The New York Academy of Sciences is sponsoring a conference titled Roots of Mental Illness in Children which is being scheduled for Fall, 2002. Conference program has been organized by a committee consisting of Drs. Jean King and Craig Ferris (both of University of Massachusetts Medical School), in consultation with a steering committee composed of several other experts. The objective of this conference is to build bridges between animal research and clinical approaches for studying mental health and disorders in children and adolescents. The premise of the conference is that the common symptoms, or dimensions, observed in several childhood disorders may help us conceptualize special features of behavioral and neural development that -- together with the impact of environmental factors -confer either susceptibility or resilience to mental illness during early stages of development. The long-term goal is to foster interdisciplinary research collaborators and policy initiatives to enhance our understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in children. The etiology of childhood mental illness provides a unique opportunity to consider the contribution from the developmental point of view. Animal studies that have focused on the development of brain and behavior are likely to prove helpful in expanding our understanding of some childhood disorders. The format of the conference will put strong emphasis on integration of preclinical and clinical approaches for childhood mental illnesses. The conference is organized into sessions, each consisting of presentations based on animal and human research; and a third that will summarize and integrate the first two as well as address how the body of animal and human research can facilitate progress toward understanding the roots of mental illness in children. This conference will be of interest to neuroscientists, behavioral scientists, psychologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, social workers, other health service providers, educators and policy makers from a variety of backgrounds. The audience will acquire an understanding that behavioral dimensions, such as approach/withdrawal, can provide a constructive framework for comparing behavioral and neurobiological similarities and differences among the symptoms of several childhood mental illnesses.
