Antisocial Personality Disord... : Doctor Specialties

Call for an appointment with a mental health professional if: You have symptoms of antisocial personality disorder; Your child shows behaviors of this disorder.

When symptoms of antisocial behavior appear, a child should be taken to his or her health care provider as soon as possible for evaluation and possible referral to a mental health care professional. If a child or teen reveals at any time that he/s...

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Detailed information on different members of the psychiatric treatment team

Detailed information on different members of the psychiatric treatment team

A psychologist is a social scientist who studies behavior and mental processes, generally in a research or clinical setting.

Detailed information on the psychologist, neuropsychologist, and psychiatrist, potential members of the rehabilitation team

American psychologist. Granville Stanley Hall played a decisive role in the organization of American psychology. He invited Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to America, thus contributing to the diffusion of psychoanalysis. Above all, he gave a crucial impetus to the study of the child and the life cycle (his last psychological book dealt with senescence, the process of becoming old). Hall stressed the social relevance of empirical developmental research, and authored the first major treatise on adolescence. His theories and methods have since been superseded, but the life-span, stage-based perspective typical of this thinking became a central component of modern psychology. Hall was born in 1844 in rural Massachusetts, the son of educated farmers. He studied at Williams College and at the Union Theological Seminary; in 1878 he received a Ph.D. from Harvard University for a thesis on the role of muscular sensations in space perception. He then studied with Wilhelm Wundt and Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz in Germany. He joined Johns Hopkins University in 1884, set up one of the first psychology laboratories in the U.S., and established the American Journal of Psychology to promote experimental psychology. In 1889, he became the first president of Clark University, which awarded many of the early American doctorates in psychology. He led a popular child-study and educational reform movement, which he supported through his journal Pedagogical Seminary. He inspired and was the first president of the American Psychological Association. Hall died in 1924. Hall studied childhood by means of questionnaires (a method he pioneered) on topics such as children's play, lies, fears, anger, language, and art. He distributed them among teachers, thus amassing huge amounts of data. The backbone of Hall's thinking was the concept of recapitulation, according to which individual development repeats the history of the species. As supposedly apparent in children's games, childhood reflected primitive humanity. The following, "juvenile" stage corresponded to an age when humans were well adjusted to their environment and displayed tribal inclinations; it was therefore suited to the formation of groups adapted to the child's "social instinct." Adolescence was a "new birth" that brought forth ancestral passions, an age of "storm and stress" characterized by conflicting moods and dispositions, a capacity for religious conversion, and an unlimited creative potential. Hall claimed that it was essential to channel these energies (especially sexual), and that it was "the apical stage of human development" and the starting point "for the super anthropoid that man is to become." His idealized and lyrical depiction of adolescence synthesized common nineteenth-century ideas about youth into a evolutionary framework and, while conveying nostalgia for a lost closeness to nature, provided an increasingly urban and industrialized society with a confident image of its own future.

A physician who specializes in the treatment of children from birth through adolescence. A pediatrician is a physician who has taken extra training in the development and diseases of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults through age 21. Parents are advised to begin the process of selecting a Parents rely on their pediatrician for support and advice as well as medical care. pediatrician about three months before their baby is due to be born. Most obstetricians will assist with the referral, and the American Academy of Pediatrics also offers a referral service. Other parents may also have recommendations and advice to offer. Because new parents will rely on their pediatrician for support and advice as well as medical care, it is important that they feel comfortable with the personality and style of the pediatrician they choose. Many parents interview more than one pediatrician before making the final selection. It is necessary to designate a pediatrician before the baby is born, so that he or she can examine the newborn in the hospital shortly after birth. Pediatricians receive extensive training that begins with four years of medical school. A three-year residency—special training in pediatrics—follows. (The resident works under the supervision of an experienced physician or team of physicians to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to diagnose and treat childhood illnesses, diseases, and conditions.) Following the completion of the residency, the newly trained pediatrician is eligible to take the written examination offered by the American Board of Pediatrics. When the pediatrician passes the certification exam, he or she receives a certificate—which most will frame and display on the wall of their office—and earns the right to use the initials FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics) after his or her name. Only pediatricians that have passed the certification examination can join the American Academy of Pediatrics. As of 1997, there were over 48,000 board-certified pediatricians who were members of the Academy. Some pediatricians then elect to pursue more study in a specific area of pediatrics—known as a subspecialty. Subspecialties include: adolescent medicine; allergy/immunology; ambulatory pediatrics; behavioral/developmental pediatrics; cardiology; child development; community pediatrics; critical care; dermatology; developmental biology; developmental disabilities; emergency medicine; endocrinology (glands and diabetes); gastroenterology; general academic pediatrics/epidemiology; genetics/dysmorphology (inherited diseases); hematology/oncology (blood disorders/childhood cancers); immunology; infectious disease; metabolism; neonatal/perinatal medicine; nephrology (kidneys); neurology (nervous system); nutrition; pathology; pharmacology/toxicology; public health/preventive medicine; pulmonology; radiology; rheumatology; and teratology. Parents may also need to call on a medical specialist—such as an ophthalmologist or surgeon—who has received special training in pediatrics. Pediatricians are called on to provide a variety of services to families, including diagnosing illness, prescribing treatment, counseling families, monitoring the growing child's physical, mental, and social development, and advising adolescents on a range of emotional and social issues. Pediatricians may also participate in research, advocacy for social and legislative changes to benefit all children, and in public education on issues like nutrition, injury and disease prevention, and in providing guidelines for safe participation in athletics.

Detailed information on pediatricians and what formal education is required

Detailed information on choosing a pediatrician

American pediatrician 1870–1960 A portrait of Owen Wilson. In the preface of "The Care and Feeding of Southern Babies," Wilson said that other similar works focused on childrearing in cooler climates, and therefore were inapplicable to infants in the southern United States. [Eskind Library, Vanderbilt University.] A native of Tennessee, Owen Wilson was a pioneer in pediatric medicine. Born on July 20, 1870, he entered Vanderbilt University in 1884, at the age of fourteen, and graduated with an engineering degree in 1889. He immediately enrolled in Vanderbilt University's Medical School, and graduated two years later. Wilson pursued additional training at New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital. After practicing with a prominent Nashville surgeon for several years, Wilson decided to specialize in children's diseases. He established a large pediatric practice in Nashville and served as Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical School from 1909 through 1942. In 1926, Wilson published a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Southern Babies: A Guide for Mothers, Nurses, and Baby Welfare Workers in the South. Wilson believed that babies in the southern United States, because of climate and family food habits, required different feeding guidelines than those generally given in the early twentieth century. In his book, Wilson offered instruction on the care and feeding of children from birth until age three, and he included tables of height, weight, and child development , as well as some recipes. Only three hundred copies of this book were published. Wilson suffered from a fatal heart attack on May 10, 1960. SEE ALSO B EIKOST ; B REASTFEEDING ; I NFANT N UTRITION . Karen Bryla

Detailed information on questions to ask your child's physician about cancer

After a doctor completes medical school and is licensed to practice medicine, the physician may pursue a rigorous 3 year training program in Internal Medicine. After passing an examination and completing the requirements, the doctor is eligible to become Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

Harvard Medical School doctor addresses the question of whether a woman should see a gynecologist or an internist beyond her childbearing years.

The American Board of Medical Specialties recognizes Family Medicine as a distinct discipline requiring an additional three years of training for doctors who wish to become Board Certified in this field. Family Medicine doctors are usually primary care providers (PCPs) [formerly general practitioners, or GPs] for the entire family.