Director's Message
Welcome to New York University Child Study Center and our newly revised website, a virtual center dedicated to improving the treatment of child psychiatric disorders through scientific practice, research and education. We hope parents, educators, physicians, and mental health professionals who are concerned about child and adolescent psychiatric disorders will bookmark our new site and share it with their families, friends and colleagues.
- Fifteen million children in the U.S. have diagnosable psychiatric or learning disorders but nearly 70% don't receive the help they need. These disorders rob children of the ability to learn, make and keep friends and enjoy life.
- Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 24.
- Fewer than 10% of the 80,000 public schools in the U.S. have comprehensive mental health services.
- 75% of all cases of adults with psychiatric disorders report that they started before age 24.
Children's mental illness remains stigmatized, under-diagnosed and under-treated. Depression, autism, ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bulimia are terms that have become too familiar to American families yet many are still unwilling to talk about these disorders and often delay needed treatment.
Last year, children and families from 41 states and 26 countries were evaluated and many treated by our expert clinicians and faculty. We thank our supporters for the help and guidance that they have provided during the last ten years and hope you find our new web site helpful and informative. We ask for your support as we continue to work to give children back their childhood.
I hope you will join us in the fight to help children struggling with mental health find a path to success at home, at school and with their peers. Please visit "Donate to the Child Study Center" and learn how you can help.
Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D.
Director, NYU Child Study Center; Arnold and Debbie Simon Professor and Chair, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Sr. Vice President and Vice Dean for External Affairs, NYU Medical Center; Professor of Pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine; Director, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital Center; Director, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research
