Persistent physical symptoms that may not be associated with a known medical disease can be perplexing and distressing for children and families. This book gives mental health professionals a complete understanding of somatic symptoms in 6- to 18-year-olds and presents an innovative treatment approach grounded in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Numerous case examples and sample dialogues illustrate how to collaborate with health care and school professionals and conduct effective assessment, psychoeducation, and intervention, within a biopsychosocial framework. User-friendly features include 36 reproducible handouts, worksheets, and templates. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. ÿ

This open access book sets out the stress-system model for functional somatic symptoms in children and adolescents. The book begins by exploring the initial encounter between the paediatrician, child, and family, moves through the assessment process, including the formulation and the treatment contract, and then describes the various forms of treatment that are designed to settle the child’s dysregulated stress system. This approach both provides a new understanding of how such symptoms emerge – typically, through a history of recurrent or chronic stress, either physical or psychological – and points the way to effective assessment, management, and treatment that put the child (and family) back on the road to health and well-being.

Medically unexplained symptoms and somatisation are the fifth most common reason for visits to doctors in the USA, and form one of the most expensive diagnostic categories in Europe. The range of disorders involved includes irritable bowel syndrome, chronic widespread pain and chronic fatigue syndrome. This book reviews the current literature, clarifies and disseminates clear information about the size and scope of the problem, and discusses current and future national and international guidelines. It also identifies barriers to progress and makes evidence-based recommendations for the management of medically unexplained symptoms and somatisation. Written and edited by leading experts in the field, this authoritative text defines international best practice and is an important resource for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, primary care doctors and those responsible for establishing health policy.

Written by leading clinicians and research experts in the fields of child development and psychopathology, this book is an authoritative and up to date guide for psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians and other professionals working with vulnerable children. The opening chapters outline neurobiological, genetic, familial and cultural influences upon child development, especially those fostering children's resilience and emotional wellbeing. Discussion of the acquisition of social and emotional developmental competencies leads on to reviews of child psychopathology, clinical diagnoses, assessment and intervention. Developed with busy professionals and trainees in mind, it is comprehensively yet concisely written, using visual aids to help the reader absorb information rapidly and easily. This book is an essential purchase for those working or training in all clinical and community child settings.

The Encyclopedia of Adolescence breaks new ground as an important central resource for the study of adolescence. Comprehensive in breath and textbook in depth, the Encyclopedia of Adolescence – with entries presented in easy-to-access A to Z format – serves as a reference repository of knowledge in the field as well as a frequently updated conduit of new knowledge long before such information trickles down from research to standard textbooks. By making full use of Springer’s print and online flexibility, the Encyclopedia is at the forefront of efforts to advance the field by pushing and creating new boundaries and areas of study that further our understanding of adolescents and their place in society. Substantively, the Encyclopedia draws from four major areas of research relating to adolescence. The first broad area includes research relating to "Self, Identity and Development in Adolescence". This area covers research relating to identity, from early adolescence through emerging adulthood; basic aspects of development (e.g., biological, cognitive, social); and foundational developmental theories. In addition, this area focuses on various types of identity: gender, sexual, civic, moral, political, racial, spiritual, religious, and so forth. The second broad area centers on "Adolescents’ Social and Personal Relationships". This area of research examines the nature and influence of a variety of important relationships, including family, peer, friends, sexual and romantic as well as significant nonparental adults. The third area examines "Adolescents in Social Institutions". This area of research centers on the influence and nature of important institutions that serve as the socializing contexts for adolescents. These major institutions include schools, religious groups, justice systems, medical fields, cultural contexts, media, legal systems, economic structures, and youth organizations. "Adolescent Mental Health" constitutes the last major area of research. This broad area of research focuses on the wide variety of human thoughts, actions, and behaviors relating to mental health, from psychopathology to thriving. Major topic examples include deviance, violence, crime, pathology (DSM), normalcy, risk, victimization, disabilities, flow, and positive youth development.

The Textbook of Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine provides a comprehensive, empirically based knowledge of assessment and treatment issues in children and adolescents with physical illness. Scholarly, authoritative, and evidence based, it is the first volume of its kind and will help to define the field going forward. Addressing a very wide range of medical subspecialties, this volume is a first step for researchers who want to obtain a review of the psychiatric issues in their respective specialties. In addition, the book offers many special features, including An exceptionally strong section on psychopharmacology in the medical setting, which is complemented by a comprehensive set of reference tables on psychopharmacological agents, including doses, side effects, and indications for use in the physically ill child. Definitive chapters on less commonly reviewed topics that are of particular relevance for clinicians who treat physically ill children, including pediatric palliative care, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and pediatric feeding disorders. Coverage of key legal and forensic issues in pediatric psychosomatic medicine. Presentation of material in graphical and tabular formats for maximal usefulness, including templates of specific questions for assessing common psychiatric symptoms and flowcharts illustrating step-by-step approaches to pain and somatoform disorders. Relevance to a broad range of professionals, including psychiatrists, pediatricians, psychologists, nurses, medical students, and social workers who work with children in medical settings. May be adopted as a textbook for psychology undergraduate classes, social work internships, and both general and child psychiatry residency training programs. The editors are recognized both nationally and internationally as being among the foremost experts for their respective fields, and they have assembled the leading practitioners of pediatric psychosomatic medicine to create this volume. The only complete text on pediatric psychosomatic medicine, this volume is destined to prove seminal in the field and indispensable in the clinician's library.