Conflicting views of a child’s behavior helpful to clinician

Clinicians often face the challenge of trying to make sense of conflicting reports from parents, teachers, and children about a child’s behavioral problems.

However, a better understanding of the source and nature of these disagreements may provide important information that could improve treatment and outcomes.

A group of articles in the current issue of Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology explores this challenging clinical dilemma and how clinicians should proceed in the face of these conflicting reports.

Editors note that “disagreement between informants was more the rule than the exception.” They suggest that clinicians view this disagreement as “additional information” rather than a problem and use this information to help determine the credibility of each informant’s report.

“This has implications for treatment engagement, adherence, and ultimately outcomes,” they conclude.

"Clinicians have long known that parents and children have very different perceptions about how a child is behaving or what they are feeling…These studies improve the diagnosis and advance our understanding and treatment of children with psychiatric disorders," said Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, Editor-in-Chief.

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