Risk factors

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    Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders in Children and Young People: Current Evidence and Clinical Approaches

    Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders in Children and Young People: Current Evidence and Clinical Approaches   Short summary Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related disorders, including Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), often begin in childhood or adolescence and can be associated with marked distress, impaired school functioning, family disruption, and increased risk of comorbidity and co-occurring symptoms.

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    Identifying Mental Health Difficulties in Children Living in Care: Is the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire enough?

    This blog, by Dr. Eva Sprecher, shares new findings that suggest current UK practice may not be sufficient for identifying children in care struggling with their mental health – and we suggest what might help improve things.

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  • Rachel C. Tomlinson and Patrizia Pezzoli

    Understanding the nature and nurture of callous-unemotional traits: The role of anxiety

    New research using the twin design reveals that anxiety levels in children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits can tell us something important about the origins of these traits.

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    Intergenerational Consequences of Racism

    Explore intergenerational consequences of racism and its impact on family mental health in this ACAMH expert webinar. Learn how structural racism cascades through generations and how practitioners can respond with trauma‑informed, anti‑racist approaches. Dr. Yasmin Ahmadzadeh leads this session.

    Event type
    ACEs SIG Monthly seminars
    Location
    LIVE STREAM
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    Navigating Diagnostic Challenges in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

    We’re delighted to offer you a chance to learn from the very best – Dr. Boris Birmaher. The goal of this presentation is to present the difficulties and differential diagnosis of pediatric Bipolar Disease and factors associated with its course.

    Event type
    Advanced session
    Location
    LIVE STREAM
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    Rethinking Reading Disorders: Language Foundations, Risk Pathways, and Protective Factors

    Understanding how children learn to read requires a comprehensive understanding of language, phonology, cognition, and environmental factors. While phonological processing deficits have long been considered central to dyslexia (Snowling, 2000; Vellutino et al., 2004), growing evidence suggests that reading difficulties can emerge from multiple developmental pathways, influence by a diverse combination of risk and protective factors (Hulme & Snowling, 2016; Catts et al., 2017). These individual differences underscore why some children struggle primarily with decoding, others with comprehension, and many with both.

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    OCD; An update on OCD and related disorders in children and young people

    Led by Professor David Mataix-Cols ; “In this session, I will provide an up-to-date overview of the latest research on OCD and related disorders, with a focus on risk factors, consequences, and evolving clinical approaches in the assessment and treatment of these disorders.”

    Event type
    Introductory and Update Session
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    Rethinking reading disorders

    We are lucky to have one of the Titans, Professor Maggie Snowling, deliver this session on the role of language in literacy development, and address the specific challenges faced by children with language disorder.

    Event type
    Ask the expert
    Location
    LIVE STREAM
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  • Portrait of son hugging his father, together at home. Son caring for his father, putting hand on his shoulder, comforting and consoling him. Family love, bonding, care and confidence

    Social Fears in Children: The Roles of Parental Communication and Child Temperament

    A recent longitudinal study by Zeytinoglu and colleagues (2025) provides insights into how parental verbal communication and child characteristics contribute to the transmission of social fears. The study shows the impact of both positive and negative maternal statements about ambiguous social situations, finding that positive comments were linked to reductions in children’s social fear beliefs, while negative comments predicted increases, especially among children who were behaviourally inhibited or had high anxiety.

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    Children and Adolescents with Single and Multiple Traumas Response to PTSD Therapy: New Insights from a Major Meta-Analysis

    A 2023 meta-analysis led by Hoppen and colleagues examined whether children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) benefit equally from psychological interventions, regardless of whether they have experienced a single traumatic event or multiple traumas (Hoppen et al., 2023).

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