ABSTRACT
Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning use of biological procedures in mental health research with children and adolescents. This encompasses both old and new technology, and is spurred by the increasing recognition of biological contributions to pathogenesis and treatment of major mental disorders. A literature survey of the research use of various such procedures reported in five major journals over a 5-year period ending in Spring 1994 revealed the following number of uses and relative proportions (in parentheses) of various procedures: noninvasive 46 (39%), venipuncture 30 (25%), challenges with multiple venipuncture or intravenous (IV) catheter, other IV catheter 4 (3%), spinal taps 5 (4%), brain imaging 18 (15%). In the brain imaging category, there were 9 uses (8%) of ionizing radiation. Obviously the most invasive biological procedures have been used far less frequently than the noninvasive and simple venipuncture, which together accounted for 64%. Generally, the more invasive procedures yield data more reflective of brain activity whereas the less invasive procedures reflect more peripheral systems.
