Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

• Current number of staff: 11.
• Current number of research students: 8.
• Recent publications:
• Adolescent irritability: phenotypic associations and genetic links with depressed mood; American Journal of Psychiatry.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Autistic Traits in theAvonLongitudinal Study of Parents and Children: Precursors and Early Signs. Journal of theAmericanAcademyof Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
• Practitioner review: Self-harm in Adolescents; Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
• Disorder-specific functional abnormalities during sustained attention in youth with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and with Autism; Molecular Psychiatry.
• Psychiatric disorders in children with autism spectrum disorders: prevalence, comorbidity and associated factors; Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
• Current research projects in the department:
• Parenting intervention program;
• Treatment foster care;
• Functional imaging in normal development and child psychiatric disorders;
• Neuropsychology of impulsiveness;
• Comorbid psychiatric disorders in autism spectrum disorders.
Details at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iop/index.aspx

Professor Emily Simonoff heads the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which has a diverse research programme studying both common and rarer, severe disorders that start in childhood often persisting into adulthood. The disorders studied in the Department include: autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, affective disorders, substance misuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, intellectual disability and eating disorder as well as parenting problems and deliberate self harm.

We aim to improve our understanding of how mental disorders develop and establish methods of treatment and prevention. Our research extends into risk factors (both biological and environmental) for the development of disorders and treatment strategies. Members of the Department use a range of scientific methods, including epidemiology, behaviour and molecular genetics, neuroimaging and clinical trials.

Research receives substantive funding from external bodies such as the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, National Institute of Health Research as well as smaller charities and other arms of the government.

We have an integrated scheme of research, teaching and clinical work. The aim is to understand how disorders develop and to apply the results to make new treatments and assessments, evaluate them and provide need and cost information for health services planners. The links between basic science and translation into improved clinical services are strengthened by the structures of the academic health sciences centre, King’s Health Partners.

Many senior academic staff members have particularly strong links with the National Specialist teams based at the Maudsley Hospital. These teams focus on the development of methods and services in specific clinical areas that are integrated with the Department’s research interests.

The Department’s teaching is postgraduate and focuses on:

• The supervision and education of PhD students from a variety of disciplines.
• An MSc in Child & Adolescent Mental Health for psychiatrists, paediatricians and psychologists with an emphasis on knowledge and skills relevant to countries with developing services.
• A bi-annual refresher course for consultants.

In collaboration with the Children’s Directorate of theSouth Londonand Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust the Department provides postgraduate clinical training for CT1-3 ‘core trainees’ and ST4-6 ‘specialty registrars’.