Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health

Childhood stress and trauma remains a global problem. The last two years are a clear impetus to continue the study of how early stress and trauma impact development, and to explore innovative strategies for fostering resilience. This has always been true – yet, COVID has made it more apparent, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has only increased the urgency of work in this area. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health is inviting submissions for a special issue on stress, trauma and resilience. We would welcome manuscripts that explore these related constructs using diverse methods – including empirical quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as systematic approaches to reviews. We further welcome diversity in scope and focus, and would consider reports of basic science research, clinical research, and population level research. The goal of the special issue is to further the science of stress, trauma and resilience from a global perspective, and we are especially interested in diversity of population and country of origin in both research focus and authorship. Manuscripts that focus on the related topics of wellness and burnout are not suitable for this issue, and we would discourage submissions that provide only correlational accounts between measures of stress, trauma, resilience and specific mental health or psychosocial outcomes. On the other hand, work describing preventative strategies would be of particular interest. Interested authors are welcome to reach out to the editors-in-chief to propose a manuscript and receive some initial input on suitability for this special issue. Submissions will be considered throughout 2022.

The Covid-19 pandemic is profoundly impacting our lives. Therefore, we are proud to present this year’s thematic series “Child and adolescent mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic”. We are seeking high quality papers on the impact of the current pandemic on child mental health and how the mental health systems are adapting to the situation. Given the acute and rapidly changing nature of the pandemic, we are committed to providing a rapid editorial decision. For more information see the call-for-papers and the editorial.

Dr Gerrit van Schalkwyk graduated medical school from the University of Stellenbosch and completed residency and fellowship training at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He has since held faculty positions at Brown and the University of Utah, and has a strong interest in clinically focused research, program development, and support of best practices. Dr van Schalkwyk was previously an associate editor for the Journal of Autism, but now has a more general focus in his clinical and scholarly work that he brings to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Andreas Witt, Dipl.-Psych., Dr. phil. After studying Psychology at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Auckland University of Technology, Dr. Andreas Witt completed his training as a licensed Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) at the Ausbildungszentrum für Verhaltenstherapie (AZVT) at the Medical Department of the University of Ulm. He specialized in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and the treatment of PTSD in children and adolescents. He obtained his Doctorate at the University of Ulm, where he focused on the course and consequences of child maltreatment. He is the Head of the Psychotherapy Outpatient Unit at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University of Ulm, a Lecturer, and Co-Chair of the Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Psychotraumatology of the German Speaking Society of Psychotraumatology (DeGPT). Dr. Witt leads various research projects mainly focusing on interventions for children and adolescents in foster care, child maltreatment and child welfare.