Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains both controversial and difficult to obtain for children and adolescents. Yet when our young patients have truly severe and life-threatening neuropsychiatric conditions, when medication is not going to cut it, we look to ECT for possible help. This research review offers guidance for use of ECT.

When is the best time to begin gender affirming medical care (GAMC) with respect to addressing the mental health status of children and adolescents with Gender Dysphoric Disorder? Should we begin Hormone Replacement Therapy early or wait until the adolescent is older? This research update will help you grapple with this very public debate.

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In this first issue of 2021, we dig deeper into current and chronic areas of clinical complexity. Genetic testing can find identifiable disorders, offering relief to families searching for answers and perhaps guiding future treatment. Despite the hype, though, pharmacogenetics has limitations; we need to know what it can and...

Don’t be pressured into medicating your way out of cultural problems. What are the nuts and bolts of offering culturally competent care to children and adolescents? This article is a how-to with a case example that demonstrates a respectful approach to helping families caught between dominant and different cultural understandings.

Genetic testing can tell whether a patient has an identifiable disorder, offering relief to families searching for answers and perhaps leading them to support and even future treatment. Despite the hype, pharmacogenetics is rather limited in utility and clinicians need to know what it can and cannot tell us.

What is the best approach to effective clinical care with families that are separated or divorced? This article covers the complexities, the legalities, and an expectation of collaboration that can help us to help children to receive good mental health care despite the inevitable differences between parents in these situations.

In the age of COVID-19, clinicians need to assess for specific pandemic-related impacts on children and adolescents. UCLA has a new COVID-19 PTSD screen and they have also developed an effective intervention that targets and manages trauma triggers to address suicidality in children and adolescents for use in urgent settings.

Which is better for OCD in children and adolescents: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Serotonin Specific Reuptake Inhibitors or a combination of both in children and adolescents? Are there reasonable options between these choices? This research review gives some helpful answers that you can put into practice with your patients today.