Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents

Book excerpt: Although generally considered adult disorders, anxiety and depression are widespread among children and adolescents, affecting academic performance, social development, and long-term outcomes. They are also difficult to treat and, especially when they occur in tandem, tend to fly under the diagnostic radar. Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents offers a developmental psychology perspective for understanding and treating these complex disorders as they manifest in young people. Adding the school environment to well-known developmental contexts such as biology, genetics, social structures, and family, this significant volume provides a rich foundation for study and practice by analyzing the progression of pathology and the critical role of emotion regulation in anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and in combination. Accurate diagnostic techniques, appropriate intervention methods, and empirically sound prevention strategies are given accessible, clinically relevant coverage. Illustrative case examples and an appendix of forms and checklists help make the book especially useful. Featured in the text: Developmental psychopathology of anxiety, anxiety disorders, depression, and mood disorders. Differential diagnosis of the anxiety and depressive disorders. Assessment measures for specific conditions. Age-appropriate interventions for anxiety and depression, including CBT and pharmacotherapy. Multitier school-based intervention and community programs. Building resilience through prevention. Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents is an essential reference for practitioners, researchers, and graduate students in school and clinical child psychology, mental health and school counseling, family therapy, psychiatry, social work, and education.