Literature invites readers to see the world from another viewpoint, which can, in turn, lead to an increased capacity for empathy. In working with difficult-to-treat children, Alexandra Helper, MD, has found that the use of literature that focuses on alternative viewpoints helps such patients develop empathy and improve their functioning in the "real world."
Although there is no pharmacological agent that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of autism, new studies are showing promise in not only discovering the cause of autism, but pharmacological treatments as well.
Repetitive self-injury can be one of the more difficult conditions to treat. What is the biochemical basis for self-injury and how can psychiatrists treat this condition?
Bipolar disorder (BD) in children and adolescents is severe and has significant adverse effects on academic, social and family functioning. The high rate of relapse and suicide attempts in youth with BD makes effective treatment essential.
Recently, in reviewing a particularly complicated case with a representative of a managed care company, I was told that I was the only child psychiatrist in the country who could not come up with a diagnosis in one session.
Every year, more than half of newly approved drugs and biologics considered likely to be prescribed for children lack labeling information on safe and effective use. Seeking to rectify this situation, the FDA recently issued final regulations requiring new drugs and biologics that are therapeutically important for children or will be commonly used in children to have labeling information on safe pediatric use.
Previous research on the effects of early child care had led to controversy and confusion. The most provocative finding was that when infants were in nonmaternal child care 20 or more hours a week, starting in the first year of life, they were less likely than infants without such experience to form a secure emotional attachment to their mothers.
In 1988 I was working as a general adult psychiatrist with a specialty in addictions. One day, a newly referred patient came to my office accompanied by his mother. Although he was well groomed, he was distinctly "nerdy." When I inquired about his chief complaint, his mother quickly explained that, although he had graduated from community college, he was unable to secure a job interview due to his obsessing on the details of his resume.
The past decade witnessed major strides in our understanding and treatment of affective disorders in adults, children and adolescents. One of the baffling problems in child and adolescent psychiatry was the question of psychiatric illness spanning a lifetime. The existence of depressive disorders in prepubertal children has been generally recognized and acknowledged since the 1960s; however, only in the last decade did evidence become available that supports the notion that depression in different ages represents the same entity, albeit manifesting different clinical symptoms in each developmental period (Cytryn and others 1986).
