Phenomenological Considerations of Childhood and Adolescent Psychopathology

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In this issue of "Focus on Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health," we present 2 studies that examine important and understudied aspects of the phenomenology of childhood and adolescent psychopathology: suicidality and separation anxiety.

Although suicide is one of the leading causes of mortality in youth, there have been relatively few studies of the phenomenology of and risk factors for suicidal ideation and attempts in youth. Liu and colleagues examine the phenomenology of suicidality in a large cohort of Hungarian youth with major depressive disorder and identify important clinical characteristics that are associated with high risk for various forms of suicidality, including feelings of worthlessness and cooccurring psychiatric disorders.’ ‹