DSM V Update

• Not Diseases, But Categories of Suffering
Written to give physicians a way to recognize similarities and differences among their patients and to talk to one another about them, it now drives insurance coverage and, ultimately, access to care.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

• New DSM V Category
It is really describing a mutually regulating or dysregulating relationship between parent and child.

Hostile Email

• Responding to Hostile Email
Make your divorce hate-mail free.

Babies' Emotions

• Infant Psychology

Human beings are born with brains attuned to the rhythms and emotions and movements of other people, and brain development is shaped by the way that those other people treat them.

FASD Impacts Us All

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
It's common, costly, and disproportionately represented in the majority of children caught up in the justice system.

Collaborative Law

• Contemplating Legal Action?
Consider a child-centered collaborative law approach to divorce.

Ketamine Relieves Depression

• Relieves Depression by Restoring Brain Connections
It's the best new research lead since the 1970s.

Immune Disorder at Root of Autism

• A Type of Inflammatory Disease in The Womb
 Fix the maternal dysregulation, and you’ve most likely prevented autism.

What's Wrong With My Child?

• Wrong Question
Dr. Claudia Gold says don't ask “what is the disorder?” but rather, “what is the experience of this particular child and family and what can we do to move things in a better direction?”

The Misidentified Child

• Family Conflict

The "identified patient" in a larger family dynamic is too often a child, medicated for his behavior symptoms.

Psychotropic Drug Rx

• American Psychological Assoc. states more research needed
The short- and long-term effects psychotropic medications have on children's physical growth, brain development, behavior, mood and cognitive functioning are unknown.

Fewer Two-Parent Families

•The Rise of New Families
Decades of demographic, economic and social change have transformed the structure and composition of the American family.

More Than Two Legal Parents

• Bill moving through the California Legislature
Legislation would allow judges to recognize more than two legal parents for a given child, opening the door for legal recognition of alternative family configurations.

Regulatory Sensory Processing Disorder

• Children with Developmental and Behavioral Disorders

"...as we learn more about the genetics and neuroscience of mental illness, we will find that the sensory processing issue is primary, and we simply organize the range of symptoms that may result from this problem into categories, in the form of diagnoses such as autism, OCD, anxiety and depression. These may in fact all be regulatory sensory processing disorders."

Legislating Custody

• Gov. Dayton Vetoes HF322 Bill
Resoundingly opposed by the MN Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the AFCC-MN, read why here. The 'who' behind this vetoed bill is outlined here.

Children & Divorce

• American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry's Recommendations 
With care and attention children can be helped to deal constructively with the resolution of parental conflict.

Guardian ad Litem

• Training for GALs
It's a fast way to get over your problems: focusing on those with far more (problems).

Traumatic Experiences in Early Life

• Childhood Violence Leaves Genetic Scars

"Children who experience physical violence appear to be aging at a faster rate," says neuroscientist and co-author Avshalom Caspi. The result may be increased risk of disease in adulthood and shortened lifespan.

Animal Therapy

• Horses and Dogs
Thoughtful discussion here of the NYTimes article Wonder Dog and the wonderful documentary about Buck Brannaman. For local therapeutic horse riding visit the amazing non-profit, volunteer organization We Can Ride.

Children Illustrate Divorce

• Kids' Art Gallery
In pictures and postcards children express how they experience divorce. Submissions can be sent here.

Prescribing Anti-depressants in Childhood

• Claudia Gold, MD discusses the price paid: long-term sexual dysfunction.

SSRI Treatment of Depression

• The Emperor's New Drugs
Irving Kirsch, PhD, analyzed 15 years of efficacy data for the top anti-depressant drugs on the market (including the studies used to gain FDA approval) and found... a placebo effect.

Talk Therapy

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – The Essential Guide
Everything you need to know explained in a book that makes sense, by psychologist Dr. Sara Pasco.

Free Dental Care

• Annual "Give Kids A Smile" Day

Hosted by the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, children ages 18 and younger will receive any dental care they may require completely free of charge. This includes teeth cleanings, diagnostic x rays, cavity detection, fillings, sealants, fluoride treatment and more. The event is one day only: Saturday, Feb 4th from 8am - 1:30pm at 515 Delaware St. SE Minneapolis. Call 612-625-1669 to make an appointment.

Bi-Polar Disorder

• Are Troubled Children Bipolar? 

This recent Strib article explores the issue. According Libby Bergman, a therapist with the Family Enhancement Center in Minneapolis: "I don't think we have any idea what those types of psychotropic medications can do to the developing brain."

Strollers & Brain Development

• Implications of stroller design for children’s emotional development
This video gives an edited version of the presentation academician Suzanne Zeedyk gave about how buggy manufacturers are taking account of neuroscientific insights.