Parent Resources

New study finds that Medicaid enrolled youth were 14 times more likely to be on an antidepressant in 2014 than in 1987.

Debunking a recent study on ADHD and COVID-19: It suffers from a series of manipulations and spins that are inappropriate in scientific research that aspires to objectivity and that aims to reveal truths.

From HERE This NOW: Advances in science in the last thirty years help us realize the fallacy of "mind over matter," yet we still hold an entrenched belief that children and adults possess 100% conscious control over their behavior.

From The Imprint: Screening for adverse childhood experiences has been met with growing concern among health researchers and child welfare experts, but the California surgeon general says it’s critical not to wait.

Researchers shed light on the limitations of mental health screening instruments for youth that are increasingly being used in schools and medical settings.

Millions of current and former foster children experience multiple kinds of trauma, as documented in a six-part investigative series published in the Kansas City Star this month. Too often invisible, these young people deserve our attention and our care.

Imagine being a parent at a meeting with educators to discuss Johnny's academics or behavior. Suddenly, your child’s teacher is telling you that he needs to see a doctor for an assessment of a suspected “mental disorder,” which usually leads to a prescription for medication. Warned of “the risks against failing to intervene,” you will likely acquiesce.

From ESPN: "No one with mental health issues should be called a burden," said Morgan Urso. "And that is the stigma I am trying to end."

A clinical trial finds Prozac no better than placebo for improving repetitive behaviors.

Parents must inform themselves about the flaws in the current paradigm if they are to have any chance of thinking sensibly about what might be distressing their child. Toward that end of providing information about those flaws, I interviewed Richard Hallam, author of the new book Abolishing the Concept of Mental Illness: Rethinking the Nature of our Woes.

From The Washington Post: We’ve long underestimated and ignored emotional intelligence, especially in kids, instead focusing on academic success and testing them to measure it.

The main problem with prescribing psychiatric drugs to children is that it hasn’t been very effective.

Researchers experimenting on mice found that exposure to fluoxetine (Prozac) in utero resulted in behaviors considered in animal studies to be analogous to autism in humans.

An interview with Peter Mayfield, founder and Executive Director of the Gateway Mountain Center. Peter talks of his journey from mountaineering to his role as an educator and mentor, and how enabling children and adolescents to connect with nature has such a profound effect on their health and wellbeing.

From NPR: A new report published Tuesday presents the CDC's first estimate of how many Americans are affected by adverse childhood experiences and the benefits of preventing these kinds of traumas.

I recently became the foster parent of a 10-year-old girl. She is on a cocktail of several medications prescribed to treat behavioral problems, according to her social worker. They don't really seem to help her. What are the considerations involved with withdrawing her from the meds, and what power do I have to influence this decision?

A new study has found that children and adolescents taking a high dose of antipsychotics are almost twice as likely to die of any cause than children on other types of medications.

My heart envisions a future of grassroots community-based, free, accessible, welcoming, non-judgmental and safe spaces for young people in the middle of the hurricane of adolescence....They will be spaces facilitated by those of us who’ve reclaimed what it means to be human.

A new study published in the journal Neuroscience finds that rats given regular doses of amphetamines during adolescence have brain and behavioral changes in adulthood....

From Forbes: Out of concern for their bottom line, colleges are betraying their students and trapping them in social isolation.

The story of the Genain quadruplets has long been cited as evidence proving something about the supposed hereditary nature of schizophrenia. But who wouldn’t fall apart after surviving a childhood like theirs? The doctors attributed their problems to menstrual difficulties or excessive masturbation — anything except abuse.

MIA’s Samantha Lilly interviews critical youth suicidologist Jennifer White about what suicide prevention could look like outside of the medical model.

My son recently had a first psychotic episode due to excessive marijuana use and a head injury. He is currently in legal trouble for hitting a staffer while involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. Doctors now say he shows no sign of mental illness. He wants to get the charges dropped and go to rehab. Is there any way to have a psychiatric diagnosis voided?

From The New York Times: Psychological health is not about being free from emotional discomfort, but about having the right feeling at the right time

To be a parent of a suicidal child is to be in a terrible position, where you hold in your hands the life most valuable to you and know that any slip of your hands may end that life. In the 1970s, my suicidality was treated nonmedically and I lived. In the 2000s, my daughter Martha’s suicidality was treated medically and she died.