Conceptualizing mental disorders in children: Where have we been and whereare we going?

Conceptions of mental illness in children are bound by cultural and social conventions of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy development. To under stand current conceptualizations of disorders in children, we review the hi story of these conceptualizations from three intertwined perspectives: a so ciopolitical history of American children and families, the history of the mental health fields and scientific disciplines involved in diagnosing chil dren, and the evolution of children's role in the Diagnostic and Statistica l Manual of Mental Disorders. We review where the field has been in its con ception of childhood mental illness throughout the past century, where we b elieve it is now, and raise questions about the direction in which child di agnosis may be headed as we enter the new millennium. we conclude with soci al policy recommendations based on theory and research regarding mental dis orders in children.