When presented with a self-injuring patient, the first thing I try to find out is what the function of the self injury is. Is it suicidal? Did the patient want to die or think he or she might die? Often the answer is “no.”

It has been eight years since child psychiatry first began to deal with controversy about SSRIs and their potential to prompt suicidal behavior in youth.

An individual’s vulnerability to suicide is strongly influenced by genetic susceptibility to mental health problems and, notably, to mood disorders, substance abuse, anxiety disorders and antisocial and offending behaviors.

Children and adolescents with tic disorders (TD) very often have comorbid psychiatric diagnoses.

Advocates tout restricted diets for the treatment of everything from migraines to autism.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Childhood sleep problems are common, and most practitioners wind up prescribing or recommending something for sleep for a significant portion of their patients.

Insomnia and sleep disturbance are common symptoms of depression in adults, but this is not always the case in adolescents. In fact, a group of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh who studied insomnia in depressed teens found that, compared to adults, insomnia in adolescents is different—very different.

This table can help you determine the normal sleep requirements of patients of all ages, birth through 18.

Sleep is something that really affects all walks of life and all stages of a child’s development.