Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist In Princeton NJ

What is a Child & Adolescent psychiatrist?

A child and adolescent psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in treatment of emotions and thoughts of children. Training to become a child & adolescent psychiatrist consists of a medical school education, medical residency and fellowship in child & adolescents psychiatry. The process of evaluation and treatment by a child and adolescents psychiatrist consists of a comprehensive assessment of medical, genetic, cognitive, family, education, pear and social components.

At what age can a child see a child psychiatrist?

Child psychiatrist are trained to see children starting from the child’s infancy. We have training in normal development and can identify diagnosis of Autism as young as age 2. A child psychiatrist can also order medical tests to make sure that there are not other medical conditions underlying the behavioral disturbance. Just because a child can be diagnosed very young doesn’t mean that the child will require medication treatment. Often times child psychiatrist are able to recommend behavioral treatments and holistic therapies for treatment.

What mental health conditions does child psychiatrist diagnose?

Autism – A child psychiatrist can diagnose Autism. Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects behavior, communication, and social interaction. The main difficulty with Autism is that children have a difficulty relating to people and understanding emotions of others. The rate of autism as of 2018 in New Jersey is 1:32 children. Autism is one of the most common conditions being treated by child and adolescent psychiatrist today in New Jersey.

ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that causes hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors. It is primarily diagnosed in children and can last into adulthood. There are many things that can look like ADHD but are not. We at garden psych make an active effort to rule out medical conditions that can look like ADHD.

Clinical Depression – Sadness is a normal human emotion. However, clinical depression is a depression causes long lasting feelings of sadness, worthlessness and despair that interferes with your child’s behavior and health. Untreated clinical depression can significantly impact your child’s health, self-esteem, friendships and success at school. Our child and adolescent psychiatrist make an active effort to include some therapy during each visit in treating kids with depression.

Anxiety – While being nervous about stressful situations is normal, anxiety becomes problematic when it results in your child shutting down. Children can shutdown during tests, making friends and participating in extracurricular activities due to being too nervous. Elevated anxiety can also result in panic attacks, which can feel like a heart attack to your child. There are medication and non-medication tools that our child psychiatrist at Garden Psych can offer to treat your child.

OCD – Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over. Child psychiatrist are experts in treating OCD because most often these symptoms first start around age 8.

When is it time for my child to see a child & adolescent psychiatrist?

There is no perfect check list to help determine whether your child needs to see a psychiatrist. Most parents have a sixth sense about their child. We encourage parent to trust their gut feelings and go with their gut feelings. Here are somethings that a child psychiatrist can be helpful with

• Your child is dealing with a stressful situation in such as bullying, a health problem, divorce, birth of a new sibling
• Worsening of child’s problems with age, instead of better.
• The child’s tantrums last longer or are more destructive than someone his or her age
• Emotional difficulties occurring after trauma in the family such as death, accident or abuse
• There is a large change in personality of your child, such as spending more time in the room and not participating in school activities
• Your child’s anxiety is more than kids his or her age. This anxiety is affecting things like school, homework, meals, or bedtime.
• It is tough for your child to make and keep friends.
• Their grades are dropping
• The child is is frequently having trouble with behavioral complaints from school or paying attention in class.

How does someone become a child psychiatrist?

Becoming a child psychiatrist requires an undergraduate degree, 4 years of medical school training, 3 to 4 years of adult psychiatric residency training and then a 2 year advanced fellowship training in child & adolescent psychiatry. During his or her journey to becoming a child psychiatrist, a medical doctor goes through multiple trainings in inpatient, outpatient, and emergency psychiatry treating multiple mental health conditions. Child psychiatrist are training in both use of medications and talk therapy to treat both children and adults. The journey in total takes 12 to 13 years after finishing high school.

Can a child psychiatrist see adults?

Yes a child psychiatrist can also treat adults. In order to become a child psychiatrist, a medical doctor must go through training in adult psychiatrist. The training of doing residency in adult psychiatry makes child psychiatrist able to treat both adults and children. Parents often need help with their own anxiety and ADHD, and we can treat the entire family together under one roof at Garden Psych.

 

For stopping helping your child by having them see a child psychiatrist call 609-601-4161