New Directions in Children’s Mental Health Policy: Psychology’s Role Ronald F. Levant Nova Southeastern University Patrick Tolan University of Illinois at Chicago Daniel Dodgen American Psychological Association The policies that influence the practice of children’s mental health affect psychologists across the nation. Major recent events have brought this topic to the attention of national policymakers at the highest level and have created opportunities for psychologists to present information regarding recent scientific advances in the treatment of childhood disorders and to be involved in the development of solutions to address the needs of our nation’s children. This article reviews these recent events, summarizes current knowledge in the field, and addresses specific issues and critical gaps in current national policies on children’s mental health. Recently there has been heightened attention to children’s men- tal health at the highest levels of government as a result of the White House summit meeting in March 2000 and the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health in September 2000, which created new opportunities to improve the services that we provide to our nation’s children. Moreover, recent additions to the knowledge base generated by psychological science can help address some major issues and problems in child mental health, some of which were identified by the surgeon general’s report (U.S. Public Health Service [USPHS], 2000). These issues are (a) recognizing the critical role of mental health in children’s lives (e.g., improving school performance by improving children’s men- tal health), (b) identifying the predisposing and precipitating fac- tors for child psychopathology, (c) utilizing efficacious interven- tions for treatment and prevention of the most prevalent child mental health problems, and (d) understanding the conditions that promote access to appropriate services. Contemporary develop- ments in child mental health policy in federal programs reflect the influence of the increased attention to children’s mental health and have also created opportunities for psychology to inform policy formulation and to address significant service gaps. Some specific policy issues that need to be addressed include the limited access to quality services; the trend in viewing child mental health nar- rowly using a medical, as opposed to an integrative biopsychoso- cial, approach; and the expansion of psychological services to children and adolescents through school-based and primary care programs. National Focus on Children’s Mental Health Policy The White House Summit Meeting on Children’s Mental Health The White House summit meeting on the mental health of children was held by then First Lady Hillary Clinton on March 20, 2000. The context for the meeting was the significant concerns about the overmedication of preschool children generated by a well-publicized study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Zito et al., 2000). This study found a dra- matic increase in the prescription of psychotropic medications to children of preschool age between 1991 and 1995. The study focused on three major classes of psychotropic drugs (stimulants, antidepressants, and neuroleptics) and two leading drugs (methyl- phenidate and clonidine) used to treat attention problems, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and associated comorbidities. Across three sites, stimulants (and in particular methylphenidate) showed the largest increase, clonidine and anti- depressants showed sizable increases, but neuroleptic use in- creased only slightly. Of particular concern was the predominance of “off-label” use—that is, using drugs that have not been ap- proved either for young children or for the condition for which the drug was prescribed. These concerns were reflected less than a month later in a U.S. News and World Report cover story on the Editor’s Note. Mary Beth Kenkel served as the action editor for this article.—MBK RONALD F. LEVANT received his EdD in clinical psychology and public practice from Harvard in 1973. He is a diplomate in clinical psychology and is a dean and professor at the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University. PATRICK TOLAN received his PhD from the University of Tennessee and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. He is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is the director of the Institute for Juvenile Research there. DANIEL DODGEN received his PhD in clinical psychology from the Univer- sity of Houston in 1995. He is the senior legislative and federal affairs officer in the Public Policy Office of the American Psychological Associ- ation and is the co-director of the APA Congressional Fellowship program. CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to Ronald F. Levant, Office of the Dean, Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314. E-mail: Rlevant@aol.com Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2002, Vol. 33, No. 2, 115–124 0735-7028/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0735-7028.33.2.115 115