Articles containing: mental health

Navigating Special Education in Schools Part 2: Working with the Team and Your Child

This is the first blog post in a two-part series on navigating special education in schools. The focus of this first post is on general legal and practical tips for parents. The second post focuses on working with the IEP and your child.

A Letter to Those Struggling: Surviving a Severe Eating Disorder

Note: The following person’s account of his/her personal experience has been published with his/her consent to support the mission of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, and let others in similar situations not feel so alone.

“Walking in Another Character’s Armored Boots”: How Role-playing and Therapy Intertwine

Role-play is one of the most basic ways we learn about how to interact with other people, our identity, the world we’re in, and our place in it. It’s something we almost universally do as children and frequently continue as adults.

The Youth Mental Health Epidemic: What Parents and Caregivers Can Do

In April 2024, I wrote an editorial in Academic Psychiatry with my colleagues indicating that the leadership of our field had fallen short in satisfying our moral, ethical and professional standards to promote efforts to address the mental health epidemic among our youth.

Mental Health Myths: BUSTED

Mental health myths can increase stigma and prevent parents and caring adults from taking important actions to support children and teens, even when the best intentions are there. Below, child and adolescent psychiatrists Gene Beresin, MD, MA and Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH share the truth about about nine common mental health myths.

Media Literacy and Mental Health, featuring Common Sense Media – Shrinking It Down

Today’s young people are spending more time online than previous generations, and many parents and caregivers worry about how social media is affecting their mental health, and emotional and social well-being. Strengthening social media literacy skills can help us all better use media as engaged and informed consumers.

Talking About ADHD

It’s normal to be distracted or disorganized from time to time. But some kids have more trouble paying attention and staying on track than their peers. In this Parent Strategy Announcement (PSA), Dr. Gene Beresin and Dr. Ellen Braaten talk about ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Adolescent Depression – Shrinking It Down

It’s not always easy to tell whether a teen’s behavior is typical for their age or a sign of depression. In this Parent Strategy Announcement (PSA), Dr. Gene Beresin and Dr. Steven Schlozman explain how parents can assess their child’s behavior, and what to do if they’re concerned.

How to Understand Your Child’s “Anxiety Monster”

As a child psychiatrist who’s seen patients in many different settings, including doing psychotherapy and managing medications, I’ve found that talking about anxiety with kids and adults alike is hard to do in a way that helps them understand what anxiety is, while preparing and motivating them for what can be a difficult treatment journey.

Medications: For Better or Worse? featuring Timothy Wilens, MD – Shrinking It Down

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Shrinking It Down.”

Many parents of kids struggling with a mental health issue have concerns – even fears – about medication as a part of treatment. Will it help? Will it hurt? What are the side effects? Today, Dr.