Functional Somatic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents [electronic resource] : A Stress-System Approach to Assessment and Treatment / by Kasia Kozlowska, Stephen Scher, Helene Helgeland.

1. A Brief Introduction -- Part I: Children with Functional Somatic Symptoms: The Clinical Encounter -- 2. Going to See the Paediatrician -- 3. The Family Assessment Interview: The Narrative, Formulation, and Discussion of Treatment Options -- Part II: Mind, Body, and the Science of Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 4. The Stress-System Model for Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 5. The Circadian Clock and Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 6. The Autonomic Nervous System and Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 7. The Skeletomotor System in Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 8. The HPA Axis and Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 9. The Immune-Inflammatory System and Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 10. The Role of the Gut in the Neurobiology of Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 11. The Brain Stress Systems I: The Implicit Level of Brain Operations -- 12. The Brain Stress Systems II: The Mind Level of Brain Operations -- Part III: The Treatment of Functional Somatic Symptoms -- 13. Principles of Assessment and Treatment -- 14. Treatment Interventions I: Working with the Body -- 15. Treatment Interventions II: Working with the Mind -- 16. Treatment Interventions III: Working with the Family and Implementing Behavioural Interventions -- 17. Conclusion -- Main Index -- Index of Vignettes by Name, with Principal Problems -- Index of Concepts, Problems, and Processes, with Relevant Vignettes by Name.

Open Access

"This book, at the intersection of mind-body medicine, is a must-read ... The authors have done a masterful job of linking together emerging cutting-edge biology with case-based discussions and practical treatment suggestions to aid the development of a mind-body program. Functional disorders are common in pediatrics, and this book is a major advance in bringing this set of conditions out of the shadows and into mainstream educational and clinical initiatives." - David L. Perez, MD, MMSc; Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA "A uniquely creative, well-informed, and authoritative account that uses the latest scientific and clinical research to inform clinical assessment and treatment of functional symptoms and syndromes in children and young people. The authors' stress-system model for understanding these experiences is complemented by the extensive use of clinical vignettes that are integrated into an overarching clinical framework that will prove useful for trainees and the broad range of clinicians addressing these problems in their own practices." - Elena Garralda, MD, MPhil, FRCPsych, FRCPCH, Emeritus Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Imperial College London, UK This open access book sets out the stress-system model for functional somatic symptoms in children and adolescents. The book begins by exploring the initial encounter between the paediatrician, child, and family, moves through the assessment process, including the formulation and the treatment contract, and then describes the various forms of treatment that are designed to settle the child's dysregulated stress system. This approach both provides a new understanding of how such symptoms emerge - typically, through a history of recurrent or chronic stress, either physical or psychological - and points the way to effective assessment, management, and treatment that put the child (and family) back on the road to health and well-being. Kasia Kozlowska is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at The Children's Hospital at Westmead and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Sydney Medical School, Australia. Stephen Scher is Senior Editor, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, and Lecturer in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA, and the University of Sydney Medical School, Australia. Helene Helgeland is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Oslo University Hospital. She is the head of Norway's National Advisory Unit on Complex Psychosomatic Disorders in Children and Adolescents.