During the past several decades, interest in children’s psychological disorders has grown steadily within the research community, resulting in a burgeoning knowledge base. The majority of the attention and funding, not surprisingly, has focused on the more prevalent and well-known conditions. Although this raises the odds that young people with more well-known disorders such as ADHD, autism, and learning disorders will receive much-needed professional assessment and intervention, children with less frequently encountered disorders may experience a higher risk of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Useful data has been scattered throughout the literature for severe-but-less-frequent childhood psychological disorders, including: fire setting; gender identity disorder; impulse control disorders (i.e., kleptomania, trichotillomania, intermittent explosive disorder); selective mutism; Munchausen by proxy; childhood schizophrenia; gang involvement; sexual offending; self-injurious behavior; and feral children. This concise volume offers up-to-date information on these conditions, which, though relatively rare, may have profound effect not only on the children themselves but also their families, friends, and the community at large. Coverag e of each disorder is presented in an accessible format covering: Overview and history. Description and diagnostic classification, with proposed changes to the DSM-V. Etiology and theory. Assessment tools and interview protocols. Commonly used psychological and pharmacological treatment options. Current research issues and directions for future investigation. Assessing and Treating Low Incidence/High Severity Psychological Disorders of Childhood is a must-have reference for researchers, clinicians, practitioners, and graduate students in clinical child and school psychology, pediatrics, psychiatry, social work, school counseling, education, and public policy.

Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-being of individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated. Despite this burden, these disorders have been systematically neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with pitifully small contributions to scaling up cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Systematically compiling the substantial existing knowledge to address this inequity is the central goal of this volume. This evidence-base can help policy makers in resource-constrained settings as they prioritize programs and interventions to address these disorders.

This textbook provides in-depth instruction for conducting psychoeducational assessments of children in grades K-12 and conveying results through detailed, well-written reports. It takes readers step by step through the assessment process – collecting data, writing reports, and communicating conclusions – for students with conditions spanning the range of IDEA classifications such as autism, learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, and conditions covered by Section 504. The book offers not only a broad understanding of assessment and communication skills, but also of the ethical, legal, cultural, and professional considerations that come with psychoeducational evaluation. And its sample reports model clear, well-organized results accessible to parents and caregivers as well as teachers and colleagues. Key areas of coverage include: • Assessment basics: the testing environment and protocols, interviewing, and observation. • Report writing section by section, from reason for referral to summary and recommendations. • Guidelines for oral reporting, with case examples. • Special issues in psychoeducational assessment and report writing. • Sample psychoeducational reports using this framework. Psychoeducational Assessment and Report Writing is an essential text for graduate students, researchers, professors, and professionals in child and school psychology; assessment, testing, and evaluation; social work; and psychological methods/evaluation.

Using Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy / Factitious Disorder by Proxy and Parental Alienation as exmplars, this book advances a new diagnostic category for addressing complex pathological phenomena that integrates individual characteristics and symptoms, family as well as other system dynamics, under one diagnosis. The author examines why current diagnostic categories within the DSM-5 are inadequate and provides a framework for this new category—Interrelated Multidimensional Diagnosis—to better capture the complexity of MSBP / FDBP and Parental Alienation. The book begins with case studies and other examples to make the material accessible, and then proposes step-wise processes of examining family systems to determine if the phenomena exist to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. After new diagnostic process and criteria are provided, several interventions and recommendations for treatment are offered in a novel way that attends to the core aspects of these pathologies. This text will provide practitioners, professionals, and researchers with a unique vantage point from which to understand and treat these pathologies.

The Psychology of Arson is the first book in its field to focus specifically on contemporary topics relevant to practitioners and professionals working with adolescent and adult deliberate firesetters. Rebekah Doley, Geoffrey Dickens and Theresa Gannon have integrated the very latest information regarding prevalence, theory, research and practice in one accessible resource, and provide practical advice, strategies and techniques in a context of evidence-based research which will be invaluable for all treatment providers who work in the field of deliberate fire setting. Unique features of this book include chapters considering community awareness, strategies, survivors of arson, filicide and suicide by fire, as well as a new treatment model developed on the basis of the latest research in the field. It is divided into four parts: Theories and typologies of firesetting Legal, investigative and preventative issues Assessment and risk assessment of deliberate firesetters Treatment, needs and management of deliberate firesetters The Psychology of Arson provides the first scientist-practitioner model for the treatment of arson offenders. It will be an essential resource for forensic psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and other professionals working with this client group.

Show students the relevance of sociology to their lives. Adapted from Ritzer’s Introduction to Sociology, this text provides students with a rock-solid foundation in a shorter and more streamlined format.

The dominant narratives of both science and popular culture typically define aging and human development as self-contained individual matters, failing to recognize the degree to which they are shaped by experiential and contextual contingencies. Our understandings of age are thereby "boxed in" and constricted by assumptions of "normality" and naturalness that limit our capacities to explore possible alternative experiences of development and aging, and the conditions – both individual and social – that might foster such experiences. Combining foundational principles of critical social science with recent breakthroughs in research across disciplines ranging from biology to economics, this book offers a scientifically and humanly expanded landscape for apprehending the life course. Rejecting familiar but false dichotomies such as "nature vs. nurture" and "structure vs. agency", it clarifies the organismic fundamentals that make the actual content of experience so centrally important in age and development, and it also explores why attention to these fundamentals has been so resisted in studies of individuals and individual change, and in policy and practice as well. In presenting the basic principles and reviewing the current state of knowledge, Dale Dannefer introduces multi-levelled social processes that shape human development and aging over the life course and age as a cultural phenomenon – organizing his approach around three key frontiers of inquiry that each invite a vigorous exercise of sociological imagination: the Social-Structural Frontier, the Biosocial Frontier and the Critical-Reflexive Frontier.

Show students the relevance of sociology to their lives. While providing a rock-solid foundation, Ritzer and Wiedenhoft illuminate traditional sociological concepts and theories, as well as some of the most compelling contemporary social phenomena: globalization, consumer culture, the Internet, and the "McDonaldization" of society.

Children living in poverty are more likely to have mental health problems, and their conditions are more likely to be severe. Of the approximately 1.3 million children who were recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits in 2013, about 50% were disabled primarily due to a mental disorder. An increase in the number of children who are recipients of SSI benefits due to mental disorders has been observed through several decades of the program beginning in 1985 and continuing through 2010. Nevertheless, less than 1% of children in the United States are recipients of SSI disability benefits for a mental disorder. At the request of the Social Security Administration, Mental Disorders and Disability Among Low-Income Children compares national trends in the number of children with mental disorders with the trends in the number of children receiving benefits from the SSI program, and describes the possible factors that may contribute to any differences between the two groups. This report provides an overview of the current status of the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, and the levels of impairment in the U.S. population under age 18. The report focuses on 6 mental disorders, chosen due to their prevalence and the severity of disability attributed to those disorders within the SSI disability program: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and mood disorders. While this report is not a comprehensive discussion of these disorders, Mental Disorders and Disability Among Low-Income Children provides the best currently available information regarding demographics, diagnosis, treatment, and expectations for the disorder time course - both the natural course and under treatment.

Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide to DSM-5® is a consumer guide for anyone who has been touched by mental illness. Most of us know someone who suffers from a mental illness. This book helps those who may be struggling with mental health problems, as well as those who want to help others achieve mental health and well-being. Based on the latest, fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- known as DSM-5® -- Understanding Mental Disorders provides valuable insight on what to expect from an illness and its treatment -- and will help readers recognize symptoms, know when to seek help, and get the right care. Featured disorders include depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder, among others. The common language for diagnosing mental illness used in DSM-5® for mental health professionals has been adapted into clear, concise descriptions of disorders for nonexperts. In addition to specific symptoms for each disorder, readers will find: Risk factors and warning signs Related disorders Ways to cope Tips to promote mental health Personal stories Key points about the disorders and treatment options A special chapter dedicated to treatment essentials and ways to get help Helpful resources that include a glossary, list of medications and support groups