Child and Adolescent Psychological Disorders

In May of 1994, The American Psychiatric Association published DSM-IV, the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. DSM-IV is the primary diagnostic reference for mental health professionals in psychiatry, psychology, social work, and nursing. It provides brief descriptions of mental disorders in terms of their primary and associated features, age at onset, typical course, level of impairment, predisposing factors, complications, prevalence, sex ratio, and familial pattern. And although DSM-IV is one of the primary training and reference tools for mental health professionals, its scope and utility are limited. It is designed to be a diagnostic manual and, therefore, contains little regarding treatment -- the next step after diagnosis. This reference/textbook will bring together experts from both clinical psychology and psychiatry to write chapters on each of the child and adolescent disorders. It will mirror the organization of the DSM-IV but go beyond a listing of diagnostic criteria, addressing what to do after the diagnosis is made. Each chapter will review the research on each disorder, offering a critique of the DSM-IV criteria, and will provide assessment strategies and treatment recomendation.