Best Child Psychiatry Books of 2025

Kaplan & Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry is a trusted clinical psychiatric resource for health care professionals worldwide. Its twelfth edition has been reorganized to be more useful and easier to navigate, with clinically relevant material at the beginning of the book, clearer headings and summaries, and numerous case studies. The book also presents current treatment methods, including descriptions of modern psychotherapeutic techniques, and includes descriptive tables for all relevant DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnoses. Overall, it is an excellent resource for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge of psychiatry and psychopharmacology.

When Harley Has Anxiety is a fun and engaging activity book for kids aged 5 to 9, designed to help them manage their worries and fears. Written by expert psychologist Dr. Regine Galanti, the book uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) strategies to teach kids how to work through anxious situations on their own. With the help of friendly character Harley the Hedgehog, children will learn to change their worried thoughts, behaviors, and physical reactions. The book includes over 45 fun activities, from drawing to mindfulness exercises, that help kids understand their feelings and develop coping plans. Overall, a valuable resource for parents and caregivers looking to help children manage anxiety in a positive way.

The DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents is an essential guide for clinicians treating adolescents with emotional or behavioral problems of any level of severity. The manual provides a step-by-step approach to teach teens and parents five sets of skills including Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Walking the Middle Path, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. The book includes session outlines, teaching notes, discussion points, examples, homework assignments, and reproducible handouts. The large-format of the book makes it easy to photocopy. The authors' expertise is evident in the detailed descriptions of how to deliver treatment to teens and their families. Overall, this book is a valuable addition to the body of work on DBT and is sure to make clinicians' jobs easier while enhancing outcomes.

The DBT Skills in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT STEPS-A) is a unique manual that teaches adolescents how to manage difficult emotional situations, cope with stress, and make better decisions using dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills. The book offers an innovative social-emotional learning curriculum that can be taught at the universal level in grades 6-12. The curriculum includes 30 lesson plans, complete with numerous reproducible tools, and explicit instructions for teaching mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Overall, this book is an excellent resource for school personnel looking to teach effective life and emotion regulation skills to high-risk students and the general adolescent population.

The Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis, now in its revised and expanded second edition, is regarded as the authoritative work on the principles and practice of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The book presents evidence-based procedures for supporting positive behaviors and reducing problem behaviors in diverse contexts such as education, autism treatment, and behavioral pediatrics. The updated edition includes chapters on additional applications, quantitative analysis, behavioral economics, and technology tools. This comprehensive handbook is an ideal text for a graduate course in ABA and an invaluable reference for practitioners and students.

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is a comprehensive, empirically tested intervention specifically designed for toddlers and preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. This state-of-the-art manual provides hands-on strategies for working with very young children in individual and group settings to promote development in key domains such as communication, social, cognitive, and motor skills, and play. The book is unique in integrating goals and teaching strategies from developmental, behavioral, and context-oriented approaches. With multisite research underway to test the encouraging results of early studies, this manual will enable interventionists to think more broadly and collaborate across disciplines within a comprehensive intervention framework.

Pocket Addiction Medicine is a new addition to the Pocket Notebook series, providing comprehensive coverage of addiction medicine in a portable source. Written by physician leaders in Addiction Medicine and published in partnership with the American Society of Addiction Medicine, this handbook delivers must-know information on screening, diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorder, including caring for special populations. The book is designed for quick reference at the point of care, using the popular, easy-access Pocket Notebook format, and contains up-to-date content in outline format, with bulleted lists, tables, and algorithms. A valuable resource for physicians, trainees, healthcare professionals, and students.

The book "Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention" is a valuable resource for K-12 school practitioners and teachers. The third edition offers new chapters on working with students with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, as well as guidance on developing individual education programs and multi-tiered systems of support. The book provides effective strategies for assessing students' strengths and weaknesses and promoting specific skills, such as organization, time management, sustained attention, and emotional control. The practical tools and reproducible forms included make it easy for teachers to implement the intervention strategies. Overall, this book is a must-have for anyone working with children and adolescents.

Kaplan & Sadock's Concise Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry is a must-have resource for clinicians, residents, students, and all others who provide mental health care. The book provides concise but thorough coverage of the entire field of clinical psychiatry, including biologic, psychologic, and sociologic factors in health and disease. It offers step-by-step guidance on the clinical examination, the psychiatric report, medical assessment of the psychiatric patient, laboratory tests, and signs and symptoms, as well as all psychiatric and substance-related disorders. The book also contains real-world case histories throughout and features a unique glossary of psychiatric signs and symptoms. Overall, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone in the field of psychiatry.

Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychopharmacology Made Simple is an essential resource for anyone looking for information on the use of psychoactive medications in the treatment of childhood and adolescent psychological disorders. The book offers up-to-date DSM-5 definitions, medication information, and fact sheets that clearly delineate frequently prescribed medications for each disorder along with medication side effects and signs of toxicity. The book is concise, factual, and practical, making it an excellent resource for students, professionals, and individuals who live with the disorders and their families/caregivers. Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to understand child and adolescent medications and treatment.