Autistic disorder, an extremely disabling syndrome with onset in early childhood, is associated with multiple comorbid conditions. Although autistic disorder is heterogeneous in its manifestations, there is a subgroup of individuals with autistic disorder who display movements that appear to be unique for the disorders. Hand flapping and a variety of movements termed stereotypies may be pathogn...

IMPORTANCE Valproate is used for the treatment of epilepsy and other neuropsychological disorders and may be the only treatment option for women of childbearing potential. However, prenatal exposure to valproate may increase the risk of autism. OBJECTIVE To determine whether prenatal exposure to valproate is associated with an increased risk of autism in offspring. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PART...

A behavioural syndrome of childhood characterised by overactivity, excitability, and explosive behaviour has been recognised since the turn of the last century and is now thought to be, at certain ages, the most common disorder of childhood. The disorder is now recognised in the terminology of ICD-10 as ‘‘hyperkinetic disorder’’, and in DSM-IV as ‘‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’’ (AD...

BACKGROUND Childhood interpersonal violence is a major risk factor for developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), other axis-I disorders or Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and childhood physical abuse (CPA) who meet the criteria of any axis-I disorder usually also exhibit general psychopathologic symptoms and impairments in...

BACKGROUND Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is recognised as a common, disabling condition. Little information is available regarding the long-term outcomes for individuals with ADHD in the UK. AIMS To examine the 5-year outcome for a UK cohort of children with diagnosed, treated ADHD and identify whether maternal and social factors predict key outcomes. METHOD One hundred an...

Relations between adult anxiety and mood disorders and retrospective reports of excessive childhood shyness were investigated in the US National Comorbidity, Survey (n=5877). Results indicated that 26% of women and 19% of men described themselves as 'very shy' when they were growing up. Of these shy individuals, 53% of women and 40% of men met criteria for a lifetime diagnosis of one or more an...

BACKGROUND There has been increasing interest in the association between childhood trauma and psychosis. Proposals for potential mechanisms involved include affective dysregulation and cognitive appraisals of threat. AIMS To establish if, within bipolar disorder, childhood events show a significant association with psychosis, and in particular with symptoms driven by dysregulation of mood or ...

Antisocial behaviors (e.g., aggression toward people and animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness, theft, and serious rule violations) and related mental disorders (i.e., conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder) during childhood predict alcohol use disorders (AUDs) during adolescence. This sequence of disorders may reflect developmentally specific forms of deficits in the abil...

Childhood abuse and neglect is a serious problem in the United States; each year, over three million children are reported abused and/or neglected. One million of these reports are substantiated; however, more than half of the confirmed cases are closed on the day of substantiation. Research has shown that a range of psychiatric symptoms and disorders in childand adulthood are associated with e...

The present study investigated trajectories of Callous Unemotional (CU) traits in youth with Disruptive Behavior Disorder diagnosis followed-up from childhood to adolescence, to explore possible predictors of these trajectories, and to individuate adolescent clinical outcomes. A sample of 59 Italian referred children with Disruptive Behavior Disorder (53 boys and 6 girls, 21 with Conduct Disord...