Interviewing Children and Adolescents: Skills and Strategies for Effective DSM-5 Diagnosis

by James Morrison MD, Kathryn Flegel MD

Overview

This instructive clinical resource has given thousands of clinicians and students essential skills for evaluating infants through adolescents with any type of mental health issue. Principles for conducting age-appropriate clinical interviews with children of varying ages and their parents—including the use of toys, drawing, dolls, and other forms of play—are illustrated with annotated sample transcripts. The book provides crucial information for accurately diagnosing a wide range of mental and behavioral disorders. User-friendly features include concise explanations of diagnostic criteria, coding notes, interview pointers for specific disorders, vivid vignettes, and a sample written report.

New to This Edition
*Current terminology, codes, and diagnostic criteria integrated throughout the case examples and disorder-specific discussions.
*Features both DSM-5 and ICD-10-CM codes.
*Essential Features—prototypes that encapsulate the symptoms and other diagnostic elements of each disorder.
*Reproducible tool (Questionnaire for Parents) that can be downloaded and printed for repeated use.
*Additional disorders and vignettes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462526932
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	09/02/2016
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	493
Product dimensions:	7.38(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.16(d)

About the Author

James Morrison, MD, is Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. His long career includes extensive experience in both the private and public sectors. With his acclaimed practical books—including DSM-5 Made Easy; Diagnosis Made Easier, Second Edition; The First Interview, Fourth Edition; and others—Dr. Morrison has guided hundreds of thousands of mental health professionals and students through the complexities of clinical evaluation and diagnosis.

Kathryn Flegel, MD, is Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Dr. Flegel was a primary care doctor for 16 years before becoming a psychiatrist. She completed her psychiatry residency and child psychiatry fellowship at OHSU and currently provides inpatient and outpatient care to children, adults, and families. Dr. Flegel is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. Interviewing Children and Adolescents
A Background for Evaluating Children and Adolescents
1. Interviewing Informants: The Basics
2. Structuring the First Interview with the Young Patient
3. An Introduction to Development
A Variety of Interviews with Children and Adolescents
4. The Infant/Toddler Interview
5. Play Interview with a 6-Year-Old Girl
6. Play Interview with a 7-Year-Old Boy
7. Interview with a 9-Year-Old Girl
8. The Adolescent Interview
9. The Parent–Child Initial Interview
10. The Written Report
II. DSM-5 Diagnoses Applicable to Children and Adolescents
11. Neurodevelopmental Disorders
12. Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
13. Mood Disorders
14. Anxiety Disorders
15. Obsessive–Compulsive and Related Disorders
16. Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
17. Dissociative Disorders
18. Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
19. Feeding and Eating Disorders
20. Elimination Disorders
21. Sleep–Wake Disorders
22. Gender Dysphoria
23. Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders
24. Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders
25. Cognitive Disorders
26. Personality Disorders
27. Other Diagnostic Issues
Appendices
Appendix 1. Reference Materials
Appendix 2. Outline of DSM-5 Diagnoses
Appendix 3. A Questionnaire for Parents

Interviews

Practitioners and students in clinical child/adolescent psychology, psychiatry, counseling, social work, and school psychology. Serves as a text in Child Assessment and Diagnosis courses.

Editorial Reviews

Morrison and Flegel…provide an updated and in-depth integration of developmentally appropriate interviewing of children and adolescents in order to reach DSM-5 diagnoses. In the second edition of their popular text, they retain their straightforward style….This text provides a quick reference guide for understanding psychiatric diagnoses of entering students. Case studies humanize the abstract categories and illustrate the process of differentiation.

NASP Communiqué

Morrison and Flegel’s text is a stellar addition to the newly minted child psychiatry fellow’s library….Its greatest assets are simplicity and clinical utility….In three easy-to-read chapters spanning only 70 pages, the authors provide a good introductory overview of the basics of interviewing a younger crowd. These three chapters in particular would make excellent reading prior to the start of fellowship, to give beginning fellows a manageable but meaty platform to hit the ground running with on July 1st….This book is an excellent resource, especially for the new fellow learning the basics, and for those of us still struggling with the tedium of DSM-5 diagnostic coding. I have found no better guide that accomplishes both of these tasks in one book without putting the reader to sleep. If I were to do fellowship again, I would definitely wish to have a copy of this book.

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

"This book…is very comprehensive and takes a thorough walk through the many diagnostic categories that apply to children and adolescents….This book can be a useful addition to any child and adolescent psychology or social work graduate program. It can also be used in any psychiatric residency program with a specialty or fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatric medicine.

Child and Family Behavior Therapy

"This extremely accessible text is designed to help beginning clinicians enter the daunting world of child and adolescent mental health interviewing and assessment. Two seasoned psychiatrists share their considerable experience with various types of interviewing approaches, multiple levels of child development, and the practical use of DSM-5. Their clear, jargon-free prose includes actual clinical interviews that bring the material vividly to life."—Gregory K. Fritz, MD, Professor and Director, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University 

"This important second edition effectively places the art and science of child and adolescent clinical interviewing within the context of DSM-5. The case examples and interviewing scripts make it a valuable aid for clinicians working with a diverse array of childhood mental health conditions. I encourage all child clinical, counseling, and school psychologists to consider adding this second edition to their libraries. The reproducible parent questionnaire, which gathers key biopsychosocial information pertaining to past and present functioning, will be especially helpful for diagnostic decision making and treatment planning.”—John S. Carlson, PhD, NCSP, Director, Doctoral Program in School Psychology, Michigan State University

"An excellent resource for both the experienced clinician and beginning graduate student. The integration of DSM-5 criteria with child and adolescent development make this a one-of-a-kind book. It would make a wonderful text for any course in child assessment and diagnosis, given its well-organized content, developmental focus, and applicable (and interesting) case examples. I loved the first edition and referred to it frequently—the second edition is even better. Every clinician who evaluates or treats children should have a copy of this book on his or her shelf."—Ellen Braaten, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

"This thorough, up-to-date book is sensitive to the unique challenges of engaging children and adolescents in meaningful dialogue about their lives. The inclusion of both age- and diagnosis-based frameworks for interviews is a helpful feature. The case examples serve to demonstrate the recommended practices with a variety of presenting problems, and appendices offer additional useful resources for clinicians. This book is a valuable tool for psychologists and other professionals working with children and adolescents, as well as for students."—Rachel Brown-Chidsey, PhD, Educational and School Psychology Program, University of Southern Maine 

"This book is full of concrete examples of how practitioners organize their thoughts and devise their questions as they get to know a child and family. The reader sees how each piece of information that emerges from a diagnostic interview is like a puzzle piece that, with time, allows the evaluator to develop a picture of what is happening in the child’s life right now. The section on specific diagnoses organizes case vignettes into clear diagnostic thinking. The authors write with warmth, humor, and the optimistic belief that difficult behavioral and mental health problems can be understood and treated."—Judith Warner, author of We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Rekha Bandla, DO (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: The skills necessary to interview children are different than those needed to interview adults. This update of a book on interviewing children reflects DSM-5 diagnoses.
Purpose: The main purpose is to present methods of interviewing children and adolescents and potential diagnoses that may come out of an interview. There is a special emphasis on interviewing techniques for children under the age of 12. The authors provide both interviewing techniques and diagnostic information as they feel that these two aspects are best presented together.
Audience: The book is appropriate for clinicians who may need to provide a psychiatric diagnosis for a child. It is potentially helpful for those in a variety of different mental health disciplines as well as for primary care clinicians who work with children.
Features: In the first of the book's two sections, the authors aim to provide techniques that enable two-way communication and the ability to elicit information necessary to make a diagnosis. The authors present a variety of different methods, depending on a child's developmental stage. The second section focuses on essential features of the DSM-5 that apply to children and adolescents. Each section also has a vignette, description of essential features of the diagnosis, and differential diagnoses. Other helpful features of the book are a list of abbreviations, three appendixes with references separated by diagnosis, a table with diagnoses and the age at which each is typically found, and a questionnaire to provide patients and their families.
Assessment: This is a helpful tool for clinicians, describing how to tailor interviews to different ages and how children may present with various disorders based on their developmental level. Since each section also discusses DSM-5 criteria, it is also a helpful review of criteria.

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