Presentations
- Abnormal illness behaviour
- Academic difficulty
- Aggression:
- Attention and concentration difficulties
- Body image concerns
- Bullying and other forms of victimisation and social exclusion
- Communication and language difficulties
- Deliberate self-harm
- Disordered eating:
- food refusal
- picky eating
- Extreme emotions
- Fatigue / Tiredness
- Gaming, internet, and social media use concerns
- Pain:
- School refusal and excessive absenteeism
- Sleep difficulties
- Somatisation
- Suicidal ideation
- Weight concerns:
Conditions
- Adjustment disorders
- Anxiety disorders:
- Attachment disorders
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- Behavioural addictions, such as:
- electronic device use
- pornography
- problematic gambling or gamification
- video gaming
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Complex neurodevelopmental disorders
- Conduct disorder
- Deliberate self-harm
- Depression
- Eating disorders:
- anorexia nervosa
- avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
- binge eating disorder
- bulimia nervosa
- Functional neurological and somatoform disorders
- Gender dysphoria
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Psychosis
- Sleep disorders
- Specific learning disorders
- Suicide attempt
For each presentation and condition, Advanced Trainees will know how to:
Synthesise
- recognise the clinical presentation
- identify relevant epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical science
- take a relevant clinical history
- conduct an appropriate examination
- establish a differential diagnosis
- plan and arrange appropriate investigation
- consider the impact of illness and disease on patients and families, and their quality of life
Manage
- provide evidence-based management
- for less common or more complex presentations and conditions the trainee must also seek expert opinions
- prescribe therapies tailored to patients’ needs and conditions
- recognise potential complications of disease and its management, and initiate preventative strategies
- involve multidisciplinary teams
Consider other factors
- identify individual and social factors and the impact of these on diagnosis and management
Presentations
- Electronic device addiction
- Suicide attempt
Conditions
- Bipolar disorder
- Factitious disorder
- Personality disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Trauma and stressor-related disorders
Synthesise
- recognise the clinical presentation
- identify relevant epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical science
- take a relevant clinical history
- conduct an appropriate examination
- establish a differential diagnosis
- plan and arrange appropriate investigation
- consider the impact of illness and disease on patients and families, and their quality of life
Manage
- provide evidence-based management
- for less common or more complex presentations and conditions the trainee must also seek expert opinions
- prescribe therapies tailored to patients’ needs and conditions
- recognise potential complications of disease and its management, and initiate preventative strategies
- involve multidisciplinary teams
Consider other factors
- identify individual and social factors and the impact of these on diagnosis and management
- Early developmental trauma and its impact on adolescent development, such as adverse childhood events
- Epidemiology of mental health conditions
- Pathophysiology of starvation and refeeding syndrome
- Pharmacology of common psychotropic medications, such as:
- anti-anxiety medications
- antidepressants
- antipsychotics
- non-stimulants
- stimulants
- Psychological and pathological features of eating disorders
- Risk screening in patients presenting with suicidal ideation, including the importance of asking suicidal patients if they have a plan
Investigations
- Anthropometric centile charts
- Body mass index (BMI)
- Bone mineral density imaging
- Sleep study
Screening / Clinical assessment tools
- ADHD assessment tools
- ASD assessment tools
- Child behaviour checklist (CBCL)
- Cognitive and adaptive functioning assessment tools
- Comprehensive psychosocial assessment (Home, Education / employment, Eating / exercise, Activities, Drugs and alcohol, Sexuality, Suicide and depression, Safety [HEEADSSS])
- Fatigue assessments
- Mental health questionnaires and risk assessments
- Mental state examination
- Speech and pragmatic language assessment tools
- Strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ)
- Substance use screening tools
- Concept of body image
- Counselling and supporting distressed young people
- Integrating mental health management within medical settings
- Management considerations for adolescents and young adults (AYA) with ADHD:
- difference in presentation in diagnosis between early, middle, and late adolescence, and young adults
- management of sleep and other complications
- non-pharmacological and pharmacological management of ADHD and comorbidities
- regulations for prescribing stimulant medications
- Management considerations for AYA with ASD:
- awareness of the principles of positive behaviour support, including environmental adaptation to meet sensory needs with neurodevelopmental disorders
- common co-occurring conditions
- management of common mental health conditions and functional disorders
- medications used to support co-occurring conditions, including atypical antidepressants and antipsychotics
- role of allied health professionals when assessing, diagnosing, and supporting neurodivergent youth
- support specific adolescent developmental tasks that may be more challenging for neurodivergent youth, such as:
- navigating romantic or sexual relationships
- protecting online safety
- Management of risk-taking behaviours, violence, and harm minimisation
- Mental health act, and laws surrounding involuntary treatment
- Principles of trauma-informed care / understanding of adverse childhood events
- Sleep disorders management, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, and screening for obstructive sleep apnoea
- Specific considerations needed for the following groups:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Māori adolescents
- adolescents whose parents have a mental illness or substance misuse
- adolescents with a disability
- homeless young people
- LGBTQIA+ adolescents
- neurodiverse young people
- refugee and asylum seeker families
- socioeconomically disadvantaged young people
- victims of physical and/or sexual abuse
- young people in custody or out-of-home care
