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PsyDactic - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Board Study Edition

Using the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology content outline for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry board exam, starting with the most high yield, Dr. O'Leary has created this podcast for anyone interested in CAPS and also to help him study for the boards. Enjoy! Let Dr. O'Leary know what

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 26 min
Latest: 17 Jun 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

17 Jun 2026 · 7 min

026 - Primitive Reflexes and Early Motor Milestones

Let me know what you think! - A brief discussion of psychomotor development from infancy through toddlerhood. You can find a video companion for this episode here: https://youtu.be/YK3rWt65Y3k?si=cD2y3TvlQNmrSDa4 Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] OR submitted via a form at https://psydactic.com. This is not medical advice. Please see a licensed physician for...

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Earlier episodes 25 most recent

E25 · 11 Dec 2025 · 31 min
025 - Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a Syndrome, not a Primary Disorder
Let me know what you think! - Dr. O'Leary discusses his critical perspective on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and argues that ODD is not a primary diagnosis but rather a "risk syndrome," a set of symptoms (defiance, irritability, and vindictiveness) resulting from various underlying conditions like ADHD, anxiety, or trauma. He explains that conceptualizing ODD as a stand-alone disorder often leads to the risky treatment pathway of off-label antipsychotic medication, whereas recognizing...
E24 · 25 Jul 2025 · 26 min
024 - Pediatric Trauma and Stress - Part 3 - Treatment
Let me know what you think! - This is part 3 of a series on pediatric trauma, delving into the treatment of trauma and stress-related disorders in children. Dr. O'Leary emphasizes that therapy is always the starting point for these conditions, highlighting Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) as highly effective, evidence-based interventions for PTSD. For attachment disorders, the focus shifts to improving the caregiver...
E23 · 20 Jul 2025 · 38 min
023 - Pediatric Trauma and Stress - Part 2 - Developmental Perspectives
Let me know what you think! - This is the second of a three-part series on pediatric trauma, delveing into the epidemiology and underlying mechanisms of trauma-related disorders in children and adolescents. Dr. O'Leary discusses what might increase risk of developing PTSD after trauma. The discussion also explores the neurobiological impact of trauma, detailing how it can dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, alter neurotransmitter systems, and affect crucial brain regions like the am...
E22 · 11 Jul 2025 · 37 min
022 - Pediatric Trauma and Stress - Part 1 - Diagnosis
Let me know what you think! - Dr O'Leary discusses post-traumatic stress disorder, reactive attachment disorder, disinhibited social engagement disorder along with the other diagnostic boxes defined in the DSM. In particular, he discusses how a developmentally appropriate approach is necessary and why there are different criteria for those aged 6 and under. Find additional case vignettes in the show transcript. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://ps...
E21 · 23 May 2025 · 49 min
021 - Anxiety Disorders of Childhood
Let me know what you think! - In this episode Dr. O'Leary delves into the complex world of Pediatric Anxiety Disorders. Learn about Separation Anxiety Disorder, Selective Mutism, Specific Phobias, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Through clinical vignettes and DSM-5-TR criteria, this episode explores the nuances of diagnosis and when typical childhood anxiety crosses into a disorder. Dr. O'Leary also covers prevalence, etiology, and evid...
E20 · 18 May 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
020A - Pediatric Bipolar vs Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder et. al
Let me know what you think! - Dr. O'Leary delves into the complex and often controversial topic of diagnosing Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and its differentiation from other conditions, particularly Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD). Dr. O'Leary explores the DSM-5-TR diagnostic framework, the history of Pediatric Bipolar diagnosis, the debate surrounding irritability as a diagnostic criterion, and the challenges of distinguishing it from ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ODD and trau...
E19 · 31 Mar 2025 · 25 min
019 - Depression in Children and Adolescents
Let me know what you think! - This Episode covers major depressive disorder in children and adolescents. According to the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, content related to depressive disorders constitute 7 to 9 percent of the board exam, so it’s worth a second, third and even fourth look. Again, I will leave you in the competent hands of my AI co-hosts, Algernon and Alisa, or Allen and Alberta. They don’t care what you call them, just call them maybe. Referen...
27 Mar 2025 · 36 min
018 - Adolescents and Gambling Disorder
Let me know what you think! - Now that we carry around casinos in our pockets, the rates of gambling disorder among adolescents is skyrocketing. Yet, gambling disorder may be the most under-diagnosed disorder in the DSM. This is an exhaustive treatment of the neurobiological, psychological, and societal aspects of gambling addiction, featuring discussions on the brain's reward system, cognitive distortions, and the impact of advertising and the design of gambling products. Refere...
E17 · 25 Mar 2025 · 34 min
017 - Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents - An A.I. Generated Overview
Let me know what you think! - This is a general overview that highlights common features of substance use disorders in youth and discusses in more detail substances like alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and opioids. It is a curated A.I. generated podcast. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] OR submitted via a form at https://psydactic.com. This is not medical advice.&nbsp...
E16 · 3 Mar 2025 · 21 min
016 - Developmental Coordination Disorder
Let me know what you think! - This episode delves into the epidemiology, neurobiology, and differential diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), including its frequent co-occurrence with autism intellectual developmental disorder or ADHD, and stresses the importance of occupational and physical therapies to improve outcomes, highlighting that DCD should be identified and addressed rather than being subsumed into other conditions. Referenced resources can be found within the sh...
E15 · 24 Feb 2025 · 26 min
015 - ADHD - Etiology, Epidemiology, and Differential Diagnosis
Let me know what you think! - Enjoy today’s A.I. generated discussion of ADHD etiology, epidemiology, and diagnosis. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] OR submitted via a form at https://psydactic.com. This is not medical advice. Please see a licensed physician fo...
E14 · 23 Feb 2025 · 20 min
014 - Autism Spectrum Disorder an A.I's Differential Diagnosis
Let me know what you think! - Dr. O'Leary tries something new by feeding an artificial intelligence a series of peer reviewed papers about autism spectrum disorder and having it generate an audio discussion of the content. This episode focusses on the differential diagnosis of ASD and how to rule out other neurodevelopmental disorders and even OCD or an anxiety disorder. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback ca...
E13 · 1 Feb 2025 · 18 min
013 - Communication, Language, and Fluency Disorders of Development
Let me know what you think! - This episode focuses on communication disorders in children, specifically language, speech sound, fluency, and social communication disorders. It differentiates these disorders through case vignettes, comparing and contrasting DSM-5 TR criteria, and highlighting key features of each disorder. Language Disorder is characterized by persistent difficulties in language acquisition and use, impacting both comprehension and production. Speech Sound Disorder involves p...
E12 · 31 Jan 2025 · 19 min
012 - Intellectual Disability
Let me know what you think! - This episode begins with a case vignette about a 7-year-old boy, Tommy, who exhibits global developmental delays and impaired adaptive functioning. Dr. O'Leary explores the DSM-5 criteria for ID, emphasizing deficits in intellectual functions and adaptive functioning during the developmental period. Severity levels are based on adaptive functioning and range from mild to profound. The episode distinguishes ID from other neurodevelopmental disorders and highlight...
E11 · 13 Jan 2025 · 17 min
011 - Behaviorism, Operant Conditioning and Positive Psychology
Let me know what you think! - In the last episode, I introduced behaviorism, which took a strikingly different approach to human learning and development by basically assuming that everything we are on the inside is somehow learned from the environment, except for some of the most basic things we need for survival. Our inner life and the reasons we give for our decisions are more or less illusions. What we are is what we are conditioned by our environment to be. I started w...
5 Jan 2025 · 22 min
010 - Behaviorism and Classical Conditioning
Let me know what you think! - I have so far discussed some of the early psychosexual, psychosocial and cognitive approaches to child development, but I would be remiss if I did not also mention a group of theorists who attempted to study humanity by completely ignoring the fact that they have thoughts and emotions. The behavioralists tried to simplify the study of humans by massively simplifying their assumptions about humans. In fact, they are primarily criticized for vastly ove...
E9 · 31 Dec 2024 · 22 min
009 - Temperament - Part 2 - Gray, Rothbart, Kagan, Eisenberg, Schermerhorn and Bates
Let me know what you think! - In episode 8, I started discussing temperament theory with an introduction to Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess. They first developed a temperamental formulation by following 141 children longitudinally and proposed 9 dimensions of temperament that can be reduced to three basic categories: Easy, Difficult, or Slow-to-warm-up temperament. There were many researchers to follow and today I am going to compare and contrast a number of them, including Jer...
E8 · 29 Dec 2024 · 23 min
008 - Temperament - Part 1 - Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess
Let me know what you think! - While it may seem quaint today, the radical contribution that Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess made to child development was to look at children as unique individuals with very different innate approaches to the world that were present at birth. While processes like attachment and their psychosocial context help to determine a child’s outcome, what Thomas and Chess emphasized was a child’s temperament, their own style of thinking and of interacting with t...
E7 · 15 Dec 2024 · 36 min
007 - Attachment Theory and Parenting Styles
Let me know what you think! - Attachment theory began when John Bowlby rebelled from the psychoanalytic establishment by, for the first time, observing families interacting in order to understand individuals. Bowlby was later joined by Mary Ainsworth who developed on of the most iconic clinical tools in the history of child psychology: The Strange Situation. This episode begins with Bowlby and Ainsworth and explores the difference between their conceptions of attachment and those...
E6 · 26 Nov 2024 · 31 min
006 - Erik Erickson's Psychosocial Model of Development
Let me know what you think! - Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory of development focuses on the social and emotional aspects of human growth. A child’s cognitive development underlies what Erikson describes and arguably, without the cognitive skills described by Piaget, the psychosocial stages that Erikson describes would not be possible. Erikson's stages emphasize an individual's main psychological struggles or conflicts they are likely to experience as they age. These psychologi...
E5 · 18 Nov 2024 · 29 min
005 - Piaget and Cognitive Development
Let me know what you think! - Jean Piaget's description of cognitive development is markedly different from psychosexual and psychoanalytic approaches. He was concerned primarily with cognitive abilities. Instead of basically just making up a complex inner life and mode of relating to mommy’s breast, he described the kinds of cognitive tasks children are actually increasingly able to do as they age. Unlike Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein and more like Anna Freud and Mahler,...
E4 · 12 Nov 2024 · 24 min
004 - Psychosexual Approaches to Development - Anna Freud, Klein, and Mahler
Let me know what you think! - Following Freud, there were many researchers trying to make sense of child development using his psychosexual approach as a framework. Among those that adopted the psychoanalytic approach was his daughter, Anna Freud, who has been called “the mother of child psychoanalysis.” Other mothers include the developers of Object Relations including Melanie Klein and Margaret Mahler. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://p...
E3 · 11 Nov 2024 · 14 min
003 - Psychosexual Approaches to Child Development: Freud the elder
Let me know what you think! - Sigmund Freud's psychosexual approach proposes that human development unfolds in a series of stages, each focused on a different erogenous zone. Successful resolution of conflicts in each stage is crucial for healthy personality development. Dr. O'Leary gives a brief breakdown of Freud's psychosexual stages. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] O...
E2 · 7 Nov 2024 · 36 min
002 - Human Developmental Milestones Birth to Age 5
Let me know what you think! - Dr. O'Leary reviews the basic developmental milestones children are expected to reach by age 5. https://cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-2mo.html Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] OR submitted via a form at https://psydactic.com. This is not medical advice. Please see a licensed physician for any personal quest...
E1 · 5 Nov 2024 · 7 min
001 - Trailer and Introduction of PsyDactic - CAPS Edition
Let me know what you think! - Dr. O'Leary introduces PsyDactic - CAPS Edition, explains the goal of this podcast, and how it was produced. This podcast is intended as a study aid for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry board exam. Referenced resources can be found within the show transcripts at https://psydactic_caps.buzzsprout.com Feedback can be emailed to [email protected] OR submitted via a form at https://psydactic.com. This ...

About PsyDactic - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Board Study Edition

PsyDactic - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Board Study Edition is a English health podcast from Thomas. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Thomas
Language: English
Category: Health
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 26 min
Latest episode: 17 Jun 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1778101553

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