Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder/Developmental Trauma Disorder/Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Complementary and Integrative Medicine/Functional Medicine

Response to PTSD treatments differ based on the age the abuse occurred, the type of abuse, and the chronicity of the abuse. Even when modifications to treatment are made based on the developmental age when the abuse occurred, therapies may be insufficient. In addition, when diagnostic criteria are modified to identify more children, some children continue to escape detection. Developmental Trauma Disorder, (akin to the RDoC), may be more suitable to identify epigenetic and inflammatory effects of early abuse that may be responsible for the nonresponsive to treatment. Complementary and Integrative Medicine interventions (meditation, EFT, EMDR, PUFAs, etc.) may reverse these effects.

Complementary and Integrative Approaches to Sleep Disorders in Children

Sleep problems are very common in children and adolescents. Chronic insomnia is the leading cause of sleep disorders in children and adolescents. Adjunctive interventions that address low ferritin levels and vitamin D3 deficiency are helpful in children and adolescents. The addition of l-5-hydroxytryptophan, gabadone, l-theanine, Ashwagandha, omega 3 fatty acids, probiotics in bipolar disorder, and children with colic, meditation, and changing from a high-fat diet to a Mediterranean diet are also helpful adjunctive interventions. Actigraphy data should be collected in future sleep studies because subjective data may not indicate the true effect of the intervention.

Complementary/Integrative Medicine Treatment and Prevention of Youth Psychosis

The rationale for CIM treatments in youth psychoses is to optimize treatment by targeting symptoms not resolved by antipsychotics, such as negative symptoms (major drivers of disability). Adjunctive omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA) or N-acetyl cystine (NAC usage for > 24-week) can potentially reduce negative symptoms and improve function. ω-3 FA or exercise may prevent progression to psychosis in youth (in prodromal stage). Weekly 90-minute moderate to vigorous physical activity or aerobic exercise can reduce positive and negative symptoms. Awaiting better research, CIM agents are also recommended because they are devoid of any serious side-effects.

Mood Disorders in Youth: Complementary and Integrative Medicine

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, probiotics, vitamin C, vitamin D, folic acid and L-methyl folate, broad-spectrum micronutrients, N-acetylcysteine, physical activity, herbs, bright light therapy, melatonin, saffron, meditation, school-based interventions, and transcranial photobiomodulation are reviewed, with a focus on their use for treating mood disorders in children and adolescents. For each treatment, all published randomized controlled trials are summarized.

Complementary and Integrative Medicine for Anxiety in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

An integrative approach to treating anxiety in children and adolescents takes a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach. Early life stress may translate into anxiety via epigenetic mechanisms, the adoption of maladaptive coping tendencies (poor eating, sedentary lifestyle, substance use), and dysregulation of central autonomic nervous system function. Each of these mechanisms may increase inflammatory markers. This article will explore the efficacy of CIM interventions that work on these mechanisms through mind-body-medicine, acupuncture, nutrition, and supplements.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Complementary-Integrative Medicine

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 0.6%-1.7% of children. The etiology of autism is hypothesized to include both biological and environmental factors (Watts, 2008). In addition to the core symptoms of social-communication delay and restricted, repetitive interests, co-occurring irritability/aggression, hyperactivity, and insomnia negatively impact adaptive functioning and quality of life of patients and families. Despite years of effort, no pharmacologic agent has been found that targets the core symptoms of ASD. The only FDA-approved agents are risperidone and aripiprazole for agitation and irritability in ASD, not for core symptoms. Though they effectively reduce irritability/violence, they do so at the expense of problematic side effects: metabolic syndrome, elevated liver enzymes, and extrapyramidal side effects. Thus, it is not surprising that many families of children with ASD turn to nonallopathic treatment, including dietary interventions, vitamins, and immunomodulatory agents subsumed under complementary-integrative medicine (CIM). Per recent studies, 27% to 88% of families report using a CIM treatment. In an extensive population-based survey of CIM, families of children with more severe ASD, comorbid irritability, GI symptoms, food allergies, seizures, and higher parental education tend to use CIM at higher rates. The perceived safety of CIM treatments as "natural treatment" over allopathic medication increases parental comfort in using these agents. The most frequently used CIM treatments include multivitamins, an elimination diet, and Methyl B12 injections. Those perceived most effective are sensory integration, melatonin, and antifungals. Practitioners working with these families should improve their knowledge about CIM as parents currently perceive little interest in and poor knowledge of CIM by physicians. This article reviews the most popular complementary treatments preferred by families with children with autism. With many of them having limited or poor quality data, clinical recommendations about the efficacy and safety of each treatment are discussed using the SECS versus RUDE criteria.

Complementary and Integrative Approaches to Prevention and Treatment of Child and Adolescent Obesity

Childhood obesity is a significant global challenge with increasing prevalence. It is associated with long-term health risks. Interventions especially early on can be effective in the prevention and reducing the impact on health in children. In children, dysbiosis and inflammation are associated with obesity. Studies demonstrate that intensive lifestyle interventions in form of parent education, motivational interviewing to improve diet and exercise as well as mindfulness, and sleep improvement can help alleviate the risk. The article outlines the current research describing complementary and integrative approaches to the prevention and treatment of obesity in children.

Microbiome and Mental Health, Specifically as It Relates to Adolescents

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This article reviews the relationship of the microbiome, the gut-brain axis, and depression. It also will review factors which can influence this relationship, such as chronic stress, medications, and the Western diet typically consumed by adolescents.

RECENT FINDINGS

Changes in the gut microbiome increase the release of microbial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) which activate a gut inflammatory response. Gut pro-inflammatory cytokines stimulate the afferent vagal nerve which in turn impacts the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis inducing symptoms associated with depression. Recent research suggests that gut inflammation can induce neuroinflammation which, in turn, stimulates microglia activation and the kynurenine pathway and can activate systemic inflammation-inducing depressive symptoms. Promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle changes, limiting exposure to pesticides, limiting medications that affect the microbiome and the use of such things pre/probiotics and other interventions may complement existing efforts to curb the rise in depression. Alternative and complementary therapies may serve as effective treatments in adolescents with depression.

Quantitative EEG and neurofeedback in children and adolescents: anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, comorbid addiction and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and brain injury

This article explores the science surrounding neurofeedback. Both surface neurofeedback (using 2-4 electrodes) and newer interventions, such as real-time z-score neurofeedback (electroencephalogram [EEG] biofeedback) and low-resolution electromagnetic tomography neurofeedback, are reviewed. The limited literature on neurofeedback research in children and adolescents is discussed regarding treatment of anxiety, mood, addiction (with comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), and traumatic brain injury. Future potential applications, the use of quantitative EEG for determining which patients will be responsive to medications, the role of randomized controlled studies in neurofeedback research, and sensible clinical guidelines are considered.

Meditation and mindfulness in clinical practice

This article describes the various forms of meditation and provides an overview of research using these techniques for children, adolescents, and their families. The most researched techniques in children and adolescents are mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, yoga meditation, transcendental meditation, mind-body techniques (meditation, relaxation), and body-mind techniques (yoga poses, tai chi movements). Current data are suggestive of a possible value of meditation and mindfulness techniques for treating symptomatic anxiety, depression, and pain in youth. Clinicians must be properly trained before using these techniques.

Adolescent substance use disorders and comorbidity

It is imperative to know what risk factors are more likely to appear during specific developmental stages so that identification and interventions can be used to decrease the risk for future SUD. Continued surveying of risk factors that can occur at any stage in childhood are important to ensure that other risk factors are anticipated and intervened upon as well. Multiple risk factors increase the magnitude of the risk for SUD, and therefore all risk factors should be detected to convert these to protective factors. Screening instruments that can assess risk factors found to increase the risk for substance abuse can be found in examples, such as the Drug Usage Screening Instrument [81] and the Problem-Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers. The detection of risk factors by primary care providers is becoming increasingly important. However, other professionals are beginning to recognize that early recognition and treatment can enable a youth to go on to a productive life in other arenas as well. Drug courts and diversion programs are beginning to treat first-time offenders and their families rather than taking the punitive approach. These have proven to be very successful. Primary care physicians also should become familiar with motivational enhancement therapy when confronting a youth with a suspected substance abuse problem [57]. This method has proven to be more effective in getting youth into treatment than the direct, confrontational style, which often puts the youth in a defensive mode. Motivational enhancement therapy includes interventions that are delivered in a neutral and empathetic way. The six components of motivational enhancement therapy (also called FRAMES) include: Feedback on personal impairment Emphasis on personal responsibility Clear advice to change Menu of alternative options Empathy as a counseling style Self-efficacy In this way, a clinician can elicit pros and cons, give advice, provide choices, practice empathy, clarify goals, and remove barriers. This technique allows youth to be less defensive and more proactive. Monti et al. [59] have demonstrated that this technique has been useful in getting youth into treatment. Primary care physicians can use instruments that will assess the possibility of both externalizing (e.g., ADHD) and internalizing (e.g., depression and anxiety) disorders. Examples of this type of instrument are the Auchenbach child behavior checklist, teacher report form, and youth self-report form, which survey symptoms for these disorders [1]. Social anxiety disorder can be detected by asking whether the prelatency child went into new situations willingly and tended to hang back or whether the child had difficulty separating from his or her parents. Other questions to ask are whether the child tended to isolate or was fearful of speaking in front of the class. Of course, any bruising or behavior that suggests exposure to adult-related sexual acts may cause concern for physical or sexual abuse and possible PTSD. However, interest in sex earlier than expected for the age of the child may also indicate the possibility of bipolar disorder. These children have many symptoms of ADHD with a high degree of irritability and may seem boastful or grandiose. They may be "daredevils" with no fear of dangerous consequences. Referral to a specialist is necessary to evaluate these children further. Because substance use at age 14 or 15 years can be predicted by academic and social behavior at ages 7 to 9 years, early detection of poor social skills and learning difficulties is essential [43]. Learning disorders can be uncovered by asking the school to do an evaluation. However, schools having economic problems may not be able to accommodate all requests. A parent may have to pay a private provider to complete this workup because insurance companies seldom pay for educational testing. Learning disorders may go undetected because many school systems opt to use a higher deviation from the full-scale IQ to detect learning problems. For instance, if a student has an IQ of 115, the standard nationally recommended deviation from this IQ to detect a learning disorder is 15. Therefore, any child who scores 100 or less on an achievement test should be considered to have a learning disorder. Some schools prefer to use a deviation of up to 23 so that learning disorders are not detected. Few schools screen for processing problems, including auditory and visual motor processing problems, processing speed, comprehension, and short-term and long-term memory problems. This is extremely important because ADHD can be confused with an auditory processing problem. Stimulants may help this condition, but accommodations must be made to ensure continued success. Early-intervention programs, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), proved to be ineffective because the programs did not target components that have been shown to predict future drug use [54]. One program that has targeted these components, normative beliefs, lifestyle-behavior incongruence, and commitment is the All Stars program [39,40]. A strong initial dosage with booster interventions for at least 2 years is also important [10]. Before a child is diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, every effort should be made to detect any underlying psychiatric disorder that has not been treated and therefore may look like a conduct disorder (e.g., bipolar disorder). Proper psychopharmacologic interventions should be made for psychiatric disorders. If one drug has been ineffective, another untreated psychiatric disorder may be present, and it is always important to tease out what remaining symptoms are present after a therapeutic trial has been tried. It is important to form a team approach so that all risk factors can be approached. Members of the team often include a primary care physician, a child psychologist, the parents, the patient, a teacher, a school counselor, a child psychiatrist, and sometimes a pediatric neurologist. No one member of the treatment team can provide all of the necessary services to prevent the future risk for substance abuse.