A physician of Articles
Written by Dr. Williams. Plain language, sources named, no sponsorship.
- How I evaluate a child for ADHD, and why I will not diagnose from a questionnaire aloneDr. Williams walks through his ADHD evaluation for children: what a Vanderbilt or Conners rating scale can and cannot tell him, the two-part history with parents and child, why school records matter, and the conditions he rules out first, from sleep apnea to anxiety to learning disorders. He explains why no computerized test or scan replaces a clinical diagnosis, and what families hear at the end.
- Teen depression: what parents see first and what to do in the first two weeksTeen depression rarely looks like adult depression. Dr. Williams describes the signs parents notice first, irritability, withdrawal from friends, sleep changes, school decline and physical complaints, and lays out a day-by-day plan for the first two weeks: asking directly about suicide, securing firearms and medications, seeing the pediatrician for screening, getting on a therapist's calendar, talking to the school and protecting sleep.
- College students and anxiety: a psychiatrist's guide to the first semesterDrawing on his years at the University of South Carolina's counseling service and his current role as a medical school dean, Dr. Williams explains why the first semester is when anxiety disorders surface, how to tell normal adjustment from generalized anxiety, panic and social anxiety, what students should set up before move-in, what parents need to know about FERPA and HIPAA releases, and how he treats first-semester anxiety.
- Stimulants, non-stimulants and the decision I make with every familyDr. Williams explains the two stimulant families, methylphenidate and amphetamine, and the four FDA-approved non-stimulants for children: atomoxetine, viloxazine, guanfacine and clonidine. He covers what the Multimodal Treatment Study showed, the predictable side effects of each class, the realities of Schedule II prescribing and shortages, the situations in which he leans toward a non-stimulant, and how the decision is actually made with a family.
- What a medical school dean of students learns about young adults in crisisAs Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia and a former college mental health psychiatrist, Dr. Williams has spent close to two decades watching high-achieving young adults reach their limit. He describes what he has learned: crisis builds slowly, the best students hide it best, fear blocks help-seeking, transitions are where people break, structure is treatment, and recovery is the rule.
- Finding a child psychiatrist in South Carolina: how to get seen fasterSouth Carolina has a severe shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. Dr. Williams gives a practical plan: start with the pediatrician this week, call more than one practice and ask specific questions, get on every cancellation list, say yes to telehealth, start the therapist search and school conversation in parallel, and arrive prepared. He lists the Stedfast offices in Lexington, Goose Creek, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.
See Dr. Eric R. Williams
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