Child and Adolescent Psychiatry-research

Research

The broad areas in which the faculty of the department has done research include epidemiology of child psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders (Intellectual Disability, Autism, Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), internalizing disorders (Depression, Anxiety disorders especially Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), externalizing disorders (Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder), childhood Bipolar Affective Disorder, Child Sexual Abuse, children in difficult circumstances, school refusal etc.

Faculty has worked in research collaborations with prestigious institutes like Indian Institute of Science (IISc), National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID, formerly NIMH), National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) etc. Extramural research projects have been funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), Department of Bio-Technology (Government of India), National Institute of Health (USA), Medical Research Council (UK) etc.

Details:

Key research done at the department of child and adolescent psychiatry includes:

  • Clinical/neurobiological research:
  • Field trial of a new assessment instrument in autism: The Department was involved in the planning of a new scale for assessment of autism – the Indian scale for assessment of autism (ISAA) initiated by the Director General Health Services (Government of India) with National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID, formerly NIMH), Secunderabad, as the coordinating centre. The Department was one of the field trial centres. The scale has been standardized and is available for general use.
  • Autism registry: An intra-murally funded retrospective study of the profile of children with autism spectrum disorders – towards development of a registry of individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
  • Psychotic disorders in persons with Intellectual Disability: This was done as part of a PhD thesis completed recently. The study has offered important insights into the presentation and diagnosis of psychotic disorders in individuals with intellectual disability.
  • Endophenotype: Neuro-imaging, neuropsychological assessments and eye-tracking in parents and siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders.
  • Autism and Epilepsy: A study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Department of Health Research (Government of India) explored the relationship between autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy.
  • Imaging and biochemical correlates in children with autism with and without epilepsy, funded by ICMR-DHR
  • Role of genetics in Autism Spectrum Disorder with and without epilepsy
  • Molecular genetic studies:
  • Primary Microcephaly: Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by congenital microcephaly (because of small brain) with No other major congenital anomalies or intellectual disability. The diagnosis is established based on clinical features, normal karyotype, and ruling out of other causes such as HIE, PKU, dysmorphic syndromes, maternal PKU, prenatal infection etc. Importance of Primary Microcephaly comes from the fact that (i) Identified genes play a major role in neurogenesis and neuronal migration, (ii) Identified genes could have a major role in evolution of human intelligence, and (iii) Clinical implications for a prenatal diagnosis. The department has been involved in the molecular genetics study of this condition in collaboration with Dr. Arun Kumar from the department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics at Indian Institute of Science, for the last 12 years. So far around 85 subjects from 60 families have been recruited. Genetic analysis has consisted of karyotyping, linkage analysis with microsatellite markers, mutation analysis and whole genome sequencing. The major findings so far are: (i) First time replication of mutations in the ASPM gene (MCPH5) (ii) First time report of mutations in the STIL gene (MCPH7) and (iii) Report of mutations in WDR62 gene (MCPH2).
  • Identification of genes involved in X-linked Mental Retardation: This is a collaborative project with Institute of Bioinformatics, Bangalore.
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem cell (iPS) model of genetic microcephaly: This is a collaborative project with Dr. Shyamala Mani from the Center for Neurosciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
  • Clinical trials
  • Clinical trial of Ayush Manas in mental retardation: This is an ongoing double-blind placebo controlled trial funded by Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences.
  • Aripiprazole in adolescent schizophrenia
  • Paliperidone in adolescent schizophrenia
  • Clinical trial for efficacy and safety of DCBT 0123 in children with mental retardation

Important recent publications​

  • Srinath S, Girimaji SC, Gururaj G, Seshadri SP, Subbakrishna DK, Bhola P, Kumar N. Epidemiological study of child & adolescent psychiatric disorders in urban & rural areas of Bangalore, India. Indian Journal of Medical Research 2005 Jul 122(1): 67-79
  • Kumar A, Girimaji SC, Duvvari MR, Blanton SH. Mutations in STIL, Encoding a Pericentriolar and Centrosomal Protein, Cause Primary Microcephaly. American Journal of Human Genetics, 2009 Feb 84(12); 286-290
  • Ratheesh, A., Srinath, S., Reddy, J.Y.C, Girimaji, S.C, Seshadri, S. P, Thennarasu, K, Hutin, Y. Are anxiety disorders associated with a more severe form of bipolar disorder in adolescents? Indian J Psychiatry.2011; 53(4): 312–318
  • Math, S. B., & Seshadri, S. P. The invisible ones: Sexual minorities. The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 2013; 137(1), 4–6.
  • Jacob,P Seshadri, S, Girimaji,S.C, Srinath, S Vijay Sagar, J Clinical characteristics of aggression in children and adolescents admitted to a tertiary care centre. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 2013; Vol. 6, Issue 6, Pages 556–559
  • Jacob P, Seshadri SP. Parenting in Children and Adolescents with Internalising Disorders. Review Article J. Indian Assoc. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health 2013; 9(4):136-148
  • Jacob P, Gogi PKV, Srinath S, Thirthalli J, Girimaji S, Seshadri S, Sagar JV. Review of electroconvulsive therapy from a tertiary care child and adolescent psychiatry centre. As J Psychiatry, 2014; 12 (Dec): 95-99.
  • Jacob P, Golhar T, Seshadri S, Mani RN, Purushothaman K. Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the Juvenile Justice System in India: Challenges and Initiatives Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 4, Number 4, October 2014, pp. 278-283(6)
  • Bhaskaran S, Seshadri S (2014). Enabling safety and freedom from abuse within the school. Azim Premji Foundation Issue XXI| Learning Curve
  • Maroky AS, Ratheesh A, Viswanath B, Bada Math S, Channapatna S, Chandrashekar R, Shekhar SP, Ego-dystonicity’ in homosexuality: An Indian perspective-Int J Soc Psychiatry, 2014
  • Chakraborty S, Kommu, JVS, Srinath S, Seshadri SP, and Girimaji SC. Children with Specific Learning Disability and Mental Retardation .Indian J Psychol Med. 2014; 36(1): 27–32. A Comparative Study of Pathways to Care for
  • Gaikwad AD, Lalitha K, and Seshadri SP. Play Therapy: An Approach to Manage Childhood Problems. Int. J. Pediatr. Nurs., vol. 1, no. 1, 2015.
  • Meera SS, Shankar RG, Girimaji SC, Seshadri SP, Philip M, Shivashankar N. Pragmatics of language in the broad autism phenotype. Speech, Language and Hearing 2015 Vol. 18 , Iss. 3. 156-160
  • Meera SS, Girimaji SC, Seshadri SP, Philip M, Shivashankar N, Morgan P and Piven J. Translation of the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire to an Indian language: A description of the process. Asian J Psychiatry,2015; 15, 62-67.
  • Srinath S, Jacob P. Challenges in parent-mediated training in autism spectrum disorder. Lancet Psychiatry, 2015 Dec 15.
  • Kaku, SM, Kommu, JVS, Seshadri S, Girimaji, SC., & Srinath S. Pervasive refusal syndrome – A clinical challenge. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2015; 17(Supplement C), 96–98.
  • Gaikwad, AD, Krishnasamy L, Seshadri S. Effectiveness of Play Therapy on Family Stress, Coping and Selected Variables of Children with Disruptive Behaviour Disorders. International Journal of Child Development and Mental Health, [S.l.], v. 4, n. 2, p. 7-18, July 2016. ISSN 2586-887X.
  • Bhaskaran TS, Gaikwad AD, Chandrakanth C, and Seshadri SP. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in pre-schoolers: A report of two cases. Asian J. Psychiatry, 2016 vol. 20, no. Supplement C, pp. 52–54
  • Bhaskaran TS, & Seshadri, SP. Child Sexual Abuse- Clinical Challenges and Practical Recommendations. Journal of Indian Association For Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 2016 12(2), 143-161.
  • Bhaskaran, TS, Seshadri SP, Srinath S, Girimaji SC, and Sagar JV. Clinical characteristics of children presenting with history of sexual abuse to a tertiary care centre in India Asian J. Psychiatry, 2016 vol. 19, no. Supplement C, pp. 44–49.
  • Jacob, P; Srinath, S; Girimaji, S; Seshadri, S; Sagar,J .V . Co-morbidity in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A clinical study from India. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 2016 Volume 26 Issue 4
  • Rukmani MR, Seshadri SP, Thennarasu K , Raju TR, Sathyaprabha TN Heart Rate Variability in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Pilot Study . Ann Neurosci. 2016; 23:81–88
  • Muthusamy Babylakshmi, Selvan Lakshmi Dhevi N., Nguyen Thong T., Manoj Jesna, Stawiski Eric W., Jaiswal Bijay S., Wang Weiru, Raja Remya, Ramprasad Vedam Laxmi, Gupta Ravi, Murugan Sakthivel, Kadandale Jayarama S., Prasad T.S. Keshava, Reddy Kavita, Peterson Andrew, Pandey Akhilesh, Seshagiri Somasekar, Girimaji Satish Chandra, and Gowda Harsha. Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals Novel Mutations in X-linked Intellectual Disability. OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. May 2017, 21(5): 295-303.
  • Kaku SM, Basheer S, Venkatasubramanian G, Bharath RD, Girimaji SC, Srinath S. Social experiential deprivation in autism spectrum disorders: A possible prognostic factor? Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 2017 Apr (26) 44-45
  • Basheer S, Nagappa M, Mahadevan A, Bindu PS, Taly AB, Girimaji SC. Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Pediatric NMDA Receptor Autoimmune Encephalitis: A Case Series from a Tertiary Care Center in India. The primary care companion for CNS disorders. 2017 Aug 17;19(4).
  • Nair S, Indiramma V, Girimaji SC, Pillai RR. Sexuality in Adolescents with Intellectual disability: Felt Needs of Parents. Indian Journal of Psychiatric Social Work. 2017 Aug 30;8(2).
  • Basheer S, Natarajan A, Van Amelsvoort T, Venkataswamy MM, Vasanthapuram R, Srinath S, Girimaji SC, Christopher R. Vitamin D status of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Case-control study from India. Asian Journal of Psychiatry 2017 Dec (30):200-201
  • Ramaswamy, S., & Seshadri, S. Our failure to protect sexually abused children: Where is our “willing suspension of disbelief”? Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2017; 59(2), 233–235.
  • Kommu JVS, Gayathri KR, Srinath S, Girimaji SC, Seshadri SP, Gopalakrishna G, Subbakrishna DK. Profile of two hundred children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from a tertiary child and adolescent psychiatry centre. Asian J. Psychiatry, 2017 vol. 28, no. Supplement C, pp. 51–56.
  • Preeti K, Srinath S, Seshadri SP, Girimaji SC, and Kommu JVS. Lost time—Need for more awareness in early intervention of autism spectrum disorder, Asian J. Psychiatry, 2017 vol. 25, no. Supplement C, pp. 13–15.
Books
  • Bhaskaran T.S., Seshadri, .S.P, (2017) .Ethics in Child Psychotherapy: A Practitioner’s Perspective. In, Ethical Issues in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice: Walking the Line. Bhola, P, Raguram, A(eds) Springer. India.
  • Harper, G, Parry, P, Jared Ng, Seshadri, S (2017). Psychopharmacology for Children and Adolescents: A Paradigm Shift. In, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry-Asian Perspectives, Malhotra,S and Santosh, P (eds) .Springer.
  • Rao,M, Sonpar, S, Sen, A, Seshadri,S.P, Agarwal, H.(2015) Psychosocial Study of Ragging in Selected Educational Institutions in India https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7661310_Psychosocial-Study-of-Ragging.pdf….
  • Maitra, S, Seshadri, S (2012). Play – Experiential methodologies in developmental and therapeutic settings .Orient Blackswan Publishers.India.
  • Seshadri S, Rao N(2012). Parenting-The art and science of nurturing. Byword publishers.Delhi,India.
  • Seshadri, S (2012). A trainer’s manual-on drug use prevention, treatment and care for street children. UNODC,NISD.Chapter 4,Primary prevention among street children
  • Seshadri, S.P. (2011). Child Rights from A Mental Health Perspective. First Foundation Day Oration. Monograph of National Commission of Child Rights
  • Seshadri, S, Saldhana, S, Saksena, S (2010). On Track: A Workbook on Life Skills and Personal Safety. MacMillan Publications
  • Seshadri, S, Vinay Chandran, V (2006). Reframing masculinities: Using films with adolescent boys /. Combating Gender Violence in and around Schools. Fiona Leach and Claudia Mitchell (Eds). Sterling, VA : Trentham Books,
  • Vijayalakshmi, K.L, Seshadri, S (2001). Mental Health Self-disclosure in Child Sexual Abuse: Content Analysis of Written Narratives of Disclosure in Mental Health from a Gender Perspective/edited by Bhargavi V. Davar. New Delhi, Sage, 427 pISBN 81-7036-955-X.
  • Seshadri, S (1999).Approaches to life-skills training in schools-Content and Methodology. Proceedings of the 5th Biennial conference of IACAM
  • Benegal, V, Bhushan, K, Seshadri, S , Karott, M.(1998). Drug Abuse Among Street Children in Bangalore. A project in collaboration between the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore and the Bangalore Forum for Street and Working Children. Monograph funded by CRY
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