongest association, we used type and frequency of symptoms on the 2014 National Survey of the Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD and Tourette Syndrome (NS-DATA) to create symptom scores for inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity and define subtypes (ADHD-Inattentive [ADHD-I], ADHD-Hyperactive-Impulsive, ADHD-Combined [ADHD-C]). Regression methods were used to examine associations between symptoms and subtype and a composite measure of school performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
January 2020
When it comes to efforts to reduce the overprescribing of psychiatric medications, the first thing that comes to mind for many clinicians is burdensome prior authorizations or generic letters from insurance companies telling you things you already know. Most psychiatrists and primary care clinicians are well aware of the potential risks associated with drugs such as antipsychotic medications, and many wonder if these intrusions into the doctor-patient relationship go beyond saving money and actually contribute to improved care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChild Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am
April 2019
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am
April 2019
Psychiatric training for medical students, residents, and fellows can integrate well-being principles to improve mental health. From preschool to college, principles of wellness and health promotion are increasingly prevalent and are showing promising results. Courses on happiness and well-being have been embraced at colleges and universities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChild Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am
April 2019
Training and practice within child psychiatry has focused predominantly on mental illness rather than mental health. A growing body of evidence, however, is demonstrating the importance for clinicians also to be able to focus directly on enhancing positive traits and emotions and increasing well-being and health promotion in their patients. This complementary aspect of mental health care has been called well-being and positive psychiatry, among other terms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBullying refers to aggressive behavior that is repetitive and intentional in which a power differential exists between the victim and bully. The negative effects of bullying on an individual's mental and physical health are substantial and in line with other major forms of child maltreatment. Efforts to increase detection of bullying are indicated, especially among youth presenting with school phobia, depression, anxiety, and declining school performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraditionally, psychiatry has been defined and practiced as a branch of medicine focused on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. Based on growing empirical evidence, we believe that this definition warrants expansion to include the concept of positive psychiatry. In the present article, we provide a critical overview of this emerging field and a select review of relevant scientific literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined child temperament, maternal parenting, and the effects of their interactions with each other on child social functioning. A total of 355 children aged 5-18 years old (54% male; mean age=10.8) were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
April 2015
Background: Although the increase in treatment of children and adolescents with antipsychotic medications has been well documented, much less is known about the factors related to the use of these agents and how closely the treatment follows best practice recommendations.
Methods: Prescribers of each antipsychotic medication prescription issued for a Medicaid-insured child in Vermont aged <18 years were sent a prior authorization survey that assessed several domains including the clinical indication, other treatments, metabolic monitoring, prescriber specialty, and prescription origin. These variables were combined to categorize prescriptions as following indications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and best practice guidelines.
Objective: Various studies have shown that obsessive-compulsive symptoms exist as part of not only obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but also obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Despite these shared characteristics, there is an ongoing debate on the inclusion of OCPD into the recently developed DSM-5 obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) category. The current study aims to clarify whether this inclusion can be justified from an item response theory approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData on youth emotional and behavioral problems from societies in Sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. This may be due to the fact that few youth mental health assessments have been tested for construct validity of syndrome structure across multicultural societies that include developing countries, and almost none have been tested in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Youth Self-Report (YSR), for example, has shown great consistency of its syndrome structure across many cultures, yet data from only one developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa have been included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe debate surrounding the inclusion of gender dysphoria/gender variant behavior (GD/GV) as a psychiatric diagnosis exposes many of the fundamental shortcomings and inconsistencies of our current diagnostic classification system. Proposals raised by the authors of this special issue, including basing diagnosis on cause rather than overt behavior, reclassifying GD/GV behavior as a physical rather than mental condition, and basing diagnosis on impairment or distress, offer some solutions but have limitations themselves given the available database. In contrast to most accepted psychiatric conditions where emphasis is placed on ultimately changing internal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, consensus treatment for most GD/GV individuals, at least from adolescence onward, focuses on modifying the external body and external environment to maximize positive outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is crucial to characterize self-regulation in children. We compared the temperamental profiles of children with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) to profiles associated with other CBCL-derived syndromes. 382 children (204 boys; aged 5-18) from a large family study were examined.
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