Mental and Physical Conditions Encountered in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice, 2007 Edition

" Mental and Physical Conditions Encountered in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice " is intended to be used as a resource for Department of Health and Human Service workers, attorneys, judges, CASA volunteers and others who work with families in the child protection or juvenile justice systems. We have included summaries of a variety of mental and physical conditions including current information about definition, prevalence, cause, treatment, and family and developmental considerations. Information is also provided about psycho-tropic medication, common street drugs, and commonly used psychological tests. Internet locations are included so readers can easily update the information presented. Any grouping of mental and physical conditions risks overemphasizing or mischaracterizing distinctions between mind and body, between thought and emotion, between environment and heredity, even between causes and symptoms 1. For convenience, and to reflect common usage, we have chosen to group chapters in this book under five 1 More and more is being learned about the biologic basis of mental health problems and about the emotional basis of physical health problems. It is clear that the emerging message is not " Biology is everything, " but " Interrelationships are everything. " The question, " Is genetics or environment more important? " is no more meaningful than the question, " Is the width or the height of a rectangle more important to the area. " Although we have grouped some things into " height " and some into " width " , we recognize that common distinctions are losing their meaning. Definition: Apnea is Greek for " no breathing " and is used to refer to the temporary cessation of breathing. Apnea of Prematurity refers to an unstable breathing pattern in premature infants (less than 37 weeks gestation) characterized by periodic slowing of breathing with periods of apnea of longer than 20 seconds. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the "sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history." Some infants are discovered in bed apparently not breathing and are resuscitated. Although this used to be called a " near-miss SIDS " it is now termed an " apparent life-threatening event " (ALTE) because its relation to SIDS is uncertain. Sleep Apnea occurs in older children and adults in association with chronic obstruction of the …