Focusing on Racial, Historical and Intergenerational Trauma, and Resilience: A Paradigm to Better Serving Children and Families.

Research across populations demonstrates that intergenerational trauma can have lasting biological, psychological, and social consequences and affects groups of individuals in different ways. An appreciation of intergenerational trauma as experienced in diverse populations is important not only for understanding vulnerabilities and risk but also for cultivating opportunities for posttraumatic growth and healing. Understanding the contexts of trauma for children and families and the unveiling of structural inequities, both past and present, offers the opportunity to address these in using clinical and systems of care approaches in the public health spheres.

Structural Inequities and the Impact of COVID-19 on Latinx Children: Implications for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Practice.

In the United States, the Latinx community (Latinx is a gender-neutral term to describe any person of Latin American descent or heritage) is a heterogeneous population with diverse cultural origins, different migratory experiences, and different socioeconomic and educational realities. The disruptions to daily life and the associated stresses of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have been perhaps most acutely felt by Black and Latinx children from low-income families, including first-generation and undocumented immigrants.1 Structural inequities, such as the lack of employer-sponsored insurance in the service and retail industries; barriers to applying for public benefits, even for those who qualify; chronic poverty; and the lack of linguistically and culturally effective services have contributed to the disproportionate impact. In this article, the authors consider how structural inequities have rendered Latinx children particularly vulnerable to the devastating physical and psychological effects of the pandemic, identify risk and protective factors that are related to mental health outcomes, and recommend ways in which child and adolescent psychiatrists can respond to the escalating needs.

Topiramate for hyperphagia associated with a third ventricle mass.

Hypothalamic control of eating functions can be affected by different physiopathologic events or injuries. A case report of an individual with a mass in the third ventricle is presented. Neuropsychiatric manifestations included hyperphagia, agitation, and cognitive impairment. Pharmacological intervention with topiramate (Topomax(®), Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals) helped the hyperphagia and agitation better than other agents tried. Possible mechanisms of action of this agent are discussed.

Peripheral oedema in patients taking olanzapine.

Premarketing trials of olanzapine reported an incidence of peripheral oedema of 3%. Outpatients, who were actively receiving treatment with olanzapine, were evaluated for peripheral oedema. Twenty-eight (57%) out of 49 subjects exhibited oedema, including five (10.2%) to a severe degree. There were no significant differences regarding gender, time/dose on olanzapine, concomitant diagnoses or psychotropic medication. There was a tendency (P < 0.10) for older age and greater frequency of thyroid abnormalities in those individuals with oedema. In the oedema group, there was a positive correlation (P < 0.05) between age and severity. Our finding, far from demonstrating that olanzapine causes oedema at this frequency, suggests that there maybe patients who are vulnerable to developing this side-effect.