Dr. Philip Cheifetz This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. NCR Chapter

   www.ccacc.ca/ChapterNCR.htm - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/21/2004   Last Visited: 8/9/2005

   Dr. Philip Cheifetz is an assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa. In addition, he is a child psychiatrist at CHEO, the ROH, and the Arnprior Hospital. He is a member of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society. Dr. Cheifetz will address the topic of manic depressive illness across the age spectrum, its etiology and medications, and give an overview of the latest literature findings. He will also cover early detection, and the signs and symptoms counsellors should watch for.

2. 2. Canadian Children's Rights Council -

   www.canadiancrc.com/articles/O - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/23/2003   Last Visited: 4/29/2006

   "They show it in strange ways," says Dr. Philip Cheifetz, a child psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. "They show it in their anger, in their feistiness and sulkiness," he says, in irritability and a lack of interest in the world around them.
   ...
   Philip, who would have been 12 years old today, had hanged himself.
   
   Lately, Philip had been plagued by a series of bad marks and risked failing the school year, Mr. Allaire said.
   ...
   Not only is it well recognized in psychiatry today that depression can strike in childhood, "we know that some little children will report -- if you ask them -- suicidal ideas," Dr. Cheifetz says.
   
   Not three-year-olds, he stressed. But "there are kids of 10 and 11 who, because of various reasons, either because they've heard about (suicide), or they know about a suicide in their family, will say, 'Yes, I've thought about death. I've thought about killing myself.' "
   
   It's extremely rare for a child under 12 to take his or her own life. But it does occur, Dr. Cheifetz says, "and when it does, it's a terrible tragedy."
   ...
   Dr. Cheifetz is part of a team of psychiatrists who, over the past five years, have completed 30 "psychological autopsies" on area teens and young adults who have committed suicide.
   ...
   He's not a child who is spontaneous and wants to have fun," Dr. Cheifetz, former clinical director of the Royal Ottawa Hospital, says. They're often nihilistic, he says. "They're philosophers.
   ...
   When a child of 11 or 12 becomes seriously suicidal, "there's been something going on for a long time in that child, something that has made this child despairing that people have not known about, that has not been communicated," Dr. Cheifetz adds. "You sometimes have to ask about (suicidal thinking). You sometimes have to really pursue it. Sometimes it's the only way."
   
   But Dr. Cheifetz is troubled by what he says is a common experience for depressed youth.
   ...
   Parents and children need to recognize that depression is like any other illness, Dr. Cheifetz says. "It can occur in anybody, and it should be treated as a serious thing, not 'Pull up your socks, you'll get over this.' "
   
   "The trouble is that people feel ashamed," he says.

3. 3. Children not immune to deadly depression

   www.cyc-net.org/Newsdesk/newsd - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/4/1999   Last Visited: 8/13/2000

   They show it in strange ways, says Dr. Philip Cheifetz, a child psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. They show it in their anger, in their feistiness and sulkiness, he says, in irritability and a lack of interest in the world around them.
   
   ...
   Philip, who would have been 12 years old today, had hanged himself.
   
   Lately, Philip had been plagued by a series of bad marks and risked failing the school year, Mr. Allaire said. It became a big part of conversations..
   
   ...
   But it does occur, Dr. Cheifetz says, and when it does, it be a terrible tragedy. A child's suicide can tear a family apart. The guilt begins to settle like a stone in the hearts of parents. They feel awful. And they need to be relieved of that..
   
   Psychiatrists say major depression is being diagnosed at earlier and earlier ages, for reasons that be not clear, but a phenomenon they say is real and not due to better detection alone.
   
   ...
   Dr. Cheifetz is part of a team of psychiatrists who, over the past five years, have completed 30 psychological autopsies on area teens and young adults who have committed suicide. The researchers spend time with the parents and family, exploring the psychiatric dimension, the psychosocial life of the child and what happened that would cause this (suicide) . The goal is to identify characteristics that are common in youth who have committed suicide compared to those who have made serious or minor attempts, to better identify those most at risk of killing themselves.
   
   What does depression look like in a child.
   
   The child is serious. he be not a happy child.
   ...
   But Dr. Cheifetz is troubled by what he says is a common experience for depressed youth. Somebody sees them, and then both they and their therapist lose interest. Because they put away that problem. it be not there any more. But while some studies have found that many depressive episodes in adolescents will spontaneously remit, the risk of recurrence is substantial. If you have one episode that be even brief, there be a higher chance that you will get another one later on, Dr. Milin says.
   
   Doctors are increasingly prescribing anti-depressants to teens and pre-teens.
   ...
   Parents and children need to recognize that depression is like any other illness, Dr. Cheifetz says. It can occur in anybody, and it should be treated as a serious thing, not Pull up your socks, you will get over this.'.
   
   The trouble is that people feel ashamed, he says. Suicide often splits the family up. The turbulence is terrible, it be considerable and it goes on for a long time. it be a tragedy because you lose a life and it has a ripple effect on everybody around them..