Childhood Disorders Flashcards
Stats and Trends of Childhood Disorders
- 20-40% have diagnosable disorder
- 80% needing services don’t receive them
- Historically received less attention in females, poor
Why Focus on Childhood Disorders?
- Longitudinal study taken by Kim-Cohen in 2003 over intervals
- Looking at if the age of first diagnosis provide context for their disorders later in life
- Found that of those cases, 50% had a childhood mental disorder, 11-15
- 60% in intensive mental health services had a childhood mental disorder
- Most adults have roots earlier in their life
The Dimensions of Childhood Disorders
Internalising - mostly affect the individual, child is overcontrolled
Externalising - mostly affect the people around them, child is undercontrolled
Internalising Disorders
anxiety disorders
- Separation anxiety disorder (most relevant to childhood)
- Selective mutism (most relevant to childhood)
- etc
Depressive Disorders
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (most relevant to childhood)
- Identified as a precursor to MDD in adulthood
- Typically diagnosed between 6 and 10
- MDD and PDD
Externalising Disorders
Disruptive, impulse control, and conduct disorders
- Oppositional defiant disorder (most relevant to childhood)
- Conduct disorder (most relevant to childhood)
- Intermittent exclusive disorder
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
ADHD (most prevalent)
- 5% of all children
- Impulsive
- Inattention problems
Autism spectrum disorder (most prevalent) (ASD)
- Less common than a lot of disorders, 1.5% of the population
- Associated with quite profound deficits
- Struggle with social/emotional communication and non–verbal communication
Comorbidity with Childhood Disorders - Case Example
- Disruptive behaviour disorders are much more likely to be diagnosed alongside ADHD
- People with ASD are also likely to have a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder
Case Example -
- 5-year old boy
- Biting, hitting, defiant, oppositional, impulsive, overly active
What is Assessment?
→ psychological testing
Individualised
- Used to measure and observe client behaviour, to give full picture of strengths and limitations
- Used to test hypotheses about a patient
- Wide variety of tests and assessments
- Informs diagnosis and treatment planning
Assessment Methods for Children and Disorders
Clinical Interview - structured or semi-structured
- Developmental history
- Diagnostic interview
Psychological tests
- Self-report
- Rater measures
Behavioural observations
- A-b-c analysis
- Understanding of behaviour in clinic, home, school
Specialised testing
- IQ tests
- ASD, developmental delay
Third-party information
- medical/school/legal records
- Prior psychological testing/reports
Important Things to Consider When Assessing for Disorders in Children
Comprehensive assessment essential
- Gain knowledge about multiple settings
- Multi-reported
- Multi-method
- Relevant developmental information
For younger children, observation and rater measures especially important
Issues and Solutions When Determining What is Abnormal
- Rater based measures typically include a set of symptoms that don’t directly map onto DSM criteria
- So norms are used (normative cut-offs), a standard T-score would have a distribution with M=50, SD=10
- If a T-score is 65 then these symptoms may be considered rare to the population of children measured (normative sample)
Case Conceptualisation
a part of the assessment process
- developing theories for why these problems exist
Conduct Disorder
A repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour involving (3 or more) for at least a year
- Aggression
- Destruction of property
- Deceitfulness/theft
- Serious violation of rules
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
Pattern of angry/irritant mood, argumentative/defiant behaviour, or vindictiveness involving 4 or more
- Often loses temper
- Touchy, easily annoyed
- Angry, resentful
- Argumentative
- Defiant and noncompliant
- Deliberately annoys others
- Blames others for mistakes
- Spitefulness/ vindictiveness
the first three symptoms have a higher likelihood of getting an internalising disorders later in life
Why Focus on Conduct Disorder?
- Almost all adult disorders were preceded with ODD and conduct disorder
- Identified conduct disorder as a “prior prevention target” for reducing adult mental illness
50% of all cases with dsm diagnosis had conduct disorders
Prevalence of Conduct and ODD
- Estimates vary across setting, ethnic groups (systemic factors), age, gender, diagnostic
- 3-16% (worldwide - 3.3%) has ODD
CD 2-16% (3.2%)
DBD Comorbidity
- 65-90% also have ADHD
Internalising problems
~33% community
75% referred to clinic
Particularly for ODD
Consequence of behaviour
Learning disorders
Substance abuse disorders