Irritability in kids has been a personal and professional interest of Dr. Sharp’s for nearly two decades. He went to grad school at a time when pediatric bipolar disorder was the “hot” diagnosis, only to find out several years later that the irritability so often seen as ‘representative’ of bipolar in kids, did not actually predict a bipolar diagnosis during adulthood. The advent of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder advanced our knowledge quite a bit, yet these irritable kids continue to fall in a gray area as far as diagnosis and treatment are concerned.

For this course, Dr. Melissa Brotman sits down with Dr. Sharp to talk about her work with pediatric mood concerns, with a focus on the irritability and angry outbursts that so many clinicians see.

Some of the highlights from this conversation include:

• The history and classification of pediatric mood disorders
• The relationship between irritability, anxiety, and depression
• Melissa’s exposure-based treatment with angry kids
• Ecological Momentary Assessment and app-based mood tracking

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

Want to hear the interview? Listen for free using the audio player below.
Interview with Melissa Brotman

This interview was published in May 2021.

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ABOUT DR. MELISSA BROTMAN

Dr. Melissa A. Brotman leads the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit (NNT) in the Emotion and Development Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program (IRP). Dr. Brotman received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialized in cognitive behavioral therapy for mood and anxiety disorders.

Her neurodevelopmental, translational research integrates basic and clinical approaches to the study of mood disorders in children and adolescents. Specifically, she uses affective neuroscience techniques to understand the brain-based mechanisms underlying severe irritability in youth and leverages that pathophysiological knowledge to guide the development of novel targeted interventions.

Contact info:

• Website: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/nnt

• Twitter: @MelissaBrotman

ABOUT DR. JEREMY SHARP

Dr. Sharp is a licensed psychologist and Clinical Director at the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling, a private practice that he founded in 2009 and has grown to over 20 clinicians. He earned his undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina before getting his Master’s and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. These days, he specializes in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation with kids and adolescents.

As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, Dr. Sharp provides private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow psychological testing services in their practices. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife (also a therapist) and two young kids.

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