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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents is significant. Educational progress and mental health, in particular, have been negatively affected. Among youth from vulnerable communities, pre-existing academic and health disparities have been exacerbated. Youth outcomes are often attributed to individual resilience – or lack thereof; in this paper, we describe how failure to adapt and effectively cope at the system level (ie, lack of system resilience) is implicated in the current dual educational and mental crisis. We describe opportunities to make our systems more nimble and better-equipped to support youth moving forward.

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Evidence‐based assessment (EBA) streamlines literature reviewing and organizing clinical assessment by targeting the vital few topics, “satisficing,” and focusing on three major phases of clinical activity: prediction of diagnoses or other criteria, prescription of treatment or moderating factors, and process measurement. EBAis an organizing framework for applying a dozen steps to guide treatment. Technology is changing clinical assessment by increasing the efficiency and accuracy of scoring and feedback, as well as innovations that make more intensive assessment feasible. Fully implementing EBAsuggests changes in training and requires a practice overhaul in exchange for greater efficiency, more accurate decisions, incrementally better outcomes, and increased service accessibility that could enable psychological science to help more people.

Typical assessment training and practice have not kept pace with advances in evidence‐based practices due to shortcomings of clinical judgment, misperceptions about burden, and literature gaps about matching assessment and treatment. We offer an evidence‐based approach to assessment, focusing on principles to select high‐utility methods for key clinical functions of prediction (i.e., identifying risk factors, quantifying symptoms), prescription (i.e., matching treatment with diagnosis and patient values), or process (i.e., monitoring progress, defining goals). Each function emphasizes different psychometrics. Assessing youths adds issues of development, multiple informants, and confidentiality. Knowing base rates for common problems and matching these with curated tools creates an efficient assessment process that will yield more accurate diagnoses, better patient engagement, and improved outcomes.

SUMMARY Cyclothymic disorder is a chronic and impairing subtype of bipolar disorder, largely neglected in pediatric research. Consequently, it is rarely diagnosed clinically despite potentially being the most prevalent form of bipolar disorder. Lack of attention has added to confusion about the diagnosis and clinical presentation of cyclothymic disorder. In pediatric studies, cyclothymic disorder is commonly grouped with ‘subthreshold presentations of bipolar disorder under the undifferentiated label ‘bipolar disorder not otherwise specified. However, research indicates that cyclothymic disorder can be reliably distinguished from the other forms of bipolar disorder and from other childhood disorders. Importantly, cyclothymic disorder may be a diathesis for more acute presentations of bipolar disorder, warranting a prominent role in dimensional models of mood and psychopathology. Current evidence suggests that cyclothymic disorder has the potential to make unique contributions to our understanding of the risk factors and outcomes associated with bipolar disorder. This potential has yet to be fully realized, limiting our knowledge and ability to intervene in a meaningful way with youth who are exhibiting symptoms of a major mood disorder. Including cyclothymic disorder in future research studies of children – particularly longitudinal outcome studies – is essential for understanding the developmental trajectory of bipolar spectrum disorders and learning how to accurately diagnosis and treat the full spectrum of bipolar disorders.