Affective Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence

The first two books in this series on Child Behavior and Development dealt with the Hyperactive Child Syndrome (Attention Deficit Disorder) and with Infantile Autism. These are two of the most investigated and best established syndromes in child psychiatry. Affective disorders, that is depressions and manias, are probably the most investigated and best established syndromes in adult psychiatry. However, it is only recently that investigators have turned their attention to depressions and manias in children and adolescents. Focusing on clinical, research, and management aspects, this present monograph is an attempt to collect in one place much of what we know about depression and mania in children and adolescents. The first section deals with the phenomenology of affective disorders in children and adolescents. Issues regarding classification and diagnostic criteria are reviewed and case studies are presented. The second section deals with the issues of alternative forms of depression and relates common school-related problems to affective disorders. The third section on assessment discusses various assessment instruments in some detail. The fourth section on possible etiologic factors concentrates on those biologic areas that are the subject of most of the etiologic research at the present time. Likewise, the last section on management deals with those therapeutic interventions which have been the subject of the most intense research in this-area.