IACAPAP would like to welcome the Kuwait Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (KACAMH) as a full member. With their membership,  IACAPAP now has as members 57 national organisations, 6 other organisations and 7 individuals.

In line with IACAPAP’s passion to continue to shape the landscape for CAMH through the provision of free access to information for better practices, IACAPAP is extremely pleased to announce that from February 2013, the official Journal of IACAPAP is Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health (CAPMH, www.capmh.com). A partnership that was first proposed in 2006 has now crystallised.

One unique benefit of this arrangement is to authors in developing regions. Not only will CAMH professionals in all parts of the world read our work in this first-rate journal but authors in resource-poor regions will have an excellent opportunity to get their work published as CAPMH offers waivers to authors from developing countries. “The developed world has much to give and receive from working with partners from the developing world. If each child mental health service in the developed world established a partnership with a similar organization in the developing world much would be gained on both sides from this process. These links would provide training and educational support to the developing world. Simultaneously, professionals and the community could work together to develop child mental health services in the developing world, using creativity and innovation. Who is to say that these same innovations cannot be applied in the developed world? This relationship would also provide reality checks, especially for those working in better resourced areas, and may question whether resources are really the issue” (Dogra & Omigbodun, 2005).

An exert from Bulletin 34, February 2013

The 34th Bulletin is now available.

Upcoming conferences that are of interest to our members are now being listed on the Links Page.

In relation to the Newtown massacre, IACAPAP wants to bring your attention to a recently released article entitled “Adolescents expressing school massacre threats online: something to be extremely worried about?” written by Nina L, Atte O, Eila S, Riittakerttu K, that appeard in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2012, 6:39 (15 December 2012).

Background
Peer groups identified through the Internet have played an important role in facilitating school shootings. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the adolescents who had expressed a school massacre threat online differed from those who had expressed one offline.

Methods
A nationwide explorative study was conducted on a group of 77 13- to 18-year-old adolescents sent for adolescent psychiatric evaluation between November 2007 and June 2009 by their general practitioners because they had threatened to carry out a school massacre. According to the referrals and medical files, 17 adolescents expressed the threat online and 60 did so offline.

Results
The adolescents who expressed their threats online were more likely to be bullied and depressed, had more often pronounced the threat with clear intention and had more often made preparations to carry out the act. In contrast, the adolescents who expressed their threats offline were more likely to have problems with impulse control and had showed delinquent behavior prior to the massacre threats.

Conclusions
The Finnish adolescents who expressed their massacre threats online could be considered a riskier group than the group who expressed the threats offline. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to elucidate this important topic.

The tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, USA (the shooting death of 26 individuals including 20 very young children) is not just a tragedy for this community and the families of these children but a powerful reminder of the fragility of life and our responsibilities as individuals, communities and professionals to seek ways to protect life.  Our thoughts are with the families and children, and the community.

As child mental health professionals, we have special responsibilities to those who are affected by such tragedies through the provision of support.  We have a broader responsibility to speak up for our concerns as to how to avoid such tragedies.  The difficulty of seeking help and obtaining help by those who are mentally ill remains a challenge too often ignored.  The perpetrator in this and other similar cases is reported to have had a mental illness even though a very good student.  We also need as professionals to speak up about the dire consequences of access to lethal weapons.  In this case it was the perpetrator’s mother who owned the guns used in this shooting.  IACAPAP and its affiliated associations are all too aware of the violence affecting the world and we must try to add our expertise and advocacy wherever possible.  We stand ready to partner with others in this quest.

IACAPAP has developed a statement and a declaration that speak about the approaches to dealing with natural and man-made disasters.  The shootings in Connecticut are a disaster reminiscent of the worst disasters seen around the world where innocent lives are taken by violence.

Our sympathies go to all those involved and our commitment to action to address the inadequacies in care, legislation and advocacy is reinforced.

IACAPAP’s statement and declaration about approaches to dealing with natural and man-made disasters can be found at:

• Declaration of Rome 2003: Caring for Children Affected by Maltreatment, War, Terrorism, and Disaster

• 2005: Statement on responses to natural disasters

 

IACAPAP’s Autism Declaration (2012) was released October 9, 2012.

“Autism Spectrum Disorders (hereafter termed ‘autism’) are the most serious child psychiatric disorders…. IACAPAP asserts the importance to nations of well-funded, high quality, ethically delivered education and treatment for individuals with autism and PDD, and to all children and adolescents with serious psychiatric and developmental disorders.”

 

The 33rd Bulletin is now available.

The 32nd IACAPAP Bulletin is now available.

In addition to the innovative electronic textbook on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH), ‘The IACAPAP Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health’, available free of charge and downloadable here, two other outstanding IACAPAP publications were launched at the Paris Congress.

In tune with the theme of the 20th IACAPAP Congress, the book for the Congress ‘Brain, Mind and Developmental Psychopathology in Childhood’ edited by Elena Garralda and Jean-Philippe Raynaud and the book ‘75 Years with IACAPAP, The History of IACAPAP’, by Kari Schleimer were launched.

Brain, Mind and Developmental Psychopathology in Childhood, Edited by Elena Garralda and Jean-Philippe Raynaud

“This fine book provides a wide-ranging and humane survey of the current issues in child and adolescent mental health, and is recommended to all professionals in the area.” – Eric Taylor, King’s College London

“In Brain, Mind, and Developmental Psychopathology in Childhood, a number of the most distinguished international researchers in their areas share current ideas about and future perspectives on how to understand the biological and psychosocial background for psychopathologic conditions in developing children. It underscores the need for both a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. The book considers the future of the field, including topics such as a hope for a more detailed knowledge of how the brain works, similarities and differences between the female and the male brain, and how the genes interact with the environment when the brain is shaped during fetal life and during the long period of brain maturation in the first 25 years of life. An excellent book-highly recommended.” – Per-Anders Rydelius, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

The book is available through Rowman Littlefield Publishing.

75 Years with IACAPAP, The History of IACAPAP by Kari Schleimer MD, PhD

This book, with many illustrations, describes the history of the association from its foundation and early times highlighting the many people who contributed to the development of IACAPAP, the congresses, publications, teaching activities and much more. To obtain a copy (20 €) email Kari Schleimer at kari.schleimer@comhem.es.