This booklet is concerned with the area of clinical depression. Questions about clinical depression are briefly answered in an overview section and are examined in greater detail in the five chapters that follow. In chapter 1, depression is defined and various types of depression are identified. The origins of depression are explored in the second…

The author discusses the question of whether problems during infancy associated with organic impairment are substantially different from those related to social-emotional deprivation. Five factors which have a significant impact for both organically impaired and environmentally deprivated infants are addressed: prenatal intensive care, very early…

The article reviews the literature on anorexia nervosa, with or without bulimia, and presents a comprehensive picture of this eating disorder, focusing on terminology, historical references, prevalence, prognosis, classification, diagnostic criteria, physical and psychological characteristics, evolution of the disability, etiology, treatment, and…

Describes a model for the synthesis of syndromal diagnosis and child behavioral assessment, and reviews the possible impact of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (KH)

This fact sheet uses a question-and-answer format to summarize what is known about Reye's Syndrome, a disease probably caused by ingestion of salicylate, which affects all organs of the body but especially the liver and brain, often resulting in neurological abnormalities and mental retardation. The following topics on the subject are covered:…

The current intervention trend for many of the mental health and behavioral problems faced by today's youth is an integrative approach that involves the community, families, and schools. Clinical assessment for serious mental health and behavioral problems can be an important component in the development of school-based screening programs. The…

Discussed problems and deficiencies in past research on clinical diagnosis, pertaining to sampling problems with regard to clinical subjects studied, adequacy of control groups, base rates, clinical versus statistical significance, lack of cross-validation, and problems due to reliance on inadequate schemes of classification. Future research is…

A state-of-the-art review of childhood hyperactivity, conclusions from empirical findings, and implications for clinical work are presented. Diagnosis and etiology of hyperactivity are explored with emphasis on the multivariate aspects of the disorder and the difficulty of specifying behavior which is by definition unpredictable. (PHR)

The current status of the early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment program in the United States is reviewed. (JD)

Describes the evolution of cultural sensitivity in the third and fourth editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Discusses five improvements in the DSM-IV: (1) descriptions of specific cultural features; (2) glossary of culture-bound syndromes; (3) outline of cultural formulation; (4) broader definition of Axis…

Discusses developmental apraxia of speech (DAS), a putative diagnostic category for children whose speech errors differ from errors of children with developmental speech delay and resemble errors of adults with acquired apraxia of speech. A study of 148 children with language impairments investigated the diagnosis of DAS. (Author/CR)

A strength-based externalization intervention is described that can be used with clients in establishing counseling objectives and goals. The intervention can be useful in encouraging discrimination between DSM diagnostic labels and the client and his or her strengths, developing strength-based counseling goals, and increasing client empowerment.…

Studies on the use of the Dexamethasone Suppression Test to detect depression are described, with special emphasis on use of the test with children, demented elderly persons, and mentally retarded persons. (Author/JDD)

This review of the literature on laterality research concludes that, despite advances in the classification accuracy of laterality methods, definitive conclusions about hemispheric specialization in individual cases of dyslexic children cannot be drawn. Event-related measurements of cerebral metabolism promise to complement but not replace…

This nontechnical review of the literature on Rett Syndrome, a developmental disability found only in females, examines the syndrome's history, diagnostic criteria, clinical stages, incidence, differential diagnosis, etiology, genetics, treatment approaches, and prognosis. (Author/DB)