Ana Soledade Graeff-Martins

• MD, DSc
• Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition emerging in early childhood, characterized by core features such as sociocommunicative deficits and repetitive, rigid behaviors, interests, and activities. In addition to these, disruptive behaviors (DB), including aggression, self-injury, and severe tantrums, are f...

Background: Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience severe psychiatric symptoms, often unresponsive to conventional pharmacological therapies, highlighting the need for more effective alternatives. Aims: This study aims to map and synthesize evidence on the use of clozapine as a therapeutic option for managing severe psychiatri...

Background Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience severe psychiatric symptoms, often unresponsive to conventional pharmacological therapies, highlighting the need for more effective alternatives. Aims This study aims to map and synthesize evidence on the use of clozapine as a therapeutic option for managing severe psychiatric...

BACKGROUND Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition emerging in early childhood, characterized by core features such as sociocommunicative deficits and repetitive, rigid behaviors, interests, and activities. In addition to these, disruptive behaviors (DB), including aggression, self-injury, and severe tantrums, are f...

Objective: There is limited evidence about the cross-cultural validity of autistic symptoms in school-aged children in Brazil. Methods: We translated the Childhood Autism Spectrum Test scale to Brazilian Portuguese and performed factor analyses to investigate the factor structure of parent-reported autistic symptoms in a large sample (N = 8571)...

Objective: Matters of sexuality and sexual health are common in the practice of child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP), yet clinicians can feel ill-equipped to address them with confidence. To address this gap in training and practice, we developed, implemented, and evaluated an educational module enhanced by videotaped depictions of expert clinicia...

Este manual é um guia destinado a psiquiatras que estão disponibilizando atendimento a pessoas com piora importante no estado de saúde mental durante a pandemia ou que apresentam riscos para o desenvolvimento de problemas de saúde mental . Trata-se de uma proposta de avaliação e de manejo breves (de 1 a 3 sessões) do estado mental agudo e de riscos...

Mental disorders affect approximately 10–15% of children and adolescents worldwide. In South America these numbers are probably higher due to poverty and adverse life events that frequently affect this region. The availability of qualified services and well-trained professionals to care for those children are by far insufficient. The aim of this st...

Objective:The study examined lifetime use of mental health services among children diagnosed as having mental disorders in two major cities in Brazil and identified characteristics associated with unmet need.Methods:The data were collected as part of the High Risk Cohort Study, a community study conducted in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, Brazil. Duri...

Objective: The study examined lifetime use of mental health services among children diagnosed as having mental disorders in two major cities in Brazil and identified characteristics associated with unmet need. Methods: The data were collected as part of the High Risk Cohort Study, a community study conducted in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, Brazil...

Resumo O presente estudo populacional de corte transversal teve como objetivo verificar a prevalência de problemas de saúde mental (PSM) e descrever o uso de serviços de saúde numa amostra de crianças atendidas em unidades de saúde (UBS) do município de São Paulo. Responsáveis de 825 crianças de 6-11 anos de idade foram entrevistados. PSM das crian...

Background: Mental disorders are common health problems associated with serious impairment and economic impact. Aims: To estimate the costs of clinical and subthreshold mental disorders in a sample of Brazilian children. Method: The High Risk Cohort Study is a community study conducted in two major Brazilian cities. Subjects were 6-14 years old chi...

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 22851; published online: 07 March 2016; updated: 24 May 2016 The Acknowledgements section in this Article is incomplete. “This work was supported by the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents, a science and technology institute funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento...

Many studies have attempted to investigate the genetic susceptibility of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but without much success. The present study aimed to analyze both single-nucleotide and copy-number variants contributing to the genetic architecture of ADHD. We generated exome data from 30 Brazilian trios with sporadic ADHD. W...

There has been increased attention towards the burden imposed by mental disorders on children and adolescents. The present overview explores the current state of child and adolescent mental healthcare provision around the globe. Current research indicates a concerning gap in the provision of care for the child and adolescent population. The dispari...

The objective of this study is to present the rationale, methods, design and preliminary results from the High Risk Cohort Study for the Development of Childhood Psychiatric Disorders. We describe the sample selection and the components of each phases of the study, its instruments, tasks and procedures. Preliminary results are limited to the baseli...

Objective The purpose of the study was to define the latent structure of parent-reported manic symptoms and their association with functional impairment and familial risk in a community sample of Brazilian children. Method We screened for manic symptoms in a community sample of 2,512 children, 6-12 years old. Parents of children with “episodes of...

Background: Taxometric and behavioral genetic studies suggest that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is best modeled as a dimension rather than a category. We extended these analyses by testing for the existence of putative ADHD-related deficits in basic information processing (BIP) and inhibitory-based executive function (IB-EF) in...

Objective: The authors describe use of mental health services among children and adolescents after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Methods: Six months after the attack, sixth- through 12th-graders (N=6,986) who were representative of the student population were asked about their use of mental health services to talk abo...

Background: As the responsibility and demand on health care grows and resources do not increase at the same pace, the healthcare system has been forced to reconsider the benefits and costs of their actions, to ensure a rational and effective decision-making process regarding the adoption of inter-ventions and allocation of resources. Cost-effective...

Background: Both inhibitory-based executive functioning (IB-EF) and basic information processing (BIP) deficits are found in clinic-referred attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) samples. However, it remains to be determined whether: (1) such deficits occur in non-referred samples of ADHD; (2) they are specific to ADHD; (3) the co-morbid...

Background: As the responsibility and demand on health care grows and resources do not increase at the same pace, the healthcare system has been forced to reconsider the benefits and costs of their actions, to ensure a rational and effective decision-making process regarding the adoption of interventions and allocation of resources. Cost-effective...

Investigating dimensions of oppositional symptoms may help to explain heterogeneity of etiology and outcomes for mental disorders across development and provide further empirical justification for the DSM-5-proposed modifications of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). However, dimensions of oppositionality have not previously been tested in sample...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, often associated with other psychiatric comorbidities, functional impairments, and poor long-term outcomes. The objective of this selected review is to describe current advances and challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. The disorder is associate...

Background: Preliminary research implicates threat-related attention biases in paediatric anxiety disorders. However, major questions exist concerning diagnostic specificity, effects of symptom-severity levels, and threat-stimulus exposure durations in attention paradigms. This study examines these issues in a large, community school-based sample....

Child and adolescent mental health problems are prevalent and require adequate interventions. Despite several evidence-based interventions for these problems described in the literature, few studies addressed strategies to diffuse efficacious interventions for child mental disorders especially in developing countries. An extensive but not systemati...

School dropout rates are staggeringly high in developing countries, even for elementary school children. This study aims to assess the feasibility and initial efficacy of a package of interventions tailored to reduce school dropout in public schools in an urban city in Brazil. Two public schools with similar high rates of dropout in elementary grad...

Introduction There is clear evidence of social and economic impact of mental health disorders started in childhood and adolescence and of the inefficiency of health systems to deal with the problem in most countries. Public policies based on epidemiological data are urgently needed to promote greater access to services, coordination among the vario...