Clinical Insights for Treating Depression and Anxiety Youth

PsychPearls Podcast: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Allie Shapiro, MD, joins Minoo Mahmoudi, MD, both practicing clinicians at Community Psychiatry in California, to talk about what is happening with children who are primarily staying in place in their home settings. In their practice, Drs Shapiro and Mahmoudi have found that young people who have social anxiety are actually doing well being at home all the time. They feel less of a need to interact and socialize with other children their age, or even other adults, in other situations.

Children with social anxiety seem to be making the best of the current state of affairs with the pressure of interacting with kids and adults lifted. They are very comfortable in their homes. On the other hand, as the COVID-19 timeline extends, some children haven't left their home at all, and others are even regressing. The family is beginning to learn the quarantine is taking longer and longer with isolation taking a toll, especially in the Los Angeles area where things are getting worse and more restrictions are taking hold. It is becoming harder to get children to engage in and do things with their families. It is becoming an uphill battle for parents who are finding it challenging to get their kids to do anything.

Two child psychiatrists talk about what children are currently experiencing, along with their families. They offer their real-world experience of what they have seen in practice, together with tips and suggestions for clinicians who may be seeing similar symptoms in their patients.

About the experts:

Allie Shapiro, MD, graduated from Miss Porter’s School in 2004, Brandeis University in 2008, and St George’s University School of Medicine in 2012. She then went on to complete a Triple Board Residency at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. There she studied pediatric medicine, adult psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. She is a board-certified pediatrician and board-certified in adult and child and adolescent psychiatry. She is a psychiatrist at Community Psychiatry, Beverly Hills, CA.

Minoo Mahmoudi, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and board-certified in adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry in Canada. She attended medical school in Iran and went to Canada after graduating from medical school. She joined the psychiatry residency program at the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 2009, and completed her residency training in 2014. She completed a 1-year fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manitoba. She then joined the department of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba as a staff faculty where she worked as an inpatient and outpatient psychiatrist. She then moved to Toronto and worked as a staff psychiatrist at Youthdale Treatment Centres. Dr Mahmoudi provided care to adults as well as children and their families in Toronto. She then moved to the United States with her family. She completed 2 years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy training at New Centre for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. She is board certified with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is also a practicing psychiatrist at Community Psychiatry in Santa Monica, CA.