DISORDERS RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT

A. Normal and Abnormal Development
1. What is normal?
   a. Age-based norms and statistical comparisons: deviation
   b. The other 3 Ds
2. The assessment problem
   a. Getting good information
      (1) Establishing rapport
      (2) Communication skills
      (3) Insight and motivation
   b. Multiple informants and conflicting information
   c. Variation over time and between individuals is normal
   d. Stage and situation-specific behaviors vs. “life-course persistence”
3. The classification problem
   a. Do we need new categories?
   b. The danger of labels
   c. “Blaming” the child
   d. Medical, mental and “situational” disorders

B. Developmental Disorders in DSM
1. Disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood or adolescence
   a. Affective and behavioral
      (1) Externalizing versus internalizing patterns
      (2) AD/HD
         (a) DSM criteria
         (b)The controversies
         (c) Overdiagnosis
      (3) Other externalizing disorders
         (a) Conduct disorder
         (b) Oppositional defiant disorder
      (4) Internalizing disorders
         (a) Fear and anxiety
         (b) Separation anxiety disorder
         (c) Reactive attachment disorder
         (d) Selective mutism
      (5) Depression and suicide
         (a) Can children be depressed?
         (b)Suicide among adolescents
   b. Cognitive
      (1) Learning disorders (disabilities)
      (2) Communication disorders
      (3) Mental retardation (Axis II)
      (4) Pervasive developmental disorders
         (a) Autistic disorder
         (b) Other pervasive developmental disorders
   c. Somatic
      (1) Feeding and eating disorders
      (2) Tic disorders
      (3) Elimination disorders
2. Gender identity
   a. Sexual orientation, transvestic fetishism and gender identity
   b. Gender identity disorder
3. Eating disorders
   a. Disordered eating vs. eating disorders
      (1) Dimension vs. category
      (2) Is there an epidemic?
   b. Anorexia
      (1) Appetite, eating and weight
      (2) Perceptual distortions
   c. Bulimia
      (1) Binges
      (2) Compensatory behavior
   d. Binge-eating
4. Epidemiology of developmental disorders
   a. Incidence and prevalence
   b. Age and sex
   c. Socio-cultural variations

C. Etiology
1. Biomedical perspective
   a. Genetics
      (1) Genetic predisposition, temperament, and the internalizing-externalizing distinction
      (2) Genetics and PDD
      (3) Genetics and MR
      (4) Genetics and eating disorders
   b. Neurobiological factors
      (1) Neurological abnormalities and PDD
      (2) Is ADHD a brain disorder?
      (3) Pre-natal influences: mother’s diet, drugs, etc.
      (4) Environmental toxins
      (5) Weight set points
2. Intrapsychic perspective
   a. Attachment theory
   b. Sexuality and eating disorders
   c. Control, perfectionism and eating disorders
   d. Self-image, body image and self-esteem in childhood psychopathology
3. Cognitive-behavioral perspective
   a. The learning of self-control and delay of gratification
   b. Social learning of aggression
   c. Introceptive awareness and eating disorders
   d. Dietary restraint and eating disorders
4. Socio-cultural perspective
   a. Family adversity as risk factor for developmental psychopathology
   b. Troubled family relationships and eating disorders
   c. Parenting styles
      (1) Socialization
      (2) The use of discipline
   d. Peer influence
   e. Media influences
   f. “Pathologizing” childhood development

Copyright ©1998 Beverly J. Volicer and Steven F. Tello, UMass Lowell.  You may freely edit these pages for use in a non-profit, educational setting.  Please include this copyright notice on all pages.