Health Education

Abuse – The Hidden Bruises

The statistics on physical child abuse are alarming. It is estimated hundreds of thousands of children are physically ab...

Acute Stress Disorder

Acute stress disorder refers to the anxiety and behavioral disturbances that develop within the first month after exposu...

ADD & ADHD

When many people think of ADHD, they picture an out-of-control kid in constant motion, bouncing off the walls and disrup...

ADHD – Children Who Can’t Pay Attention

Parents are distressed when they receive a note from school saying that their child won’t listen to the teacher or cause...

Adjustment Disorder

In psychology, adjustment disorder (AD) is a classification of mental disorder that is a psychological response from an ...

Adopted Children

Approximately 120,000 children are adopted each year in the United States. Children with physical, developmental, or emo...

Advocating for your Child

According to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (1999), one in five will experience signs and symptoms of a ...

Alcohol and Other Drugs in Teens

Experimentation with alcohol and drugs during adolescence is common. Unfortunately, teenagers often don’t see the link b...

Alcohol Dependence

Diagnostic Features: Alcohol Dependence is a condition characterized by the harmful consequences of repeated alcohol us...

Alcoholics & Children

One in five adult Americans lived with an alcoholic while growing up. Child and adolescent psychiatrists know these chil...

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)

Alzheimer, also called Alzheimer disease, Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (SDAT) or simply Alzheimer’s, is the mos...

Anxiety and Children

All children experience anxiety. Anxiety in children is expected and normal at specific times in development. For exampl...

Asperger’s Disorder

Asperger’s Disorder is the term for a specific type of pervasive developmental disorder which is characterized by proble...

Autism in Children

Most infants and young children are very social creatures who need and want contact with others to thrive and grow. They...

Bedwetting

Most children begin to stay dry at night around three years of age. When a child has a problem with bedwetting (enuresis...

Bell’s Palsy

What is Bell’s palsy? Bell’s palsy is a paralysis or weakness of the muscles on one side of your face. Damage to the fa...

Bipolar Disorder in Children and Teens

Children and teenagers with Bipolar Disorder have manic and/or depressive symptoms. Some may have mostly depression and ...

Bipolar Disorders

Bipolar I Bipolar I Disorder is one of the most severe forms of mental illness and is characterized by recurrent episod...

Blepharospasm

Symptomatology of Blepharospasm Blepharospasm is a focal dystonia characterized by excessive involuntary contraction of...

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD), is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a long-term disturbance of personality ...

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is a cyclical and recurring pattern of binge eating (uncontrolled bursts of overeating) followed by guil...

Bullying

Bullying is a common experience for many children and adolescents. Surveys indicate that as many as half of all children...

Cataplexy

This condition causes loss of muscle tone while you’re awake. Muscle weakness occurs in certain parts of your body or in...

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy is caused by damage to the brain that results in impaired muscle movement and coordination. Most children...

Children with Conduct Disorder

“Conduct disorder” refers to a group of behavioral and emotional problems in youngsters. Children and adolescents with ...

Chronic Pain

While acute pain is a normal sensation triggered in the nervous system to alert you to possible injury and the need to t...

Communication Disorder

A Communication Disorder – speech and language disorders which refer to problems in communication and in related areas s...

Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation

Evaluation by a child and adolescent psychiatrist is appropriate for any child or adolescent with emotional and/or behav...

Conduct Disorder

What is conduct disorder? Children with conduct disorder repeatedly violate the personal or property rights of others a...

Continuum of Care for Children and Adolescents

Communities provide different types of treatment programs and services for children and adolescents with mental illnesse...

Conversion Disorder

This is a condition where patients present with neurological symptoms such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits, b...

Counseling

The decision to seek counseling is an intensely personal one and should be made with the confidence that you will be rec...

Creutzfeldt – Jakob Disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, degenerative, invariably fatal brain disorder. It affects about one person in...

Cychlothymic Disorder

Cyclothymia symptoms are characterized by an alternating pattern of emotional highs and lows. The highs of cyclothymia a...

Day Care: Making it a Good Experience

Child and adolescent psychiatrists recognize that the ideal environment for raising a small child is in the home with pa...

Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD)

Dependent Personality Disorder (of the group of anxious personality disorders) is a personality disorder that is charact...

Depersonalization Disorder (DPD)

Depersonalization disorder is a dissociative disorder is characterized by periods of feeling disconnected or detached fr...

Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)

Major Depressive Disorder is a condition characterized by one or more Major Depressive Episodes without a history of Man...

Depression in Children

Not only adults become depressed. Children and teenagers also may have depression as well. The good news is that depress...

Discipline

Children do not always do what parents want. When a child misbehaves, the parent must decide how to respond. All childre...

Dissociative Fugue

Formerly called psychogenic fugue, dissociative fugue is one of subtypes of dissociative disorders. People with dissocia...

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a person displays mu...

Divorce and Children

One out of every two marriages today ends in divorce and many divorcing families include children. Parents who are getti...

Dysthymic Disorder

Diagnostic Features: Dysthymic Disorder is a chronic condition characterized by depressive symptoms that occur for most...

Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is to eat, or avoid eating, which negatively affects both one’s physical and mental health. Eating di...

EEG

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced by the firing of neurons w...

Electrocardiogram

The electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) is a diagnostic tool that measures and records the electrical activity of the heart i...

EMG/NCS

Nerve conduction study (NCS) Nerve conduction studies are preformed first. The goal of the test is to study your nerves...

Epilepsy

Seizures are the only visible symptom of epilepsy. There are different kinds of seizures, and symptoms of each type can ...

Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) – Drinking Alcohol during Pregnancy

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, pregnant women should not drink any alcohol. Women who a...

Fighting and Biting

All people have aggressive feelings. As adults, we learn how to control these feelings. Children, however, are often phy...

Foster Care

Over 500,000 children in the U.S. currently reside in some form of foster care. Placements in foster care have dramatica...

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Grandparents are an important resource for both parents and children. They routinely provide child care, financial assis...

Grief and Children

When a family member dies, children react differently from adults. Preschool children usually see death as temporary and...

Grief Counseling Resource Guide: A field Manual

This manual has been developed as a guide for those who encounter individuals reacting to trauma related grief reactions...

Guillain-Barré Syndrome

What is Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)? Guillain-Barré syndrome (say “ghee-YAN bah-RAY”) is a problem with your nervous ...

Hallucinations

Hallucinations involve sensing things – whether visual (sight), auditory (hearing), olfactory (smell), or gustatory (tas...

Headache

What is a headache? Headache is defined as pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pa...

Helping Your Child: When to Seek Professional Help

Parents are usually the first to recognize that their child has a problem with emotions or behavior. Still, the decision...

Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)

Histrionic Personality Disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and atten...

Home Alone

Every day thousands of children arrive home from school to an empty house. Every week thousands of parents make decision...

Insomnia

What Is Insomnia? Insomnia (in-SOM-ne-ah) is a common condition in which you have trouble falling or staying asleep. Th...

Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED)

Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is a mental disturbance that is characterized by specific episodes of violent and ...

Internet Usage Among Children

Computers have traditionally been trusted by both children and adults as reliable and accurate sources of information. T...

Learning Disabilities Children

Parents are often worried when their child has learning problems in school. There are many reasons for school failure, b...

Learning Disability

Learning Disability is a general term that describes specific kinds of learning problems. A learning disability can caus...

Learning Disorders

In the United States and Canada, the terms learning disability, learning disabilities, and learning disorders (LD) refer...

Longterm Illness Child

The child with a serious medical illness is at greater risk for developing emotional problems. Unlike a child with a tem...

Lumbar Puncture

A lumbar puncture (also called a spinal tap) is a procedure to collect and look at the fluid (cerebrospinal fluid, or CS...

Lying & Children

Honesty and dishonesty are learned in the home. Parents are often concerned when their child or adolescent lies. Lying ...

Meningitis

What is meningitis? Meningitis is an infection of the coverings around the brain and spinal cord. The infection occurs ...

Mental Illnesses: Talking to Kids

Kids are naturally curious and have questions about mental illnesses. Understanding mental illnesses can be challenging ...

Mental Retardation

Mental retardation is generally characterized by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning (IQ of 70 or below),...

Mentally Retarded Children

The term “mental retardation” is often misunderstood and seen as derogatory. Some think that retardation is diagnosed on...

Migraine

Overview A migraine headache is a throbbing or pulsating headache that is often one sided (unilateral) and associated w...

Military Families

Global conflict and unrest have led to deployment of large numbers of military personnel (active duty, Reserves, Nationa...

Military Families: Adjusting to the Coming Home

Military families look forward to being together after a long deployment with many mixed emotions. Each family member wi...

Movies and Children

Watching movies, videos, and DVDs can be a fun activity in which children and adolescents can use their imagination and ...

Moving and Children

Moving to a new community may be one of the most stress-producing experiences a family faces. Frequent moves or even a s...

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis orencephalomyelitis disseminata) is an autoimmu...

Multiracial Children

Multiracial children are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. The number of mixed-race families i...

Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a genetic disorder that weakens the muscles that help the body move. People with MD have inco...

Music and Music Videos

Singing and music have always played an important role in learning and the communication of culture. Children learn from...

Myalgia

Myalgia means “muscle pain” and is a symptom of many diseases and disorders. The most common causes are the overuse or o...

Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skel...

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men...

Narcolepsy

What Is Narcolepsy? Narcolepsy (NAR-ko-lep-se) is a disorder that causes periods of extreme daytime sleepiness. It also ...

News and Children

Children often see or hear the news many times a day through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet....

Normal Adolescent Development 1

Middle School and Early High School Years Parents are often worried or confused by changes in their teenagers. The foll...

Obesity in Children and Teens

The problem of childhood obesity in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. Between 16 and 33 percent ...

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

It’s normal, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the iron is unplugged or your car is locked. But in obsessive...

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) usually begins in adolescence or young adulthood and is seen in as many as one in 20...

Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Children

All children are oppositional from time to time, particularly when tired, hungry, stressed or upset. They may argue, tal...

Pain Disorder

Panic disorder is characterized by the spontaneous and unexpected occurrence of panic attacks, the frequency of which ca...

Panic Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Panic disorder is a common and treatable disorder. Children and adolescents with panic disorder have unexpected and repe...

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Paranoid Personality Disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis characterized by paranoia characterized by a pervasive and long...

Parenting: Preparing for Adolescence

Parenting can be the most rewarding work of adult life. Nothing brings more joy and pride than a happy, productive, and ...

Parents with Mental Illnesses

Mental illnesses in parents represent a risk for children in the family. These children have a higher risk for developin...

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) belongs to a group of conditions called motor system disorders, which are the result of the los...

Pathological Gambling

Pathological Gambling – is now defined as persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior meeting at least five o...

Personality Disorder

Personality Disorder, formerly referred to as a Character Disorder, is a class of mental disorders characterized by rigi...

Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)

Pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), as opposed to specific developmental disorders (SDD), refers to a group of five...

Pets and Children

Pets are part of many children’s lives. Parental involvement, open discussion, and planning are necessary to help make p...

Pet’s Death

For many children, their first real experience with loss occurs when a pet dies. When a pet dies, children need consolat...

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to one or more traumatic eve...

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

All children and adolescents experience stressful events which can affect them both emotionally and physically. Their re...

Psychiatrist

The child and adolescent psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and the treatment of disorders of ...

Psychogenic Amnesia

Psychogenic amnesia (also known as functional or dissociative amnesia) is a disorder characterized by abnormal memory fu...

Psychotherapies for Children and Adolescents

Psychotherapy is a form of psychiatric treatment that involves therapeutic conversations and interactions between a ther...

Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents

Psychotherapy refers to a variety of techniques and methods used to help children and adolescents who are experiencing d...

Reactive Attachment Disorder

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is a complex psychiatric illness that can affect young children. It is characterized ...

Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood

Reactive attachment disorder is a problem with social interaction that occurs when a child’s basic physical and emotiona...

Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a disorder that causes a strong urge to move your legs. This urge to move often occurs w...

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness characterized by a disintegration of the process of thinking, of contact with ...

Schizophrenia in Children

Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric illness that causes strange thinking, strange feelings, and unusual behavior. It ...

Scoliosis

What is scoliosis? Scoliosis is a disorder that causes an abnormal curve of the spine, or backbone. The spine has norma...

Sedative, Hypnotic or Anxiolytic Dependence

This is a condition where individuals become dependent on or abuse substances used for their calming effect (sedatives),...

Selective Mutism: A Guide for Teachers

Selective mutism is a childhood anxiety disorder characterized by a child’s ”inability” to speak in various social setti...

Self-Injury in Adolescents

Self-injury is the act of deliberately destroying body tissue, at times to change a way of feeling. Self-injury is seen ...

Separation Anxiety (Children Who Won’t Go to School)

Going to school is usually an exciting and enjoyable event for young children. However, for some, it can cause intense f...

Separation Anxiety Disorder

Separation anxiety disorder is a psychological condition in which an individual experiences excessive anxiety regarding ...

Services in School for Children with Special Needs: What Parents need to Know

Some children experience difficulties in school, ranging from problems with concentration, learning, language, and perce...

Sex (Talking to your Kids about Sex)

Talking to your children about love, intimacy, and sex is an important part of parenting. Parents can be very helpful by...

Sexual Abuse of a Child

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, b...

Sleep Apnea

What Is Sleep Apnea? Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow brea...

Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorder is defined as any difficulties related to sleeping, including: • Falling asleep at inappropriate times, ...

Sleep Paralysis

This condition prevents you from moving or speaking while falling asleep or waking up. However, you’re fully conscious (...

Sleep Problems with Children

Many children have sleep problems. Examples include: • Frequent awakening during the night • Talking during sleep • Dif...

Sleep Studies

What Are Sleep Studies? Sleep studies allow doctors to measure how much and how well you sleep. They also help show whe...

Social Phobia

Diagnostic Features: Social Phobia is a condition characterized by a marked and persistent fear of social or performanc...

Soiling and Bowel Control Problems

Most children can control their bowels and are toilet trained by the time they are four years of age. Problems controlli...

Somatoform Disorder

Somatoform disorder (also known as Briquette’s syndrome) is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms that mi...

Specific Phobia

Diagnostic Features The essential feature of Specific Phobia is marked and persistent fear of clearly discernible, circ...

Sports and Children

Sports help children develop physical skills, get exercise, make friends, have fun, learn to play as a member of a team,...

Starting School

Starting school is a major milestone for children and parents. School is a place away from home where a child will have ...

Steal (Children Who Steal)

When a child or teenager steals, parents are naturally concerned. They worry about what caused their child to steal, and...

Stress

Teenagers, like adults, may experience stress everyday and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teen...

Stroke

A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This c...

Substance Abuse for Treatment for Children and Adolescents: Questions to Ask

Many children and adolescents use alcohol and other drugs. Some develop serious problems which require professional help...

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or crib death is a syndrome marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpect...

Suicide

Suicides among young people continue to be a serious problem. Each year in the U.S., thousands of teenagers commit suici...

Syncope

Syncope refers to a sudden loss of consciousness often accompanied with collapse, more commonly known as a blackout or f...

Teens Driving Safely

A driver’s license is one of the biggest status symbols among high school students. Getting a driver’s license is not on...

Terrorism and War: Talking to Children about it

In today’s world, parents are faced with the challenge of explaining violence, terrorism and war to children. Although d...

The Teen Brain: Behavior, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Many parents do not understand why their teenagers occasionally behave in an impulsive, irrational, or dangerous way. At...

Threats: When are they Serious?

Every year there are tragedies in which children shoot and kill individuals after making threats. When this occurs, ever...

Tic Disorders

A tic is a problem in which a part of the body moves repeatedly, quickly, suddenly and uncontrollably. Tics can occur in...

Torticollis

Torticollis occurs when a state of inadequate muscle tone in the muscles of the neck exist.These muscles, used to contro...

Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome (also called Tourette’s syndrome, Tourette’s disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, GTS or, more co...

Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury(TBI), also called acquired brain injury or simply head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes...

Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling)

It is common for children and adolescents to play with their hair. However, frequent or obsessive hair pulling can lead ...

Trigger Point Injection

Trigger point injection (TPI) may be an option in treating pain for some patients. TPI is a procedure used to treat pain...

TV & Children

Television viewing is a major activity and influence on children and adolescents. Children in the United States watch an...

TV Violence

American children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence i...

Videogames and Children: Playing with Violence

Video gaming (playing video games) has become a popular activity for people of all ages. Many children and adolescents s...

Violent Behavior in Children and Adolescents

There is a great concern about the incidence of violent behavior among children and adolescents. This complex and troubl...