Child Psych

Neither Music nor Facebook Cause Depression in Teens

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:12:00 +0000

Although a recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine did not find that listening to music causes depression in teenagers, news headlines and tweets on Twitter may have left the impression it does. Despite caveats provided by the authors, most readers are likely to believe it because they don't understand the difference between correlation (the degree...

Mental Health Parity and Health Insurance Reform

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:25:00 +0000

According to the American Psychological Association, nearly 90% of Americans have never heard of the Mental Health Parity law which requires equal benefits for medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment for most group health insurance plans. Forty-five percent did not even know if their health insurance covered mental health services. The final regulations for the 2008 Paul...

Completely Off-Topic

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:06:00 +0000

This is one of those semi-useless posts to let my readers know that I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet. I've heard that it happens to most bloggers at some point - the lack of will to write. I also have a lame excuse - I've become enamored by Twitter. So easy. So short. Often consists of passing on (retweeting) good stuff I've read. What I find fascinating is that Feedburner (the...

ADHD Awareness All Year Long

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Let me start by saying I know ADHD Awareness Month was in September, but I believe it's important to be aware of ADHD all year long. So, in solidarity with ADHDers who procrastinate, here's a round-up of articles and resources I like. One of the pages on the ADHD Awareness Week - September 13-17, 2010 site is Myths About ADHD. The article, originally from Attitude Magazine, describes seven...

Many Children Still Haven't Recovered from Katrina

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:40:00 +0000

Now, five years later, there's new evidence of the significant, negative impact of Hurricane Katrina on children's mental health. The study "Children as Bellwethers of Recovery" was conducted by researchers from the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and was published online by the Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health...

Child Abuse Increases Risk of PTSD in Young Adults

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:40:00 +0000

photo by mrcuppofcoffee Researchers in New Zealand have found a link between childhood abuse and mental disorders in young adults. The article by Drs. Scott, Smith, and Ellis was published in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The authors analyzed data from a nationally representative community survey of 2144 New Zealanders ages 16 to 27. The survey assessed a variety of...

Childhood Mental Health Affects Adult Income

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:03:00 +0000

A recent study in Social Science and Medicine demonstrates for the first time that childhood psychological problems have long-lasting effects on adult income. Because the study compares siblings with and without psychological conditions, the authors were able to control for the effects of childhood family background and neighborhood on adult income. They also controlled for the effects of...

Facebook Privacy Tips for Parents and Teens

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:33:00 +0000

All the fuss raised the past month over changes in Facebook's privacy policy is a reminder for parents to discuss online privacy with their teenagers. Although most teens have the computer skills to manage their Facebook accounts, they still need guidance from parents. Teenagers aren't capable of thinking through the consequences of personal disclosures on their own. Psychological research has...

You Asked: What Can We Do to Stop Rape?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:24:00 +0000

A reader asks what we can do to stop rape. This question is very important to me having spent nearly 20 years treating child and adolescent victims of sexual assault and abuse. It's also timely because April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. And awareness is the first step in preventing rape. Let's start with some basic facts and then look at prevention. Sexual assault...

Maybe Children are Not Overmedicated

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:44:00 +0000

Judith Warner, former columnist for the New York Times, has just released a new book "We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication." She started out writing the book convinced that today's children were frequently misdiagnosed and overmedicated for mental health problems. As noted in Abigail Zuger's review, Warner "sallied forth to interview all the pushy parents, irresponsible...

How Many Children Need Mental Health Treatment and Get It?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt There's more evidence that many children have a mental health disorder and not enough get help. The first representative survey of children in the United States found that 13% of children ages 8 to 15 had at least one psychiatric disorders during one year. The data comes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a collaboration between the...

When a Parent Goes to War

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:02:00 +0000

The nature of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with an all-volunteer military, has led to multiple and extended deployments for active-duty, reserve, and National Guard troops. One of the invisible effects of war is the impact of prolonged deployments on the well-being of children in military families. Until now, there has not been a comprehensive study of sufficient size to fully...

ADHD and Sleep Problems in Children

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:43:00 +0000

It probably comes as no surprise to parents that their ADHD children have trouble getting to sleep at night. It's hard for them to rev down and resist the impulse to play one more video game, text one more friend, post on Facebook, or start(!) their homework. But what do we really know about sleep problems and ADHD, and more importantly, what can you do about it? What Research Tells...

Grand Rounds Blog Carnival Vol. 6, No. 8

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

I'd like to thank Colorado Health Insurance Insider, the host of this week's edition of Grand Rounds, for including my post What Mental Health Parity Means for You. Of interest to readers of this blog is a post by Dr. Nancy Brown at Teen Health 411 - The Ideal Relationship With A Parent. In it a group of teens completed the following sentences. My favorite answer is listed after each. The...

Mental Health Roundup: Seasonal Affective Disorder

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:12:00 +0000

In the first of an occasional series, I'm providing a roundup of blog posts on a specific mental health topic. I'm starting off with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) since this is the time of year that most people who suffer from SAD start to experience symptoms. As you'll read below, some people experience reverse SAD in the spring and summer. Dr. Deb covers the basics in her post Seasonal...

Depression in Pre-Schoolers?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:05:00 +0000

When researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine published the first longitudinal study of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in preschool children, it came as a surprise to many that young children even get depressed. Most people were unaware that MDD had already been found to be as common among preschoolers as among school-age children (approx. 2%). The significance of the...

What Mental Health Parity Means for You

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:22:00 +0000

The outcome of health care reform currently under consideration in Congress is uncertain. Fortunately, legislation was passed last year to improve access to mental health services through health insurance. The 2008 Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires health insurance and self-insured companies to provide equal benefits for physical, mental, and...

You Asked: What Are the Effects of Rape?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:58:00 +0000

There are a wide range of short-term and long-term psychological effects that an individual victim may experience. The nature of the assault, use of a weapon, threats, violence, serious physical injuries, and relationship to the offender are some of the factors that can differentially affect the impact of rape on a particular victim. Those with a previous history of sexual abuse or other trauma...

Back to School Safety Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:04:00 +0000

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a safety fact sheet for older children going to and from school. It goes into detail about the usual stranger safety tips (for example, not accepting rides), but there are a few less obvious tips for parents: Instruct your children to always take a friend, always stay in well-lit areas, never take shortcuts, and never go into isolated...

The Question ADHD Kids Dread Most

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

September is National Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month. Most activities will happen during AD/HD Awareness Week (September 14-20). I think there may also be an Awareness Day in there somewhere. This gives everyone multiple chances to celebrate if they forget to pay attention the first time around. I'm starting off the month by raising awareness of what it's like to be a...

You Asked: Depression - Thyroid or Hormonal Changes?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:25:00 +0000

A reader wants to know if depression could be caused by undetected thyroid or hormonal changes. The short answer is yes. Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland), hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland), and adrenal insufficiency (a dysfunctional adrenal gland) are hormone disorders that can cause symptoms of depression. These illnesses can be detected by simple tests performed by your...

Teens Don't Twitter, Facebook Still Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Mashable reports that only 16% of those under 25 use Twitter. (This rather high age-range for teenagers is one many parents of young adults can easily agree with!) Their report comes via a Nielsen survey which notes that the Twitter trend remains largely an adult phenomenon. This is good news for parents still trying to catch-up on their teen's texting, MySpace, and Facebook communication. As...

Child Abuse is the Primary Cause of Infant Homicides

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Child abuse of any sort is difficult to understand, but the homicide of infants by caretakers is beyond most people's imagination. A new study sheds some light on who commits these acts. Fujiwara, T., Barber, C., Schaechter, J., & Hemenway, D. (2009). Characteristics of Infant Homicides: Findings From a U.S. Multisite Reporting System PEDIATRICS, 124 (2) DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-3675 The...

Grand Rounds Blog Carnival Vol. 5, No. 44

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:23:00 +0000

I've been included in this week's edition of Grand Rounds hosted by Doc Gurley. Grand Rounds is "a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week...It's the oldest and most popular medical blog carnival on the internet." More info, and the schedule for upcoming editions...

Keep Kids Safe This Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine Busch) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:15:00 +0000

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released Ten Safety Tips to Help Parents Keep Children Safe This Summer: MAKE SURE children know their full names, address, telephone numbers and how to use the telephone. BE SURE children know what to do in case of an emergency and how to reach you using cell phone or pager number. Children should have a neighbor or trusted adult...