In this volume, Elena Garralda and Jean-Philippe Raynaud aim to contribute to advancing awareness of child and adolescent mental health within an international framework that gives special consideration to problems arising in different contexts around the world and through expert views supported by empirical evidence and considering clinical implications. There is increasing recognition worldwide of the importance of child and adolescent mental health problems, of the distress and impairment they can cause to children and their families, and of the markedly adverse effects on education and on adult psychiatric adjustment when left untreated. Globally, however, services to attend to these problems in children are uneven and patchy. There is a need to advance awareness of child and adolescent mental health and of factors that influence them. Chapters address the effects on child mental health of issues ranging from secular changes in family composition in both western and eastern countries, rapid industrialization, poverty, deprivation, and adoption, to refugee status and aboriginal life. It considers emerging issues, such as cyber addiction, PTSD, ADHD across different cultures, and the autistic "epidemic." They discuss new service developments (Eastern Europe, paediatric liaison services) in the context of traditional methods (traditional Chinese medicine).

Contributions by: Charlotte Allenou, Charles Baily, Cornelio Banaag, Philippe Birmes, Rossana Bisceglia, Rodrigo Chazan, C Cheung, Vanessa Loi-Yan Chu, Eric Fombonne, Tamsin Ford, Jean-Yves Hayez, Franck Hazane, Schuyler Henderson, Jennifer Jenkins, Kazu Kobayashi, Bertrand Olliac, Maryland Pao, Guilherme Polanczyk, Robertas Povilaitis, Dainius Puras, Lisa Reisinger, Luis Rohde, Kapil Sayal, Sadaaki Shirataki, Rebecca Simon, Mandy Steiman, Emily Swinkin, Stevan Weine, Virginia Chun-Nei Wong, Yi Zheng