What should parents do if their kids are among the one in six 6-to-17-year-olds diagnosed with a mental disorder? In this reassuring guide, clinical social worker Corcoran, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, gives easy-to-understand advice. Dismiss debunked ideas like blaming “refrigerator mothers” for autism or thinking of homosexuality as a problem. A mind-boggling nine percent of 4-to-17-year-olds in the U.S. have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This condition can affect the whole family: parents of a child with ADHD are more likely to be divorced. Like adults, kids can suffer from social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD behavior like skin-picking, hair-pulling, and arranging items in specific ways can be a means of assuaging anxiety. Corcoran explains cognitive-behavioral therapy and “orthorexia nervosa,” an obsession with a fit and healthy lifestyle that’s not yet in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Among the discipline tips she offers are focus on consequences (if a child destroys something, don’t replace it) and offer choices; they’re better than a flat “no.” A genuinely helpful handbook.

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Your Child's Mental Health Diagnosis provides clear, person-centered, and evidence-based advice gleaned from Jacqueline Corcoran's extensive experience working with children and teens. Corcoran writes with the clarity and empathic understanding that every parent needs to successfully navigate the challenges of a child's mental health diagnosis. Parents will learn how mental disorders are diagnosed, details about medication and therapy, tips for dealing with the medical and school systems, and concrete strategies to help their children cope and thrive.

Brittany B. Polat, nonprofit founder and author of Journal Like a Stoic and Tranquility Parenting

Dr. Corcoran’ book is an incredibly useful guidebook for parents who are learning to navigate the treatment resources available to a child with a Mental Health Diagnosis. The book is organized around the 10 most frequent mental health diagnoses, including ADHD, autism, depression, anxiety. etc., and you might be tempted to ignore this book if your child has been diagnosed with only one of these disorders. Do not make that mistake. Parents quickly learn that a child might have been identified with a single diagnosis that describes most of the behaviors of that child, but that their child has some symptoms of the other diagnoses as well. Dr. Corcoran describes each diagnosis clearly and with fascinating examples. But the real strength of this book is the extensive focus on the treatment of each of these symptom behaviors, whether that treatment is psychological, educational or medical. If you have a child with a mental health disorder, this book will be your bible.

Walt Karniski, MD, Developmental Pediatrician and author of ADHD Medication: Does It Work and Is It Safe?