Handbook of Preschool Mental Health: Development, Disorders, and Treatment

This important volume comprehensively explores the development of psychiatric disorders in 2- to 6-year-olds, detailing how the growing empirical knowledge base may lead to improved interventions for young children and their families. Leading contributors examine advances in the conceptualization and diagnosis of early-onset disruptive disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, eating and sleeping disorders, autism, and other clinical problems. Promising treatment strategies are described, including developmentally specific behavioral and play therapies, and available evidence for their effectiveness is presented. The literature on preschool psychopharmacology is also reviewed. Throughout, the discussion is grounded in the many recent advances on normative developmental processes in the preschool period.