Children and Adolescents

"Children & Adolescents: Clinical Formulation & Treatment" draws on the experience and research of leading scientists and clinicians from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel and Canada to present state-of-the-art information on all aspects of child psychology and psychiatry. Special attention is given to the psychopathology, assessment, treatment, and prevention of childhood behavioral disorders. The volume highlights the developmental-contextual framework used in the clinical formulation of these disorders, as well as process and outcome issues in treatment. Various theoretical perspectives are also reviewed, including applied behavior analysis, family systems therapy, play therapy, and pharmacologic therapy. In the final section, all of the major childhood disorders found in the DSM and ICD are described, with information on their prevalence, etiology, assessment, and treatment. This section also analyzes the empirical status of the various therapies used for the treatment of childhood disorders. Section I examines the foundations for the conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of child psychopathology. Section II reviews major theoretical approaches that have been used in the treatment of diverse child behavior disorders. Chapters use a similar format to discuss the approach including the following: theoretical underpinnings; history and current status; assessment and clinical formulation; description of the intervention procedures; proposed mechanisms of change; research findings; and, future directions for research and practice. Section III addresses major child psychopathologies, their assessment, and treatment. Also using a structured format, chapters in this section include: a review of the disorder under consideration and exploration of its phenomenology, prevalence, etiology, and diagnostic features; a detailed examination of the conceptualization and clinical formulation of the disorder, its multimethod and multisource assessment; psychosocial and pharmacological treatment; and, future directions for research and practice. "Children & Adolescents: Clinical Formulation & Treatment" was previously published as Volume 5 of the highly acclaimed major reference work, "Comprehensive Clinical Psychology", the single, most comprehensive source of information in the field of Clinical Psychology. 'Children are not miniature adults, rather they are growing, developing organisms who are richly embedded in diverse social contexts including the family, school, and communities in which they live. As such, they need to be viewed as distinct from adults and as important in their own right. Children have come of age. Hopefully, this volume will assist in their ongoing recognition and provide the reader with much information about assessment and treatment practices that are in their best interests' - Professor Thomas Ollendick, Preface to Volume 5, "Comprehensive Clinical Psychology", 1998.