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Moreno-Peral P, Conejo-Cerón S, Rubio-Valera M, et al. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online September 06, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.2509 This systematic review of 29 studies showed that psychological and/or educational interventions had a small, but statistically significant benefit for anxiety prevention in all investigated populations.  Larger studies are needed to be certain of these effects and to identify the elements of anxiety prevention interventions that lead to the great...

Perepletchikova F, Nathanson D, Axelrod S, et al. JAACAP 2017; 56(10): 832-840. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.07.789 This is the first randomised controlled trial of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) for addressing Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD).  Children in the DBT group attended more sessions, experienced greater satisfaction and reported improvement in symptoms than those who received treatment as usual. Although replication of these results is needed, this...

Cooke, D., Priddis, L., Luyten, P., Kendall, G. and Cavanagh, R. Infant Ment. Health J. 2017; 38: 561–574. doi:10.1002/imhj.21664 This study of 120 sets of Australian parents is important because it is one of the few studies that examines both maternal and paternal ability.  The study showed that mothers and fathers had independent mentalising capacity and that the mentalising capacity of mothers was greater than that of fathers.  Paternal mentalising was more strongly associated with fam...

Copeland W, Goldston D, Costello EJ. JAACAP. Published online September 2017. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.08.015 This prospective study of over 1400 participants found that by 16 years of age 7% had reported some type of suicidal type behavior (STB) and 3.9% had reported a suicide attempt.  As adults, such reports were associated with higher levels of anxiety disorders and adult STB and poorer functioning across financial, health, legal and social domains.  Most of these eff...

van der Zee-van den Berg AI, et al. Pediatrics. 2017 Sep 07. This study of 3000 new mothers screened for postnatal depression ad 1,3 and 6 months post-delivery showed that significantly fewer mothers in the intervention group were depressed or anxious at 9 months compared with those who received care as usual. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/articles/28882876/

Gringras, Paul et al.  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, published online September 2017. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.09.414 Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience greater difficulties with sleep than other children and this can impact upon their behavior. This study of a prolonged release preparation of melatonin showed that the drug (PedPRM) was effective and safe for such children, whether they had associated ADHD or oth...

Wang Z, Whiteside SPH, Sim L, eta l. JAMA Pediatr. Published online August 31, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.3036 This review of medication and psychotherapy for treating childhood anxiety found that both types of treatment were effective and that the combination of these treatments was even more effective. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2650801?amp;utm_source=JAMA+PediatrPublishAheadofPrint&utm_campaign=31-08-2017

Fonagy P and Allison E. JCPP. 2017; 58(9): 985-987. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12805 This commentary by Peter Fonagy on the article in the same edition of this journal by Marchette and Weisz (also available on this website) extends the reflection regarding the benefit of evidence-based therapies and their effectiveness in clinical settings.  It encourages further research into understanding common factors underlying childhood mental health problems and factors that improve the effectiveness of exist...

Marchette LK and Weisz JR. JCPP. 2017; 58(9): 970-984. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12747 This review by John Wiesz and Lauren Marchette encourages a move away from traditional diagnosis-related treatment of childhood mental health problems to a more trans-diagnostic way of practice. Three specific approaches are suggested for future research and clinical practice: a core dysfunction approach, a common elements and modular design approach (like MATCH-ADTC), and a principle-guided approach. http://on...

Norris T, Collin SM, Tilling K, et al. Archives of Diseases of Childhood. 2017; 102(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2016-311198 Despite the pessimism some people feel regarding long-term outcomes for young people with chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis/ME), this paper from the authors of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (UK) proves that 75% of young people recover within 2-3 years. http://adc.bmj.com/content/102/6/522.long