'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast

Latest Episodes:

Technology and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents: Pros and Cons Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.22618
Professor Lina Gega, Professor of Mental Health at Hull York Medical School and the Director of the Institute of Mental Health Research at the University of York, and Dr. Hiran Thabrewof the Te Ara Hāro, Centre for Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, talk about the CAMH Special Issue in this Papers Podcast.

Lina and Hiran are two of the editors of the CAMH Special Issue ‘Technology and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents: Pros and Cons’ and they have written the Editorial ‘Control alt delete – technology and children’s mental health’ doi.org/10.1111/camh.12631. There is an overview of the CAMH Special Issue, and their editorial, and the implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

Evidence into technology’s ability to act as a force of good and also a source of harm for young people’s mental health
Why minimisation of technology related harm is as important as maximisation of technology related gains
Need to move beyond dichotomous narratives about technology and how we might achieve a more nuanced stance
What understandings emerge in terms of gender, diversity, and socio-economic status in relation to techn and mental health
How collective responsibility can make a difference in the way technology is used to protect and improve mental health
Whether academics should collaborate with digital companies to improve young people’s mental health
Advice for CAMH professionals and policy makers.

Phenomenology of Gender Dysphoria in Autism Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.22473
For this Papers PodcastDr. Kate Cooper, lecturer in clinical psychology University of Bath, talks about her paper ‘Phenomenology of gender dysphoria in autism: a multiperspective qualitative analysis’ doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13691, recently published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

What challenges might a person with autism face, as it relates to gender dysphoria, over and above a neurotypical young person with gender dysphoria.
The communication difficulties between clinicians and autistic service users for gender dysphoria
What clinicians can do differently to improve this
What other autism adaptations are recommended for clinical services
The significant difference in opinions that clinicians, parents, and autistic young people had and elaborates on the implications of the difference in opinions between these groups
Advice for parents or carers, CAMH professionals and policy makers.

In this series, we speak to authors of papers published in one of ACAMH’s three journals. These are The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP); The Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) journal; and JCPP Advances.

Conduct Problems & Callous-Unemotional Traits in Young Children: Facial Reactions to Emotional Films Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.22321
For this podcast, we welcome clinical psychologist Eva Kimonis, Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and director of the Parent Child Research Clinic at the same institution.
Eva is also President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathology, and the first author of the JCPP paper, ‘Facial reactions to emotional films in young children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous-unemotional traits’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13701). This paper will be the focus of today’s conversation.
To set the scene, Eva first defines what is meant by the term ‘callous-unemotional traits’ and discusses how these generally present, before providing us with a brief overview of her paper.
Eva comments on the methodology used for the study and shares insight into the findings that surprised her from this study, including her finding that the callous-unemotional group showed a high intensity of anger during both the happy film clips and the sad film clips, and what she made of these findings.
Eva then explores why she thinks young children have been missed from these types of studies previously and shares insight into what implications her findings have for developmental models of childhood antisocial behaviour.
Furthermore, Eva comments on how she would like her findings to be translated into practice, how her findings could inform the development of targeted interventions, and what the implications are of her findings for mental health professionals, parents, and teachers.

The Mental Health of Children Impacted by Armed Conflict: Supporting Parenting & Wellbeing Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.22189
In this podcast, we are joined by Professor Kenneth E. Miller, Edith Lando Professor in Counselling for Refugee and Immigrant Youth and Families at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Ken is also the author of the book War Torn, Stories of Courage, Love and Resilience. He’s director of the film Unholy Groundabout the impact on war on a frontline village in Sri Lanka. And he writes a blog for Psychology Today called The Refugee Experience.
Today we’ll be focusing on Ken’s work with refugees, and some of his research, including his recent JCPP paper ‘Supporting parenting among Syrian refugees in Lebanon: a randomized controlled trial of the caregiver support intervention’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13668).
Discussion points include;

Insight into what conditions are like for children and young people living in areas of armed conflict from a mental health perspective
From experience and research, what kinds of interventions make the most difference for refugee children and their families
Overview of his recent JCPP paper ‘Supporting parenting among Syrian refugees in Lebanon: a randomized controlled trial of the caregiver support intervention’
Outcomes from introducing caregiver support interventions, plus defining harsh parenting
How healing is possible for children and young people who find themselves displaced or at the centre of unrest
Advice for parents or carers, CAMH professionals and policy makers.

Harmful Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Parents and Carers Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.22059
In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Hope Christie, a teaching fellow at the Center for Research on Children and Families at the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Hope is the first author of the paper, ‘Examining harmful impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures on parents and carers in the United Kingdom: A rapid review’ doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12095 published in JCPP Advances. There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

Why parents appear to have suffered disproportionately compared to non-parents during national lockdown restrictions
Why the pandemic was so hard for so many parents
Why kinship carers may have struggled more
Parents with children aged 10 or younger reported high levels of stress when restrictions were highest, whereas parents with older children reported more depressive symptoms
How the impact of COVID-19 pandemic continues to manifest with many parents still suffering disproportionately
How parents at the greatest risk might be best supported, now and in the event of a future lockdown
Advice for parents or carers, CAMH professionals and policy makers.

Impact of Maternal Depression on Offspring Depression in Emerging Adulthood Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21909
In this podcast, we are joined by social epidemiologist Dr. Rebecca Lacey of the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London,to talk about her JCPP paper “Testing lifecourse theories characterising associations between maternal depression and offspring depression in emerging adulthood: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children” (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13699). There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

With a sensitive period being defined as a point in time when maternal depression might have more of an impact on the child’s mental health, Becca elaborates on the importance of her paper’s assertion that the sensitive period continues through to adolescence.
Emerging adulthood depressive symptoms were best explained by the accumulation of exposure to maternal depression, and not the infancy-sensitive period model.
How findings will translate into practice
Implications of findings for CAMH professionals and other health professionals.

Prevalence and Impact of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorders Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21750
In this podcast, we are joined by Professor Courtenay Norbury, Professor of Developmental Disorders of Language and Communications at Psychology and Language Sciences, University of London, and director of the Literacy, Language, and Communication Lab, LiLaC, and Jo Saul, lecturer in Experimental Psychology at the same institution. They discuss their JCPP paper, ‘Prevalence and functional impact of social (pragmatic) communication disorders’, (doi:10.1111/jcpp.13705). There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

Providing insight into what the focus of the LiLaC lab is
What social pragmatic communication disorders (SPCD) are and how they present.
Social pragmatic deficits rarely occurred in isolation, but often occurred alongside structural language difficulties and/or autism symptoms, they share implications of this
Recommended changes to better identify, diagnose, and support children with SPCD
What mental health professionals, and those working in education, should take from their paper
How to translate the research into practice
The importance of improving communication between mental health and speech and language professionals.

Sleep and Daily Suicidal Ideation Among High-Risk Adolescents and Young Adults Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21689
In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Jessica Hamilton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Jersey, and Dr. Peter Franzen, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, discuss their JCPP paper, ‘Sleep influences daily suicidal ideation through affective reactivity to interpersonal events among high-risk adolescents and young adults’ (doi:10.1111/jcpp.13651). There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include;

How they went about examining sleep as a proximal risk factor for suicide
Their finding that short sleep may impair how teens can regulate their already intense emotions
Implications of their findings are for CAMH professionals
How they envisage their findings will translate into practice
Resources that listeners may find of use
Advice for parents or carers, CAMH professionals and policy makers.

Psychological Legacies of Intergenerational Trauma Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21594
In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Andrew Wooyoung Kim, Assistant Professor in biological anthropology at the University of California.
Andrew is the first author of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) paper ‘Psychological legacies of intergenerational trauma under South African apartheid: Prenatal stress predicts greater vulnerability to the psychological impacts of future stress exposure during late adolescence and early adulthood in Soweto, South Africa’ (doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13672), which is the focus of today’s podcast.
Andrew sets the scene by providing a brief introduction of how he came to be interested in this area of research, before turning to the paper itself and sharing a brief overview of the paper.
Andrew discusses the methodology used, including the challenges faced during the data collection, and shares the main findings from the paper.
Andrew then expands upon two interesting findings; the first being the finding that social support did not moderate the association between prenatal stress and psychiatric outcomes, and the second being that the prenatal stress exposure during apartheid is not directly associated with greater psychiatric morbidity during late adolescence.
With maternal age and past household adversity having been found to have an impact, Andrew also elaborates on these findings and their implications.
Furthermore, Andrew shares what the implications are of his findings for CAMH professionals, and comments on what role we should all be playing in recognising and addressing the ongoing legacies of colonialism, structural violence, and historical traumas, such as apartheid, in order to prevent future mental health inequities from emerging.

Bullying and Mental Health: Impact and Interventions Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21511
14 – 18 November is Anti-Bullying Week. For this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Sînziana Oncioiu, Professor Lucy Bowes and Carolina Guzman Holst to discuss bullying in children and adolescents. Sînziana, Lucy, and Carolina are all members of the Oxford lab of Risk and Resilience, Genes and Environment, known as the oRANGE Lab, at the University of Oxford.
As the principle investigator at the oRANGE Lab, Lucy begins by highlighting the main focus of the oRANGE Lab and providing insight into the definition of bullying.
Sînziana follows by discussing how prevalent bulling is, before Lucy comments on the various roles that young people take on when bullying occurs and why it is important to understand them.
Sînziana explores what is known about the link between bullying and mental health, with Carolina then commenting on how the relationship between bullying victimisation and mental health played out during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
Lucy and Sînziana also discuss what makes some young people and children more likely to be targets for bullies as well as what factors make some people more likely to be perpetrators.
Carolina provides insight into the effectiveness of anti-bullying interventions and their impact on mental health, plus explores whether the current interventions are enough to support those most at risk.
With the oRANGE Lab having incorporated some innovative designs and technologies, such as virtual reality, into their studies, Lucy shares some examples and comments on what risk and protective factors have been identified by their research that help determine how a young person will fare if they’ve been bullied.
Lucy then comments on how social norms and other systemic factors influence the prevalence rates of bulling before Carolina shares what the implications are of their findings for teachers and other people in education, and also for CAMH professionals.
Furthermore, given that we know bulling is a major public mental health risk, Lucy shares what her message is to policymakers.

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