Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine

Conditions We Treat

We care for the mental health of children and teens with many conditions, including:

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism can affect the way a child behaves, thinks, communicates and acts with others. Children with autism are not all affected the same way. Some have only mild symptoms and grow up to live on their own. Others have more severe symptoms and need support living and working all their lives. For children with autism, Seattle Children’s Autism Center provides ongoing care.

Mood and anxiety disorders (including depression, bipolar and other mood disorders)

Treatment may help when a depressed or anxious mood lasts for weeks and affects your child’s daily life. There are many types of depression, such as major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder and adjustment disorder with depressed mood. Anxiety is feeling fearful, threatened or panicky with no clear cause. Both depression and anxiety are serious medical problems. Read more. (PDF)

Disruptive behavior disorders

If a child has problems with family, friends or school due to long-term trouble behaving, they may have a disruptive behavior disorder. This group of conditions includes oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or conduct disorder.  More on ODD (PDF), ADHD (PDF), and conduct disorder (PDF)

Mental health problems that happen along with medical and surgical conditions

Children who have a serious illness or who are getting major treatment may have mental health issues at the same time. These issues may be caused by the child’s illness or a side effect of a medicine. They may take place because it is hard to live with a serious health problem. Whatever the cause, our team provides help with emotions, behaviors and coping skills.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders are extremes in how your child eats. The most common eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. There are others, too, like binge-eating disorders, body-image disorders and food phobias. It can be hard to diagnose an eating disorder. The line between eating that’s normal and not normal is not always easy to draw. We can help you understand what’s going on with your child’s eating.

Services We Offer

The services we offer include:

Outpatient mental health services

Clinic-based (outpatient) care may include visits to assess your child’s mental health, feedback about the problem and options for getting treatment – either at our clinics or somewhere else. We offer short-term treatment that is focused on solving problems. We review treatment goals often and talk about ongoing treatment needs. If your family is seeing longer-term supportive care, we may refer you to mental health providers who can help. Our team can provide services for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and teens. Read more (PDF). 

For families with DSHS/Medicaid only: Medicaid requires patients to see a mental health provider who has a contract in the county where the patient lives. Look up providers by county.

Inpatient hospital stay

The IPU offers treatment for children and teens who need short-term hospital-based (inpatient) care until their behavior becomes stable. Our focus is to help your child during a mental health crisis. When your child is ready to go home, we provide support for your child and family to make the return as easy as possible. Read more.

Telepsychiatry service

We use tools such as cameras and videoconferencing to reach children and families outside the Seattle area. This way, we can consult with patients and providers through partner clinics in Wenatchee, Olympia, Longview and Tri-Cities, Washington; and in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Consult and liaison service

Our team members work closely with experts throughout Children’s to care for children who are staying in the hospital for any reason (any medical condition or surgery) and who also have a mental health problem.

Neuropsychology services

Members of our team take part in the Neuropsychology Program, which works with children who have brain disorders. Read more.

Eating disorder services

The eating disorders care team at Seattle Children’s includes members from Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. We offer a number of services for eating disorders and will help your child and family find the services that best meet your needs. Our team also offers longer-term follow-up therapy. We have a therapy group to help your child learn coping skills and a class for parents to help you at mealtime. Our team works closely with experts in Adolescent Medicine to make sure your child receives complete care. Read more.

Have Billing Questions?

• Seattle Children’s bills a facility charge (PDF) for hospital-based clinic visits. Learn more about your bill.