The child and adolescent psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and the treatment of disorders of thinking, feeling and/or behavior affecting children, adolescents, and their families. A child and adolescent psychiatrist offers families the advantages of a medical education, the medical traditions of professional ethics, and medical responsibility for providing comprehensive care.
Conditions Treated
Conditions we evaluate and treat include (but not limited to): -
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Anxiety disorders
- Bipolar disorders
- Coping with medical illness
- Depression
- Developmental and other learning disorders
- Disruptive behavior disorders
- Eating disorders
- Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)
- Impulse control disorders
- Mood and thought disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
- Pervasive developmental disorders (PDD)
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Psychosis
- School refusal
Some experts believe that events occurring in early childhood exert a powerful influence upon behavior later in life. Others indicate that people are genetically predisposed to personality disorders. In some cases, however, environmental facts may cause a person who is already genetically vulnerable to develop a personality disorder.
Upbringing
Sometimes, but not always, people with personality disorder have experienced
- physical or sexual abuse in childhood.
- violence in the family.
- parents who drink too much.
If children are taken out of this sort of difficult environment, they are less likely to develop a personality disorder.
Early problems
Severe aggression, disobedience, and repeated temper tantrums in childhood
Brain problems
Some people with antisocial personality disorder have very slight differences in the structure of their brains, and in the way some chemicals work in their brains. However, there is no brain scan or blood test that can diagnose a personality disorder.
Triggers
- using a lot of drugs or alcohol
- problems getting on with your family or partner
- money problems
- anxiety, depression or other mental health problems
- important events
- stressful situations
- loss, such as death of a loved one
