Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Learn More About Psychiatry at Children's National

• Conditions We Treat

  Examples of psychiatric conditions we treat include:

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
    • Intellectual Disability
    • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
    • Learning disorders
    • Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
  • Mood Disorders
    • Bipolar disorder/manic depression
    • Major depression
    • Chronic Depression 
  • Anxiety Disorders
    • Generalized anxiety disorder
    • Separation anxiety disorder
    • Panic disorder
    • Social phobia
  • Eating Disorders and Feeding Disorders
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Schizophrenia

• Services We Provide

  Each patient’s assessment is comprehensive and specific to the child or teen. To begin the process of emotional healing, our care team may use a variety of therapies in your child’s treatment plan, such as:

  • Behavior modification
  • Family therapy
  • Group therapy
  • Play therapy
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
  • Medication management (the use of medications to treat mental disorders)

• Outpatient Specialty Programs

  Our outpatient service evaluates approximately 1,000 new patients annually, with more than 17,000 follow-up visits each year. Our clinic was recently moved to a beautifully renovated Historic Takoma Theater. The new clinic name is Children’s National at Takoma Theater, located at 6833 4th St. NW, Washington, DC 20012. The new center is the largest child and adolescent outpatient mental health facility at the DMV area.

  We also offer psychiatry services via telehealth to help patients and families in farther communities access our expert care.

  Psychiatric care requires the expertise of many highly specialized pediatric professionals working together. This includes close collaboration with our colleagues in Psychology and Behavioral Health, through multidisciplinary programs providing optimum inpatient and outpatient care. They include:

  • General Outpatient Clinic
  • Anxiety Disorders Program
  • Early Childhood Behavioral Health Program
  • Eating Disorders Clinic
  • Feeding Disorders Program
  • Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD)
  • Gender Development Program
  • Integrated clinics with primary care
  • PANS/ PANDAS Program (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome/Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections)
  • Mood Disorders Program
  • Pediatric Consultation Liaison Service (PCLS)
  • Program for Health Problems Related to Bullying
  • Tele-Psychiatry Program
  • Case management according to psychiatric needs 

• Inpatient Psychiatry Units

  Our inpatient unit includes a 12-bed child unit and a 14-bed adolescent unit. Both units provide a safe setting where our team provides crisis intervention and stabilization.

  • Child Unit: Under the age of 13
  • Adolescent Unit: Under the age of 18

• Emergency Psychiatric Evaluations

  Our specialists are available by phone for consultation and for emergency psychiatric evaluations in the Emergency Department – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

  We assess patients in crisis and determine whether a patient would benefit from inpatient psychiatric services or can be safely discharged and seen at a follow-up visit with outpatient services. Inpatient care involves children staying at the hospital for a period of time, while outpatient care involves patients seeing healthcare providers for appointments but not staying overnight at the hospital.

  If a child or adolescent needs to be admitted, the staff facilitates the most appropriate admission for each patient.

  Please note that we do not provide medication evaluations in the Emergency Department.