Journal Article

Thinking the future of child and adolescent psychiatry: what are we talking about?

Falissard, Bruno

2018

Overview

It is surprising to see to what extent the term mental health is used on a daily basis by politicians or the media in most countries of the world, while the word psychiatry is gradually being banned. This seems particularly true in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry: while one in three humans is a child or adolescent and psychiatric disorders are at the forefront in this age group, investments in child psychiatry are notoriously massively insufficient. Certainly, there has always been a reluctance to use the word psychiatry. Since psychiatry has existed, there has even been an antipsychiatry, particularly active with regard to children and adolescents. Thus, it is not uncommon to hear that children cannot have psychiatric problems, the latter being the prerogative of adults, prey to existential doubts or overwhelming responsibilities. Others will argue that it is psychiatrists who invent diseases such as ADHD or child depression. Some, finally, will consider that if children can indeed experience psychological distress, it is up to their families, especially their mothers, to take care of this, medicine and psychiatry having nothing to do with it. However, antipsychiatry does not explain alone the striking discrepancy between the pervasive discourse on young people’s mental health and the obvious lack of efforts to develop a satisfying child and adolescent psychiatry health-care system. To overcome such a paradoxical and dramatic situation, it is important to try to understand why.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adolescents / Adults / Age groups / Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / Child & adolescent psychiatry / Children / Disorders / Health services / Medicine / Mental disorders / Mental health / Psychiatrists / Psychiatry / Psychological distress / Youth