The American Psychiatric Association is primarily a professional organization of psychiatrists working together to ensure humane care and effective treatment for all persons with mental illness, including substance use disorders.
As a service to the community, the American Psychiatric Association website offers accessible content that was designed for a general audience, patients, and their families.
A new game developed by Carnegie Mellon University students is helping elementary schoolers understand what life is like for kids on the autism spectrum.
Created by the university’s Entertainment Technology Center, Prism uses its animal characters as allegories for the challenges those with autism face. Read more ›
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) was previously referred to as “Selective Eating Disorder.” ARFID is similar to anorexia in that both disorders involve limitations in the amount and/or types of food consumed, but unlike anorexia, ARFID does not involve body image issues.
A person with ARFID is not merely a “picky eater,” but rather, does not consume enough calories to grow and develop properly. In children, this results in malnutrition, low weight gain, and restricted growth. Read more ›
Mental health among autistic individuals is an underdeveloped area of research—a situation that many autistic people are advocating to change. This is especially crucial since rates of depression and thoughts of suicide are higher among autistic people than in the general population. Read more ›
Sarah Greichen came up with the idea for Score A Friend at age 13 when she wanted her twin brother, who has an autism spectrum disorder, to have the same opportunities she enjoyed as a teenager in school. She began a mission to ensure her brother – and students of all abilities – could build friendships and experience authentic inclusion at school and in communities. Read more ›
There are numerous examples of people with learning disabilities and mental health disorders doing extraordinary things: the child on the autism spectrum who is masterful at putting together incredibly intricate Lego creations, the young person with Asperger’s syndrome who knows more about presidential history than most adults, the child with dyslexia who is a master chef in the kitchen.
This is not a coincidence, according to a book that could help turn the stigma associated with these challenges on its head.
Dr. Dennis P. Wall of the Wall Lab at Stanford University discusses current autism-related research projects (such as Autism and the Microbiome) and novel wearable technology that helps children recognize emotions. Read more ›
Interventions shown to be highly effective in treating symptoms of autism are already limited, but the options shrink even further in the presence of anxiety comorbidities, particularly obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Research has been focused not only on identifying a specific anxiety disorder in children and adolescents with autism, but also in distinguishing between the symptoms of each disorder and how to treat each disorder. Read more ›
