Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.13660 In this Papers Podcast, Associate Professor Magnus Nordmo discusses his co-authored JCPP Advances paper ‘The diminishing association between adolescent mental disorders and educational performance from 2006–2019’. There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice. Learning Objectives 1. If mental health difficulties have increased over time in the child and adolescent population and how different forms of symptom measurement can impact the types of trends we see. 2. What educational performance, independent of mental health conditions, has looked like in the last decade, with a particular focus on Norway. 3. Insight into the hypothesis that increases in mental health difficulties might be driven by pressure to do well educationally. 4. The mental health conditions explored in the paper and what indicators were used, as well as the indicators used for educational performance. 5. The ‘Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis’ (Lucy Foulkes) and how this applies to the findings from this paper. 6. The relationship between mental health disorders and educational performance at the extreme ends of educational performance. 7. The implications for how we view the narrative around increases in adolescent mental health disorders based on the findings and the ‘Paradox of Health’.

 Watch the video at https://acamhlearn.org/Learning/Inside_the_Teen_Brain_-_Just_be_Yourself/1cda6d0f-b326-4e89-bd94-55fbfaf0654f Description In this episode, Inside the Teen Brain: Just Be Yourself, Professor Deborah Christie joins Dr. Jane Gilmour to discuss the complexities of identity formation during adolescence. Professor Christie explores how creative therapeutic approaches, such as metaphors and frameworks, can provide adolescents with a safe space to reflect on their strengths, abilities, and aspirations. The conversation highlights the significant role of peers, family, and supportive networks in shaping a young person’s sense of self. Professor Christie also emphasizes the importance of fostering environments where adolescents can explore their evolving identities in a positive and empowering way. Drawing on her extensive experience, she shares practical insights for professionals to help young people navigate this pivotal developmental stage.  Learning Objectives  1. To understand the key challenges adolescents face in forming their identity.  2. To explore how creative therapeutic techniques can empower young people to reflect on their strengths and aspirations.  3. To recognize the role of peers, family, and supportive networks in shaping adolescent identity. 

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.13594 In this Papers Podcast, Professor Jennifer Hudson and Lizél-Antoinette Bertie discuss their co-authored JCPP Editorial Perspective ‘Extending IPDMA methodology to drive treatment personalisation in child mental health’. There is an overview of the paper, key findings, and implications for practice. Learning Objectives 1. Define and summarise how Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis (IPDMA) works. 2. The limitations of randomised control trials, systematic reviews and conventional meta-analyses in terms of answering research questions about what works for an individual. 3. Why the study focused on anxiety disorders in the context of youth. 4. Messages that researchers should take from this Editorial Perspective. 5. How the researchers envisage the approach outlined in the paper moving the field towards evidence-based personalised mental health care and how this can be translated into practice. 6. Insight into PADDY (the Platform for Anxiety Disorder Data in Youth) and the need for, and importance of, the formation of a topic-based data repository. 7. The ethical risks and logistical challenges of the formulation of a data repository and how such challenges can be met.

With our children being our future and our long-term societal wellbeing depending on them, Professor Kate Pickett and Professor Richard Wilkinson provide insight into their recent CAMH journal Editorial ‘Socio-economic inequality and child and adolescent mental health’. Richard and Kate are co-authors of the bestselling and award winning The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018).  Described by Penguin as ‘the most influential and talked-about book on society in the last decade’, The Spirit Level won the 2010 Bristol Festival of Ideas Book Prize and was the 2012 Publication of the Year of the Political Studies Association. The New Statesman listed it in the Top Ten Books of the Decade, and the Guardian among the 100 most influential books of the century. Learning Objectives 1. The relationship between socio-economic inequality and child and adolescent mental health. 2. What causes the lack of good data in low-and-middle income data. 3. The pathways and mechanisms through which socio-economic inequality affects child and adolescent mental health. 4. The three ways in which inequality effects mental health. 5. The framework for how socio-economic inequalities between societies interacts with socio-economic positions within societies. 6. Issues of causality. 7. What can be done to mitigate the impact of income inequality on child and adolescent mental health. 8. Current gaps in the literature that would be fruitful to address.