photograph courtesy child and adolescent psychiatry associates
Editor's Note: Every year, the national medical group Castle Connolly produces a list of the best doctors in America. In the Memphis area, the 2021 Top Doctors list comprises more than 270 physicians representing 55 different specialties. Here, we introduce you to one of the care-givers who have been named a Top Doc time and again.
We have written about Dr. Jerry Heston once before, nine years ago (July 2012). In other words, we profiled the founder of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Associates eight years before a pandemic changed the professional landscape for a child psychiatrist. “Looking back 16 months,” notes Heston, “we were doing no telehealth. [The transition] had its own trials and tribulations, both for patients and providers. The technology … thank god for it, but it was very frustrating.” [Doctors and patients don’t meet via Zoom. They use connective portals that are heavily restricted and monitored for HIPAA regulations.] “In May of last year, we were thinking this might be just a couple of months. Obviously, that wasn’t true.”
A graduate of Rhodes College, Heston found himself drawn to child psychology during his pediatric residency (in the early Eighties) at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. “I was somewhat frustrated by the emphasis on just the biomedical aspect of disease and care,” he says. “We had kids who would come to the hospital with a flare-up of asthma or a complication of diabetes. And the kids would come back two weeks later. I thought we should spend more time thinking about what happens when they’re out of the hospital. What were the emotional, social, psychological issues that played into their illness?”
Heston has seen emotional and psychological issues take new form during the lengthy isolation period caused by the coronavirus. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness have long been challenges for young people. Under pandemic conditions, though, there’s an entirely new extenuating circumstance. “For some kids who struggle with ADHD or social awkwardness, the [social distancing] has actually been helpful,” says Heston. “At least in the short term. Same for kids who have problems with bullying and peer conflicts. Some kids are drawn to electronics.
“The flip side is kids who are really social, kids who need face-to-face contact to do well. There are kids whose batteries are charged by other kids. For children with organizational problems, doing things online has been really stressful.”
While the pandemic has dragged — and dragged — longer than anyone would prefer, Heston sees an even bigger picture in measuring its impact on young people, especially adolescents. “My real concern is what happens after this,” he says. “We’ve been in crisis mode, high priorities on safety. The effect of this trauma, loss, frustration … the ripple effect of that may last for a while. I don’t even know what the ‘new normal’ looks like. Our society was polarized to begin with, but the pandemic has added a layer.” Heston emphasizes that it’s healthy to limit a child’s exposure to news these days. Feed curiosity, but help contain the sources of anxiety and worry.
How might children — and their parents — navigate what remains of the pandemic, and whatever awaits us on the other side? “Routine and predictability are really important,” says Heston. “Family rituals can be really protective for a wide variety of problems. Continue those routines, even if they must be modified.”
Pandemic or otherwise, Heston relishes the impact child psychiatry is making on the world. “The field has grown so much in the time I’ve been practicing,” he says. “There are many medications and psychotherapy techniques that have proven to be effective. That will continue, because there’s more of an awareness for the need. I’m really hopeful for the field.”
