Timothy C Van Deusen
Yale University School of Medicine, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clinical Psychiatry
Studies have shown that the transitional years of development (15-25) are the time when the highest prevalence of most severe psychiatric disorders occurs and it’s been shown that 75% of all mental illnesses are diagnosed by the age of 24. There are imaging studies demonstrating neurobiological changes until the age of 30, including the amygdala and frontal cortex. The psychosocial issues facing by transitional age youth (TAY) are numerous including sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, military duty, unemployment, identity formation, sexual orientation, and gender issues. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in number of TAY enrolling in college and universities with SMI requiring treatment in counselling centers that are understaffed, inadequately trained in SMI, and have limited access to psychiatrists. Many youth in child welfare that are emancipated at age 18 without a transition to care plan or financial support become homeless, placing them at high risk for substance use disorders and physical/sexual assault. When TAY is discharged from inpatient settings, they rarely follow up as outpatients exposing them to higher risk for relapse of their primary psychiatric conditions. Trainings about TAY with SMI focusing on a developmental perspective are crucial to expand knowledge and understanding symptomatology in this complex population.
Timothy C Van Deusen has treated children, adolescents, and young adults with psychiatric illness for over 20 years in private practice and in community mental health clinics in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, and West Haven, Connecticut. He is currently the Medical Director of the West Haven Mental Health Clinic, Attending Psychiatrist of the Young Adult Service, Residency Site Training Director at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. He received his MD from the American University of the Caribbean and completed his Psychiatry Residency training at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, followed by a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at UCLA. He has focused his academic pursuits in TAY by teaching Yale residents and medical students, written chapters and papers on TAY, and has given presentations on TAY to psychiatric societies throughout the USA.
E-mail: timothy.vandeusen@yale.edu