Launched in 1971, Adolescent Psychiatry, in the words of founding coeditors Sherman C. Feinstein, Peter L. Giovacchinni, and Arthur A. Miller, promised "to explore adolescence as a process . . . to enter challenging and exciting areas that may have profound effects on our basic concepts." Further, they promised "a series that will provide a forum for the expression of ideas and problems that plague and excite so many of us working in this enigmatic but fascinating field." For over two decades, Adolescent Psychiatry has fulfilled this promise. The repository of a wealth of...

Launched in 1971, Adolescent Psychiatry promised "to explore adolescence as a process . . . to enter challenging and exciting areas that may have profound effects on our basic concepts." Further, they promised "a series that will provide a forum for the expression of ideas and problems that plague and excite so many of us working in this enigmatic but fascinating field." The repository of a wealth of original studies by preeminent clinicians, developmental researchers, and social scientists specializing in this stage of life, the series has become an essential resource for all mental...

Volume 26 of The Annals begins with essays that address the challenge of maintaining human connections in a biological century; Philip Katz focuses on the human encounter between therapist and patient whereas Vivian Rakoff emphasizes the continuing identity of the healer throughout history. Papers on adolescent development, which challenge readers to look beyond preconceived ideas, include Robert Galatzer-Levy's examination of adolescence as a social construction expressed in contradictory cultural narratives and Jack Drescher's exploration of the developmental narratives of gay men in...

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....

The ASAP's longstanding advocacy of troubled adolescents gains expression in Volume 28 of Adolescent Psychiatry, which focuses on the juvenile justice system and other dimensions of adolescents and the law. A special section on the forensic and legal aspects of adolescent psychiatry traverses the competence of adolescents to consent to treatment; the "voluntary" hospitalization of adolescents; the utility of residential treatment programs in the management of juvenile delinquency; and Richard Ratner's Schonfeld Lecture, "Juvenile Justice?" The special demands on psychiatric providers...

A special section on adolescent substance abuse highlights Volume 29 of Adolescent Psychiatry. Contributions range from an examination of brain myelination in relation to onset of addictive disorders (Bartzokis) to the screening instruments used to detect substance use disorders (Rosner) to practical aspects of psychiatric assessment and management of substance abusing adolescents (Havivi). Topical studies focus on the changing patterns of use and health risks of the "designer drug" Ecstasy (Grob); the club drugs gamma-hydroxybutyrate and ketamine (Miotto et al.); and adolescent...

The period of adolescence can be a time of great creativity, as new intellectual capacities emerge, and as the individual adolescent attempts to make sense out of inner and outer experience. Volume 30 of Adolescent Psychiatry addresses the ways in which adolescent experience is transmuted into creative artistic production, as well as focuses on the relationship between creativity and psychopathology, and treatment for troubled adolescents.

With the links between adolescence and creativity in mind, the volume opens with an in-depth examination of a young boy's...