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Of note, this post is adapted from a similar one that appeared last week in my Psychology Today blog. From many headlines today, it is easy to get the impression that children and adolescents are struggling more than ever these days. At the same time, the mental health system designed to help our kids and […]
Tags: child mental health, substance use, suicide, teen pregnancy
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published an updated policy statement paper on recommended limits for media usage in kids. The new report is designed to incorporate the increase of “new media” devices such as mobile phones and computers that are making up an increasingly larger portion of the total time. The trends necessitate […]
Tags: media use, screen time, texting, video game usage
This week, a group of people involved in all aspects of child mental health care in Vermont met in Shelburne to share ideas and visions about how to improve access and quality of behavioral healthcare for Vermont families. The group included parents of children struggling with emotional behavioral problems, counselors, psychiatrists, primary care clinicians, educators, […]
Anyone driving today has likely encountered distracted drivers with their hands busily working their phone texting or emailing rather than being on the wheel. While these behavior are a safety concern for all, they may be particularly problematic for teens who are relatively new to driving (and also known to be quite fond of text […]
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a major report last month, focusing on child mental health from the period of 2005 through 2011. The report features new summary statistics on the prevalence of mental health disorders as well as estimates of the costs of these conditions. The report summarizes results from a number of […]
This month, the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sent a letter to members of the Vermont legislature, executive leadership, and our US senators and representative, calling for specific action to prevent gun violence in the wake of tragedies like the Sandy Hook school shooting last December. The effort was led by […]
Tags: child mental health, gun violence
Are children and adolescents in the United States too easily given psychiatric medications? There has been a lot of attention to this question lately with many people both within and outside of the mental health community believing that the answer is a resounding yes. Yet while there is ample evidence suggesting that the percentage of […]
The New York Times is reporting data they received from the CDC’s National Survey of Children’s Health that the number of children who have received a diagnosis of ADHD has risen to 11% with some segments of the population, such as high school boys, as high as 20%. The data come from phone interviews of […]
It might come as a surprise to many Vermonters, but we are one of the only states left in the country in which judges do NOT have the right to grant joint custody of children in divorce proceedings unless BOTH parents ask for it. As a result, judges are forced to make Solomon-like decisions by […]
A thought provoking article in the NY times raises questions about the practice of giving stimulant medications to children who don’t meet criteria for ADHD but who nonetheless might benefit from their effects. While the issue of stimulants being taken by competitive students trying to gain an edge in college has been well documented, this […]
