Practitioner S Guide To Psychoactive Drugs For Children And Adolescents

Incorporating the latest developments in pharmacology and therapy, this fully revised Second Edition is an ideal quick reference for those who prescribe psychotrophic drugs for young people. New and notable features include: discussions of new drugs and health supplements; revised diagnostic terminology that accords with current DSM-IV nomenclature; reports on anti-epileptic medications; guidelines for the appropriate use of psychoactive medications; and instruction on the monitoring of physical, behavioral, and cognitive effects of various drugs. The handy spiral format makes the book easy to use.

information. This book aims to do this for practitioners, professionals in health, welfare, and education, and interested laypersons, including parents. This is no easy task, since the levels of technical knowledge vary from that of the special education teacher seeking information about the drugs that many such pupils will be receiving, to that of the modern young child and adolescent psychiatrist whose grasp of the difficult fields of pharmacokinetics (how drugs are absorbed, distributed, and eliminated) and neurotransmitter physiology (via which most psychoactive drugs work) is daunting to the editors, who grew up in the bucolic clinical-empirical era. Inevitably there are sections of the book that will prove too technical for any except the medically qualified, but considerable effort has been applied to make much of the text, especially that discussing the clinical uses and side effects of the drugs, comprehensible to anyone used to getting information by reading. We also take comfort in the fact that many of the major contributions in pediatric psychophar macology have been made by nonmedical professionals, notably psychologists, suggesting that an audience beyond the medically qualified is practicable. One other problem confronted us-whether to organize the book by psycho pathological symptoms (e.g., hyperactivity) and disorders (e.g., autism) or by drugs.

This book offers a comprehensive survey of the current state of knowledge in the field of neuro-psychopharmacology in childhood and adolescence. In the first part, the essentials of neuro-psychopharmacology are presented in order to provide a deeper understanding of the principles and particularities in the pharmacotherapy of children and adolescents. This part includes information on neurotransmitters and signal transduction pathways, molecular brain structures as targets for psychiatric drugs, characteristics of psychopharmacological therapy in children and adolescents, ontogenetic influences on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and pharmacotherapy in the outpatient setting. The part on classes of psychiatric medications, which covers antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics and sedative-hypnotics, mood stabilizers, and psychostimulants and other drugs used in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, provides sufficient background material to better understand how psychoactive drugs work, and why, when, and for whom they should be used. For each drug within a class, information on its mechanisms of action, clinical pharmacology, indications, dosages, and cognate issues are reviewed. In the third part, the disorder-specific and symptom-oriented medication is described and discerningly evaluated from a practical point of view, providing physicians with precise instructions on how to proceed. Psychiatric Drugs in Children and Adolescents includes numerous tables, figures and illustrations and offers a valuable reference work for child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychotherapists, pediatricians, general practitioners, psychologists, and nursing staff, as well as teachers.

This is a quick-reference guide for psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, and other practitioners about each group of medications. This guide, which discusses the use of psychiatric drugs in patients under 18, accompanies the author team's complete book "Textbook of Pharmacotherapy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders".; Clinical indications, dosage guidelines, side-effects, common drug interactions and most tables are retained and updated in this guide. the guide provides the reader with the practical guidelines to safely and effectively prescribe medication.

The second edition of the formerly titled Just Say Know: A Counsellor’s Guide to Psychoactive Drugs, this indispensable counselling resource provides a practical understanding of psychoactive drug pharmacology and physiology. Rick Csiernik unpacks the risks and therapeutic applications of the most commonly used and misused drug families, including depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and psychotherapeutics. This new edition features a wide range of updated research and content addressing the recent rise of opioid, fentanyl, cannabis, novel psychoactive substances, and antipsychotic medication use, as well as the impacts of drug use on sleep and mental health. Two new appendixes are featured summarizing the effects of drugs on pregnancy and interactions drugs may have with certain brain chemicals. The Essential Guide to Psychoactive Drugs in Canada is the perfect addition to any addiction or mental health-related course. User-friendly and highly readable, this resource serves as a guide for service providers to deliver evidence-based care. This text is crucial for counsellors, therapists, instructors, and students looking to acquire an in-depth practical understanding of drug use, medication, and addiction in disciplines such as social work, sociology, pharmacology, health studies, nursing, psychology, and addiction studies.

The fourth edition of this enormously popular book, "highly recommended" by "JAMA", reaffirms its position as the most comprehensive and practical reference in its field. This updated, spiral-bound volume provides immediately useful information for prescribing and administering psychoactive drugs, with important information and highlighted in boxes.