Current research indicates that up to ten percent of children suffer from mental health problems at some point before reaching adulthood. Complex diagnostic criteria and medication regimes can make these patients a challenge to manage. The chronic shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists has led to more and more cases being cared for by pediatricians and primary care practitioners. Patients may be on multiple medications of long duration, and reaching a decision to modify or cease treatment is often complicated.
Pediatric and Adolescent Psychopharmacology: A Practical Manual for Pediatricians is written for all non-psychiatrists who find themselves caring for children and teenagers with mental health disorders. It gives clear, expert guidance on the complexities of diagnosis of mental health disorders and provides practical, accessible advice on the complex treatment options available for many disorders. This text will be an invaluable resource for all clinicians who encounter these vulnerable patients.

Primary care clinicians are called on to care for adolescents in a time with increasing pharmacologic agents that are available in the management of these patients. The emphasis in this book is on the current pharmacologic treatment of common medical disorders in adolescents. Selected topics of practical relevance in adolescent medicine are covered. The goal of this book is to provide a succinct and practical guide specifically written for practicing physicians and allied health professionals who work with adolescents.

This book is designed to provide primary care clinicians with a practical guide to the significant problems that increasingly affect the emotional health of children and adolescents. This book is written in clear, concise language by experts in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, neurodevelopmental pediatrics, adolescent medicine, psychology, and child/adolescent psychiatry. We present a comprehensive coverage of normal and pathological behaviors based on principles of child and adolescent development. The editors are nationally and internationally known experts and educators in the normal and abnormal behavior of children and youth. With the information available in this book, clinicians who care for children and adolescents will be better equipped to meet the complex needs of this fascinating and ever-changing population.

The search for medicinal agents to improve emotional, behavioral, and psychiatric conditions of Homo sapiens has occurred for ages. The 20th century witnessed the development of psychopharmacologic agents, including stimulants in the 1930s (and 1950s), chlorpromazine in the 1950s, lithium, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, SSRIs (1990s), and others. The proper use of these agents in the pediatric population continues to be an active study. Atypical antipsychotics have been approved by the FDA for children and adolescents though their safety and efficacy in the pediatric population but must be assiduously ascertained with ongoing research in the eternal iatric maxim of primum non nocere. The science of evidence-based pharmacotherapy for mental health disorders in children and adolescents is finally emerging. Exciting discoveries await the researchers of this still early 21st century lead by the crucial collaborative efforts of academicians, pharmaceutical scientists, and medical government authorities. Controversies regarding the use of various psychopharmacologic agents for the pediatric population continue in the 21st century, requiring further research and insightful judgment for its applications in this vulnerable population. Excessive and unnecessary psychopharmacologic agents should be avoided in the pediatric population with behavioral/emotional/psychiatric conditions/disorders. In this second edition, the authors present updated information about psychopharmacology in childhood and adolescence.

The search for optimal medications to support health has been part of human history since early times. One concept that was learned in early human civilisations was that medications can be harmful as well as potentially beneficial. Folklore and anecdotal information dominated human knowledge for more than 50,000 years until the work of the Chinese emperor, Shen-Nung (2737 BCE), who became a pristine, official, and erudite classifier of medicinal herbs. Pharmacologic management of human disease is clearly part of the 21st century medical armamentarium. Adolescents of the second decade of the 21st century and those adolescents soon to come will determine the outcome of our planet and life into the 22nd century. Pharmacology will remain an ever-growing part of clinicians' efforts to improve their patients' mental and medical health, but in this book, the authors' have taken a holistic approach, which they hope will please and interest the reader.

A large proportion of children and youth have mental health problems that follow different trajectories over time. Adolescence is a period in which latent mental problems emerge, with as many as one third of adolescents presenting with complaints significant enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. Since the mid-1950s, a considerable number of psychoactive medications have been developed, with primarily adults with mental health disorders being the main focus. Only a proportion of these drugs were subsequently studied in children and adolescents in well-designed, controlled trials with a sufficiently long-term follow-up. This means that the treatment decision of the prescribing physician carries a unique burden of personal responsibility. This book presents the psychopharmacologic agents that are available for children and adolescents, as well as the side effects, drug interactions, and the indicated monitoring parameters of these medications.

Children, adolescents and their families are presented with prodigious difficulties as they face the challenges of the 21st century. Our children pass through intricate developmental phases as they traverse through childhood and adolescence on their inevitable journey into adulthood. Since many parents face considerable challenges in their endeavours to help their children, many families turn to their primary care professionals for counsel in this regard. There are a limited number of books summarising current concepts of behavioural pediatrics as defined by the first edition of this book: "what the clinician does to diagnose, to treat, and most importantly, to prevent mental illness in children and adolescents." The authors have compiled this updated information for various health care professionals who are seeking to provide comprehensive health care for our children and adolescents -- paediatricians, family medicine physicians, internists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, social workers, health educators and others involved in the care of children and adolescents. Much has evolved in this field since the publication of the first edition in 1992. Research in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychology, behavioural sciences, paediatrics, family therapy, individual therapy and related fields have led to new and exciting information. Advancements in psychopharmacology have lead to an explosion of medications used to treat a wide variety of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, disruptive behavioural disorders, eating disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and others. This edition is designed to provide the primary-care clinician with a practical guide to early recognition and intervention in the significant problems increasingly affecting the emotional health of children and adolescents. It is the hope of the editors of this edition that this updated information will be of considerable help to clinicians in helping to meet the complex needs of the children, adolescents, and families that they serve. Today, our families expect us to look at both the medical and metal health aspects which affect our children and teenagers.