Adolescent Psychiatric Research Research Articles

Religion, spirituality, and pediatric mental health: a scoping review of research on religion and spirituality in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from 2000 to 2023.

Religion and spirituality (R/S) serve as sources of meaning-making and coping for many individuals and families. While research on the relationship between R/S and mental health has been ongoing, their role in pediatric mental health is poorly understood. The objective of this study is to assess research trends and predominant themes of R/S in child and adolescent psychiatric research in articles published in the Journal of the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP). This provides a rough measure of the relative importance of these topics to academic psychiatrists and researchers in the field and identifies gaps for future research. All research and review articles published in JAACAP between 2000-2023 with a focus on R/S themes were retrieved, screened, and appraised for content and extent of focus on R/S (major, minor, incidental). Included articles were assessed for R/S variables and predominant themes. Thirty-two (32) research articles published between 2000-2023 contained sufficient R/S content for inclusion in our study. Only 4 articles had R/S as their major focus. Our analysis suggested a decline in publications with R/S content over the last 24 years. The R/S variables and measurement tools were heterogenous, with religious attendance and religious affiliation being the most frequently measured variables. The predominant themes include the relationships between R/S and psychopathology, suicide, utilization of services, conceptualization of illness, trauma, identity, and coping. Despite the significance attributed to R/S by many youths and families and the increasing academic interest in the intersection between R/S and health, a significant gap exists in our understanding of R/S vis-à-vis child and adolescent mental health. This gap may be further compounded by the limited attention offered to R/S factors and variables in academic psychiatric activities. JAACAP, a global leading academic platform, may advance this discourse by inviting and encouraging publications addressing R/S variables. This may inform diagnostic, preventive, and interventive clinical work with children and their families.

Athree-country comparison of mental health and treatment options of children and adolescents with mental health problems in times after the COVID-19 pandemic

The Austrian Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy (ÖGKJP) is publishing aseries of articles in aspecial issue of Neuropsychiatrie dealing with the current provision of care in child and adolescent psychiatry. Aim of this article is to give an overview of provision of care for children and adolescents with mental health problems in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland and then draw conclusions for the Austrian child and adolescent psychiatric care landscape. First, epidemiologic data as well as different traditions and treatment philosophies and their effect for provision of care in child and adolescent psychiatry in Austria, Germany and Switzerland are presented. Subsequently, data of provided child and adolescent psychiatric care in Austria and Germany are presented and related to each other. On the basis of the data presented, the current deterioration of mental health in children and adolescents due to the pandemic as well as the deficit of available inpatient beds (0.03-0.09) there is an urgent need for action in Austrian provision of child and adolescent psychiatric care. An improvement of the structural deficits in the child and adolescent psychiatric research and care landscape, asignificant increase of capacities for inpatient treatment, day-care as well as outpatient treatment with establishment of modern treatment options such as home treatment is necessary.

RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM: LEVERAGING NATIONAL DATA SOURCES TO RAPIDLY IDENTIFY THE EARLY IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This Symposium aims to convene the Annual Research Symposium, which is dedicated to stimulating discussion on how to leverage national data sources and advanced statistical techniques to improve the efficiency of child and adolescent psychiatric research.

Letter to the Editor: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Youth with Developmental Disabilities.

Letter to the Editor: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Youth with Developmental Disabilities.

Challenges for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research in the Era of COVID-19.

Challenges for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research in the Era of COVID-19.

Therapist-guided internet-delivered cognitive–behavioural therapy supplemented with group exposure sessions for adolescents with social anxiety disorder: a feasibility trial

ObjectivesSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in youth, with a prevalence of about 3%–4% and increased risk of adverse long-term outcomes, such as depression....

5.2 Advancing Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research: A View From the National Institute of Mental Health

5.2 Advancing Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research: A View From the National Institute of Mental Health

A reflection on today‘s environment for child and adolescent psychiatric research. The continuous march for science of European Child + Adolescent Psychiatry

A reflection on today‘s environment for child and adolescent psychiatric research. The continuous march for science of European Child + Adolescent Psychiatry

Commentary: Leveraging discovery science to advance child and adolescent psychiatric research--a commentary on Zhao and Castellanos 2016.

'Big Data' and 'Population Imaging' are becoming integral parts of inspiring research aimed at delineating the biological underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. The scientific strategies currently associated with big data and population imaging are typically embedded in so-called discovery science, thereby pointing to the hypothesis-generating rather than hypothesis-testing nature of discovery science. In this issue, Yihong Zhao and F. Xavier Castellanos provide a compelling overview of strategies for discovery science aimed at progressing our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular, they focus on efforts in genetic and neuroimaging research, which, together with extended behavioural testing, form the main pillars of psychopathology research.

EPA-0029 – The role of phenomenology in adolescent psychiatric research

The aim of this communication is to show how the phenomenological method, adapted for scientific purposes, can help medical research to improve our understanding and our knowledge about psychiatric disorders during adolescence. Adolescence is a complex process at the interface of many fields of knowledge, such as biology, anthropology, psychology or sociology. Using phenomenology in research enables to explore adolescents ‘personal experience end subjective perception of an object or event without any theoretical preconceptions and presuppositions. Indeed, phenomenological approach involves a detailed exploration of participants’ experiences. Moreover, rather than reducing a phenomenon to a number or an identifiable variable, and controlling the setting in which the phenomenon is studied, phenomenology aims to describe it as faithfully as possible, within the context in which it occurs. In order to illustrate the role of phenomenology in adolescent psychiatric research, we will present a study about the place of food in family relationships among adolescents with and without anorexia nervosa using phenomenological analysis. The research method was qualitative, and used photo-elicitation – i.e using one or several photographs taken by the participant as the basis of the interview- 14 adolescents and 18 parents were included. Data analysis was performed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method 1 . It is an established qualitative methodology that enables to explore how individuals perceive particular situations they are facing, and how they make sense of their personal and social world.

Predictive classification of individual magnetic resonance imaging scans from children and adolescents

Neuroimaging techniques are increasingly being explored as potential tools for clinical prediction in psychiatry. There are a wide range of approaches which can be applied to make individual predictions for various aspects of disorders such as diagnostic status, symptom severity scores, identification of patients at risk of developing disorders and estimation of the likelihood of response to treatment. This selective review highlights a popular group of pattern recognition techniques, support vector machines (SVMs) for use with structural magnetic resonance imaging scans. First, however, we outline various practical issues, limitations and techniques which need to be considered before SVM's can be applied. We begin with a discussion on the practicalities of scanning children and adolescent participants and the importance of acquiring high quality images. Scan processing required for inter-subject comparisons is then discussed. We then briefly discuss feature selection and other considerations when applying pattern recognition techniques. Finally, SVMs are described and various studies highlighted to indicate the potential of these techniques for child and adolescent psychiatric research.

Nosology and measurement in child and adolescent psychiatry

The last 50 years have witnessed enormous strides in the measurement and classification of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. Debates about whether we should continue to depend upon a categorical nosology still continue, but we argue that, despite the absence of clear dividing lines between psychiatric disorders and normality and ubiquity of diagnostic comorbidity, the current official approach to nosology has served child and adolescent psychiatric research surprisingly well. In particular we point to the utility of non-developmental diagnostic criteria as tools for discovering developmental effects on psychopathology. We also maintain that the search for sharper boundaries between disorders is fundamentally mistaken. However, official nosologies have tended to privilege information collected in diagnostic interviews and to sideline observational and other methods that cannot easily be made to conform to the format of their criteria. We suggest that it is time to remedy this situation. The ICD-10 and DSM-IV are useless for children under the age of about two, while alternatives, such as the DC:0-3, suffer from a profound lack of empirical support. We suggest a way forward through the integration of methods from temperament and psychopathology research. Finally, we deplore the failure of standardized assessment techniques to have penetrated more deeply into everyday clinical assessment.

NARSAD Honors Breakthroughs in Mental Illness Research

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessNARSAD Honors Breakthroughs in Mental Illness ResearchJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:16 Nov 2007https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.42.22.0014aNARSAD is the world's leading mental health research charity. Since its inception 20 years ago, it has awarded more than 3,200 research grants totaling more than $219 million to scientists working in the United States and 26 other countries.At its annual fundraising gala last month, NARSAD awarded annual prizes for achievement in mental health research. These awards went to the following scientists:♦ The Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research was awarded to Eve Johnstone, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. For more than three decades she has used advanced brain-imaging methods to elucidate structural and functional changes associated with schizophrenia. According to William Bunney Jr., M.D., chair of NARSAD's Lieber Prize Selection Committee, “She initiated the most replicated finding in the literature on psychosis—enlargement of the lateral ventricles in the brain.”♦ The Falcone Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research went to Helen Mayberg, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Emory University. For more than 20 years she has used functional neuroimaging to examine neural mechanisms implicated in the onset of depression. She also hypothesized, on the basis of the information she had collected, that the anterior cingulate cortex was pivotal in regulating depressed mood and proceeded to stimulate this region electrically. Thus, deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression was born. “A number of the most treatment-resistant patients who received this treatment have shown remarkable antidepressant responses,” Robert Post, M.D., chair of NARSAD's Falcone Prize Selection Committee, commented.♦ The Ruane Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research was given to James Leckman, M.D., a professor of child psychiatry at Yale University. His research has focused on autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette's disorder. His main research interest is the interaction between genes and environment in obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette's. “He has also organized one of the premier clinical and research training programs in child psychiatry, which will guarantee excellent clinical research for our next generation,” Judith Rapoport, M.D., chair of the Ruane Prize Selection Committee, said.♦ The Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience was given to Huda Akil, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Michigan. Akil has made valuable contributions to understanding the neurobiology of emotions, including pain, anxiety, and depression. Early on, she and her colleagues provided the first physiological evidence for the role of endorphins in the brain and showed that endorphins are activated by stress and inhibit pain.♦ The Sidney R. Baer Jr. Prize for Schizophrenia Research went to Jeremy Hall, M.D., Ph.D., a research council fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Hall has been studying genetic factors influencing cognitive function in major mental disorders. His work integrates neuroimaging and neuropsychology with genetics. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Ein integratives Forschungsmodell für die Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie: die Zusammenführung von biologischen, psychologischen und sozialen Untersuchungsansätzen

After some general remarks on the current situation of child and adolescent psychiatric research in Germany, a research concept is presented which in the course of 30 years of testing and further development has proven to be successful both in the inauguration of scientific projects, as well as in the qualification of trainees and co-workers. The nucleus of this concept is a research unit that is to a large extent independent of the daily health care routine. Some of the unit staff members are natural scientists holding permanent positions, complemented by a secondary labour force of young doctors and psychologists aspiring to a scientific career. This research unit provides supply for scientific projects and basic research, as well as for the development of new methods. The unit was endorsed by a Clinical Research Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) that proved of value as power supply for research (e.g. by raising substantial third-party funds) and as an instrument for the qualification of young scientists. The article describes some results of four research projects derived from this approach (schizophrenia research, dyslexia research, research on Asperger syndrome, quality assurance, and therapy evaluation research).

NARSAD Honors Groundbreaking Advances in MH Research

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessNARSAD Honors Groundbreaking Advances in MH ResearchJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Mar 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.41.5.0029Seven scientists were lauded for their outstanding achievements in psychiatric research by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) at its recent awards dinner in New York City.Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research was presented to David Lewis, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, for his work in furthering the understanding of the origins and functional changes of schizophrenia. He was the first to apply DNA micro-array technology successfully to the study of the disease.Falcone Prize for Affective Disorders Research was presented to Jan Fawcett, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, and Alan Schatzberg, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Stanford University. Fawcett was recognized for his lifelong contributions to the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder and suicide prevention. Schatzberg was honored for his work with the stress hormone cortisol and the neurotransmitter dopamine and its metabolites related to psychotic depression, which has led to novel treatment approaches.Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research went to Allan Reiss, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. With an exceptional technical expertise in deep brain structure imaging, he has specialized in studies of children with neurodevelopmental and neurogenetic disorders.Goldman-Rakic Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience was presented to Bruce McEwen, Ph.D., head of the laboratory of neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University. His work has contributed greatly to the understanding of stress and stress hormones in a range of disorders, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and the early stages of dementia.Sidney R. Baer Jr. Prize for a promising young investigator was given to Takanori Hashimoto, M.D., Ph.D., a research assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Hashimoto is investigating mechanisms that contribute to alterations in inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia, which account for some of the behavior changes associated with the illness.Staglin Family Music Festival Schizophrenia Research Award, which is designated for an outstanding scientist under the age of 45, went to Linda Brzustowicz, M.D., a professor of genetics at Rutgers University. She was recognized for her pioneering work in psychiatric genetics, having identified one of a handful of genes currently thought to be related to schizophrenia.▪Constance E. Lieber, president of NARSAD, poses with (from left) Herbert Pardes, M.D., president of NARSAD's Scientific Council; David A. Lewis, M.D., Jan A. Fawcett, M.D., Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D., Allan L. Reiss, M.D., Linda M. Brzustowicz, M.D., Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D., and Takanori Hashimoto, M.D., Ph.D.Photo courtesy of NARSAD ISSUES NewArchived

Mental Healthcare Disparities Affect Treatment of Black Adolescents

Research in the area of health disparities has increased in recent years. Various sources cite widespread differences between whites and people of color in a variety of healthcare treatment areas including cardiovascular disease, cancer, maternal and child health and mental health.1 In 2001, US Surgeon General David Satcher commissioned a report supplement to illuminate racial mental health disparities, provide empirical support to document the differences, and offer strategies for use in reducing the disparities.2 In accordance with a number of the suggestions from the Surgeon General’s report, the purpose of this article is to present a paradigm that may assist in addressing health disparities in child and adolescent psychiatric research and clinical care. Regarding blacks and psychiatric clinical care in particular, the following discussion is presented to elucidate sociocultural (ie, nonfinancial) barriers to treatment, the unique aspects of shame and stigma that blacks associate with treatment, and black cultural mistrust of the mental health system. The focus of clinical care in this article is adolescent depression, and the Breland-Noble Model of Pathways to Psychiatric Clinical Care3 serves as the backdrop for this discussion. Please note that in this article, the term “blacks” is being used to refer to people of various ethnic groups within the category of black (non-Hispanic), including African Americans, emigrant Caribbean Blacks, and emigrant Continental Africans in the United States.