Child psychopathology is the manifestation of psychological disorders in children and adolescents. Oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder are examples of child psychopathology.[1] The full list of formal diagnostic codes and classification of mental health disorders can be found in the DSM IV TR; this is the same manual which covers adult psychopathology, but it has certain diagnoses specific to children and adolescents.[2] --Childpsypro (talk) 03:35, 13 December 2011 (UTC) Counselors, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists who work with mentally ill children are informed by research in developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology, clinical child psychology, and family systems.
The current trend in the U.S. is to understand child psychopathology from a systems based perspective called developmental psychopathology. Recent emphasis has also been on understanding psychological disorders from a relational perspective with attention also given to neurobiology. Practitioners who follow attachment theory believe that early attachment experiences of children can promote adaptive strategies or lay the groundwork for maladaptive ways of coping which can later lead to mental health disorders.[3] [4]
Research and clinical work on child psychopathology tends to fall under several main areas: etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, assessment, and treatment.