DENNIS CANTWELL, CHILD PSYCHIATRIST AT UCLA.

Byline: The New York Times

Dennis Patrick Cantwell, a child psychiatrist known for his work with developmental disorders and the classification of disease, died April 14 at his home in Woodland Hills. He was 58.

The cause was complications from heart disease, said William Gorin, his administrative assistant at UCLA. At his death, Cantwell was the Joseph Campbell Professor of Child Psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.

He was a leading child psychiatrist in California, counting the offspring of Hollywood celebrities among his patients. His expertise encompassed learning and communication disorders, disruptive behavior, mood swings and suicidal behavior, eating disorders and pervasive developmental difficulties.

Cantwell's work as a clinician, teacher, researcher and administrator was honored by universities, institutes and professional organizations. He was director of residency training at the Neuropsychiatric Institute from 1972 until 1991.

He was an authority on nosology, the branch of medicine dealing with classifications of disease.

Cantwell contributed to a thorough study of attention deficit disorder treatments conducted for the National Institute of Mental Health. In addition to some 200 articles and papers, he was an author and editor of five textbooks.

Cantwell was born in East St. Louis, Ill., and graduated from the University of Notre Dame and Washington University School of Medicine. He trained at institutions in California and London before joining the UCLA faculty in 1972. He was appointed Campbell professor in 1980.

Cantwell is survived by his wife, Susan; four daughters, Suzi of San Francisco, Coleen and Erin of Santa Monica and Mari of Woodland Hills; a son, Dennis Jr. of Thousand Oaks; and a sister, Mary Karen Cantwell of Washington, Va.