Adolescent Mental Health

Adolescence is a period of rapid growth, maturing individuality, vulnerabilities and fortitude. Fortunately, most youths go through this period of life in a healthy way, but some do not. Adolescent Mental Health: Prevention and Intervention is a concise and accessible overview of our current knowledge on effective treatment and prevention programs for youths who have developed, or are at risk of developing, mental health problems. Ogden and Hagen's introduction to "what works" in the promotion of adolescent mental health addresses some of the most common mental health problems among young people, and how these problems might be prevented or ameliorated through professional and systematic efforts. The volume illustrates contemporary and empirically supported interventions and prevention efforts through a series of case studies, and covers some of the most prevalent mental health conditions affecting today's youth; externalizing, internalizing and drug use problems. Within an ecological and transactional framework, the book discusses how psychopathologies may develop and the risks and protective factors associated with these.The problem-oriented perspective on risk and mental health problems is combined with a focus on social competence and other protective factors. Adolescent Mental Health: Prevention and Intervention will be essential reading for students and practitioners in the fields of child welfare and mental health services, and any professionals working with adolescents at risk of developing mental health problems.

Terje Ogden is research director at the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Unirand and professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. Since 1998 he has been the director of the research program on the national implementation and evaluation of empirically supported programs for the prevention and treatment of serious behavior problems in children and youth in Norway. Kristine Amlund Hagen is director of research at the Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway (RBUP Oslo). In recent years, she has conducted intervention research on families with children and adolescents with conduct problems. She received her PhD in developmental psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004. She has published articles in academic journals on topics such as social competence, antisocial behaviour, effects of family and community interventions and risk and protective factors.

"As outstanding investigators in the areas of developmental psychopathology, prevention and intervention trials, and services research, Ogden and Hagen are uniquely positioned to author this exceptional, comprehensive, concise, and highly readable synthesis of the empirical literatures concerning adolescent mental health. I recommend this volume highly to graduate students and professionals in the mental health disciplines." - Scott W. Henggeler, Medical University of South Carolina, USA "The strength of this volume is the scholarly overview of key perspectives and the supporting research relevant to adolescent development. It integrates new prevention and treatment findings with developmental theory. The authors are to be commended for their even-handed review of controversies surrounding theoretical and intervention approaches while maintaining careful attention to the details and facts." - Marion Forgatch, Oregon Social Learning Center, USA