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Category Archives: Pediatricians
Bipolar Disorder in Adolescents: Improving Diagnosis in Primary Care
It’s a scenario unfolding in primary care offices every day: An adolescent is brought in by his parents, who voice concern about mood swings. He’s either irritable and apathetic or impulsive and ‘high energy’. They wonder if he is using … Continue reading
Teen Depression & Anxiety Disorders: How Can Primary Care Meet the Challenge?
It was the largest conference for pediatricians in the U.S., and Jefferson Prince MD, — instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, director of child psychiatry for the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, MA and medical director for the … Continue reading
Eating Disorders in Adolescents: How can doctors better meet the challenge?
The eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia typically begin during adolescence. Each can have serious medical and psychological consequences. As clinicians confront the complexities of managing these potentially life-threatening disorders, a new study on how best to treat patients with … Continue reading
Rethinking Adolescent Mental Health Care
As primary care providers begin to incorporate adolescent mental health care into practice, Common Factors may hold solutions to successfully taking on the challenge. Common Factors is an approach that emphasizes the interaction between parents and providers — pediatricians, family … Continue reading
Integrated Care: Can we create a health care system that works for teens?
The doctor asks in earnest, “Is it ok if we share your behavioral health information with your primary care doctor?” The patients are surprised at the question. As Greg Jensen, a licensed clinical social worker and the Vice President for … Continue reading
Integrated Care: What Are We Really Talking About?
Integrated care, the tightly linked provision of behavioral health services and general medical services, is the holy grail of population-based mental health services because of the potential improvements in access, compliance, satisfaction, and effectiveness of care for mental disorders. However, … Continue reading
Prescription Drug Abuse: How it’s harming teens
A startling report just released from the Centers for Disease Control finds that prescription painkillers such as Vicodin, methadone, and oxycontin have eclipsed heroin as the leading cause of deadly overdose in the U.S. These drugs are now among the … Continue reading
Pediatricians in a Flash mob? What’s Happening with Our Kids’ Doctors
In my job as Deputy Director at TeenScreen National Center, I go to my fair share of mental health and medical meetings. I always come away with new information and some good ideas. But rarely do they have me nearly … Continue reading
Teens & Mental Health: How to Help Families
Mental health problems in teens are widespread, but parents often struggle with bringing these issues to the primary care provider. This reluctance contributes to the problem of underdiagnosis and undertreatment, and keeps teens from getting the help they need. While … Continue reading
The Mental Health Screening Dilemma
For many academics and researchers, the debate is over: The use of mental health screening questionnaires in a routine fashion in primary care offices greatly increases the detection of mental disorders among children and adolescents. With such information, the American … Continue reading
