What should people expect when
they see a child and adolescent
psychiatrist?
There’s a certain stigma associated with psychiatry.
People tend to have a lot of pre-conceived ideas
of what seeing a psychiatrist means. For example,
parents are not going to bring their child in and all
of a sudden lose any autonomy they have, and their
child isn’t predetermined to end up on medications.
People should know this is just like any other
medical evaluation process.
What’s the age range for the children
you evaluate?
Do you have a standard way of
making patients feel at ease and
starting the conversation?
It’s my job to make the family and child feel as
comfortable as they can so they can relay their story
in as holistic a way as possible. We try to get to
know the child and the family. Depending on the
age of the kid, that decides how I might proceed.
The younger the child, the more time I’ll likely
spend with the parents to get most of the
information. Then I’ll spend some time with the
child, interacting and seeing what my observations
are there. With a teenager, you might give them
more independent time than the younger kids,
but I’ll still get information from the parents or
guardians as well.
There’s no cut off for how young but most child
psychiatrists won’t see a child in need until they’re
three or four at the youngest. Those are kids with
severe developmental issues or perhaps a genetic
disorder that’s affecting their safety. Seeing kids
who are school age is more common.
On the other end of the spectrum, psychiatrists are
dually boarded, so we don’t have to let kids go at
18. Most of the time we do, because we have new
patients coming in. But, I have some patients who
I’ve seen up through college and their adult years.
I also do some sport psychiatry as the consulting
psychiatrist with the UofL athletic department. I
like helping out younger adults in that capacity.
VITAL SIGNS Volume 12 • Issue 3
How do you approach the parents of
a young child when you first sit down
with them?
My spiel is this: ‘You guys are obviously here for
concerns you have. The best way I can be helpful is
for you to be as open and honest as you can. Leave
your guilt or shame outside. This is a safe zone.
Everything stays in here outside of safety concerns.’
I’m looking to make the parents as comfortable as
possible.
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