Gene-environment interaction
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Beyond ACEs: When Trauma-Informed Care Misses Neurodivergent Children
Trauma-informed care often overlooks neurodivergence, leading to missed diagnoses and support, as in James’ story. Research shows trauma, neurodevelopmental conditions and adversity frequently co-occur, with “double jeopardy” when both are present. Services must move beyond silos to holistic, person-centred assessment that recognises each child’s unique “make and model.”. Blog by Professor Helen Minnis (pic) and Dr. Ruchika Gajwani.
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Embedding Evolutionary Principles into the Educational Frontline
Evolutionary psychiatry examines mental health through the lens of evolutionary biology, focusing on ultimate causes like gene-environment interactions and evolutionary mismatches rather than just proximate mechanisms. This approach highlights how traits once adaptive in ancestral environments may now contribute to mental health vulnerabilities. This is sure to be a truly fascinating and valuable session.
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Dr. Pasco Fearon- Deputing Editor in Chief
Dr. Pasco Fearon is Chair of Developmental Psychopathology in the Division of Psychology & Language Sciences at University College London (UCL).
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Associate Professor Dr. Catharina A. Hartman – Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Catharina A. Hartman is Associate Professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. The overall objective of her research team’s work is to advance mechanistic understanding of the onset and (long-term) course of childhood-onset psychiatric disorders.
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Genetics research informing mental health care
Anita Thapar discusses that genetic studies of mental health have revealed important insights about the influence of genes and the environment, and the nature of disorders. She explains how these insights could improve mental health care for young people and their families now and in the future.
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Environmental factors linked with identifying as a sexual minority may increase suicidality risk
Adolescents who identify as a sexual minority (e.g., gay/lesbian, bisexual) are at an increased risk for suicidality compared to their heterosexual counterparts.1 Until now, inherent limitations in study design has meant that the extent of this association has been unclear.
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Is aggression linked with academic performance in young people?
A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has investigated the association between aggression and academic performance in >27,000 young people enrolled in four twin cohorts comprising the ACTION consortium.
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Poor sleep quality in adolescence might contribute to poor psychological functioning
Sleep problems affect up to 25% adolescents and have frequently been associated with psychopathology. Now, Marije Vermeulen and colleagues have investigated whether short and/or problematic sleep truly contributes to psychological functioning.
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How well children read is largely down to their genes
Children who are avid readers are typically good readers, and children who seldom read a book voluntarily often have dyslexia. Is their reading ability the consequence of how much they practised?
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