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We've Got Issues: Children And Parents In The Age Of Medication (2010)

by Judith Warner(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1594487545 (ISBN13: 9781594487545)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Riverhead Hardcover

review 1: Very interesting discussion on mental health issues for children and the labels we apply to children suffering from these illnesses. I do think there is tighter regulation on pharmaceutical companies these days regarding gifts to doctors, etc to encourage prescribing their products, however I think we can go further to help ensure that doctors are not unduly influenced. A very good book and a good one for thought on how to be aware of and in support of children and their developmental needs.
review 2: I really disliked this book. The primary thing that irked me was Judith Warner's self-righteous tone throughout the book. Basically, she started out writing a book about parents over-medicating their children, but did some research and completely changed her min... mored, coming to the conclusion that parents are not over-medicating their children and that psychotropic drugs are a good thing which help kids with mental health problems. Like any convert, she is full of zeal to bring you around too (including a lot of confessional sharing about her own process in coming to this conclusion). This zealous attitude really got on my nerves even in the parts where I agreed with her.I am a therapist working with children, so I have a lot of opinions about her claims. There are several components to her argument:(1) (In response to the folks who say "ADHD is just a response to our short-attention-span culture," and that sort of argument...) Culture affects all of us but it does not cause mental illness.- Okay, I generally agree with this. Although there are some gray areas, which she shrugs off. For example, she comments in an aside at one point that school expectations of kids can cause symptoms of frustration and restlessness that look like ADHD, but she doesn't take apart the question of how you decide whether it actually *is* ADHD or not. This is not a small point when you are the person trying to decide whether/how to diagnose someone and what to do to help them.Also, at one point she uses the phrase "the deprivations of poverty" to provide an extreme example of how the environment can affect the brain in a few situations. Maybe it seems like an extreme/unusual situation to her because of the families she writes about, but the "deprivations of poverty" actually affect a LOT of kids. So this is a big gray area, not just a little blip on the screen.(2) Medication is not over-prescribed; it is prescribed for children who have real problems, and it solves their problems.- Yes, medication is prescribed for children who have real problems (not just to help kids perform better in school or something). I thoroughly agree with this. However, it does not always solve their problems. She paints a rosy picture of how medication helps children, with anecdotes from grateful/ relieved parents. For many children I've worked with, it's just not that straightforward - e.g. medication helped somewhat but not enough; or medication solved behavior problems but made the child sleepy and spacey; etc.Also, and this is a big one, even when medication helps, often we don't know why. There is so much we don't understand about what psychotropic medication does. Warner really glosses over this, making it sound like biomedical theories of mental health must be true because they're scientific. OK, sure, they are better than "your mama made you schizophrenic" style parent-blaming, but we don't actually know if most biomedical theories have any basis in fact. Research into these areas is complex (needing to take lots of factors into account) and often inconclusive. Warner completely glosses over studies indicating that antidepressants are not that much better than placebo, dismissing them glibly in a parenthetical aside based on drug industry claims about poorly designed studies.(3) What we need is Real Mental Health Treatment: medication plus "evidence-based therapy." That will make things better.- Sigh. Evidence-based therapy. I don't even know where to start. Dear Judith, it's just not that simple. First of all, therapy is not like medication. Second of all, therapy is not like medication. Third of all, therapy is not like medication. Did I mention therapy is not a standardized intervention? Don't get me wrong, we should study what works, but studies have repeatedly shown that how clients feel about the relationship with their therapist is WAY more important to the outcome than what techniques they use. (And don't even get me started on DSM diagnosis and its lack of reliability and validity.)In summary: Judith Warner, you've become as self-righteous as the people you're criticizing. Plus you're wrong about some stuff. P.S. Your title fits the book you were originally planning to write, but not this one. less

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