The Skimmer

We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication

By Judith Warner

Riverhead; 320 pages

When author and journalist Judith Warner set out to write a book about children and psychiatric drugs, she too accepted the conventional wisdom that American children are being medicated into numbness. But after extensive interviews with parents, therapists and academics, she made a 180-degree turn. In this impassioned book, the author argues that childhood mental illness is real, widespread and painful to families caught in its grip. Warner believes that statistics about Ritalin's being overprescribed are exaggerated. "Almost no parent takes the issue of psychiatric diagnosis lightly or rushes to 'drug' his or her child," she writes. "Responsible child psychiatrists don't either." Frantic parents try everything from biofeedback to acupuncture in hopes of curing children who are mentally ill, self-destructive or violent. Warner argues that many of these children would thrive with meds and cognitive therapy. In these cases, the crime isn't overmedication--far from it: "Most children with mental health issues get no care at all."

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