Citation

Gleason MM. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2019; 58(3): 315-316.

Affiliation

Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA. Electronic address: mgleason@tulane.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1016/j.jaac.2018.12.007

PMID

30832903

Abstract

The field of psychopathology in young children has made substantial strides in the past 3 decades, moving from discussions of whether disorders can be reliably diagnosed to sophisticated analyses of specific symptoms. In this issue, Hennefield et al.¹ explore the presentation of suicidal ideations (SIs) in children younger than 7 years. The validity of criteria for major depression in this age group is well established, but suicidality is a newer focus of research that, like the disorder itself, requires careful study to identify developmental similarities with and differences from the presentation in older children and adults.² Prior reports have suggested that young children with psychiatric disorders talk about suicide at rates of 4% to 13% and that these early SIs predict school-age SI.^2-4 Publications about suicidality in children younger than 7 have predictably elicited discussions about the challenges in interpreting the statements and behaviors in a developmentally specific manner.⁴.

Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en