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Volume 27 of Adolescent Psychiatry focuses on trauma and violence among adolescents, and attends especially to the psychological, biological, and social impact of trauma on its victims, especially the young. Schonfeld Award papers offer a historical perspective on adolescent violence in America, and examine terrorism by looking at the appeal of ideologies that espouse violent revolution to young people. Christopher Thomas and his colleagues, drawing on their groundbreaking work on youth violence in Galveston, Texas, add a study that links gang members with serious violent crime.
A series of papers by the Committee on Adolescence of GAP deals not only with the nature, scope, and impact of trauma, but also with its implications for mental health training and public policy, helpfully supplemented by studies that consider the neurobiological effects of trauma and the cultural and gender-based dimensions of trauma. The clinical yield of these new perspectives is addressed in chapters on interventions with traumatized adolescents and on the special vulnerability of late adolescents to combat-related PTSD. Clinical contributions of related interest show how effective interventions can reduce the use of seclusion and restraint with state hospital adolescent populations; and provide an up-to-date understanding of the recognition of, and differentiation between, early-onset schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
James Gilfoil discusses the importance of families' attitudes toward psychotherapy in the outcome of clinical work with adolescents. Saul Levine dissects the various self-deceptions and myths among mental healthprofessionals and policymakers that have militated against appropriate therapeutic care for adolescents. And Volume 27 concludes with an ASAP Position Paper that provides further discussion of the role of societal attitudes about youth in both the perpetuation of violence and the lack of appropriate interventions.