Main description:

Pediatricians and primary care providers (PCPs) commonly encounter youth with mental health problems in their practice. The aim of this practical handbook is to facilitate the triage, differential diagnosis, treatment, and referral of youth in an efficacious and safe manner. Starting with common chief complaints, this ground-breaking text provides systematic algorithms which guide you through each step of the evaluation and treatment process. By using innovative tables, figures, and programmed text, your clinical input leads you to the key information that you need.Do you want to know how to structure your practice so that it can function smoothly even when a child is seen in crisis? This handbook can help you with that. Ever wonder whether a child should get a trial of therapy before starting medications? This handbook will help you figure that out. Ever wonder which medicine to start, at what dose, how to titrate it, what to tell parents, and how to manage it? It will help you with that as well. Ever wonder which rating scale would be good to monitor a child's progress? Done.Developed and written jointly by child psychiatrists and pediatricians working in unison, this is the handbook that you have been waiting for.
In an age of FDA black box warnings and concern regarding high risk behaviors in youth, this is the handbook that places practical, easily accessible, and clinically useful information at your fingertips.

Contents:

Section I: Getting Ready; 1. How to Use This Book; 2. Setting Up Your Office; Section II: Approach to Common Chief Complaints; 3. Irritable or Out-of-Control Behavior; 4. Fatigue or Changes in Appetite; 5. School Refusal; 6. Recurrent Mild Medical Complaints; 7. Speech Problems or Refusing to Speak; 8. Sudden Personality Change or Confusion; 9. Excessive Worries; Section III: Psychiatric Diagnoses; 10. Adjustment Disorder; 11. Anxiety Disorders; 12. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; 13. Autism and Pervasive Development Disorders; 14. Delirium; 15. Disruptive Behavior Disorders; 16. Eating Disorders; 17. Learning Disorders; 18. Mental Retardation; 19. Mood Disorders; 20. Psychotic Disorders; 21. Somatoform and Factitious Disorders; 22. Substance Use Disorders; Section IV: Toolbox of Interventions; Pharmacological Interventions; 23. Alpha Adrenergic Agonists; 24. Antidepressants; 25. Atypical Antipsychotics; 26. Benzodiazepines; 27. Mood Stabilizers; 28. Stimulants and Related ADHD Medications; Psychotherapeutic and Psychosocial Interventions; 29. Planning for Psychotherapeutic Interventions; 30. Planning for Psychosocial Interventions; Appendices; A. Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation; B. Suicide and Risk Assessment; C. Concise Overview of Pertinent DSM-IV-TR Diagnoses; D. Commonly Used DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Codes; E. Suggested Rating Scales; F. References and Sources for Additional Information.