Why Does a Parent Medicate a Child? An Interview with My Mother

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When Brooke Siem was 15 years old, her father died. Her mother, Dee Barbash, sought help for her daughter that led to a prescription for a psychiatric drug. In this interview, they look back on that fateful decision.
Wooden pawn-like figures surrounding a gavel

Guardianship Destroyed My Family

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People who can’t take care of themselves need support and protection, but guardianship provides neither. I know: I've lived it.

My Sister Lucy’s Death and Life: Picturing an Alternate Timeline of Recovery

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I’ll never forget standing beside my sister Lucy as she was strapped to a gurney during a midnight admission to an E.R. in Cambridge, Mass.

School Phone Bans and “Mental Health”

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Banning school phones is not an answer to improving mental health.
Sad lonely man in depression. Vector illustration. Flat.

We Can’t Help People With Trauma If We Can’t Say Trauma

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Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned “trauma” or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
A gavel and open handcuffs

Fighting Forced Treatment in Court: A Victory to Be Celebrated

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It is very difficult to get off a mental health commitment. The counties fight tooth and nail to keep people in the system.

Survivors and Families Working Together For Change: A New Project 

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Based on his lived experience, Ron Bassman describes his efforts to create an educational and support program that links families with survivors.

Q&A: What Is Executive Function, and How Can Parents and Teachers Help Kids Focus?

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Ask anyone who’s ever taught kids, and they’ll tell you a story about one student who sticks in their memory.

Q&A: Can My Child’s Psychiatric Diagnosis Be Voided?

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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?

Study: Teens Who View Parents as Loving and Supportive Less Likely to Be Cyberbullies

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From the Daily Mail (UK): Teenagers who see their mum and dad as loving caregivers are less likely to be cyberbullies than children with...

Mo Hannah: Changing the Teaching of the Biological Model

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Maureen Hannah, a Professor of Psychology at Siena College, New York, tells of experiences with the psychiatric system, both personally and professionally, and how poor care in the mental health system led to an unexpected and devastating family loss.

How “Mental Health Awareness” Exploits Schoolchildren

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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.

Saving Lives or Cementing Stigma? A Review of “Just Like You…”

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In my experience, episodes of anxiety and depression dwindle in the face of hope and empowerment, while broken-brain narratives lead to deeper despair.

1 in 3 UK Teens Given Antidepressants, Despite Official Guidelines

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From inews.co.uk: Family doctors say a lack of access to effective psychological therapies on the NHS is leading them to over-prescribe medication.
adverse childhood experiences

Adverse Childhood Experiences: When Will the Lessons of the ACE Study Inform Societal Care?

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The ACE study tells of how adverse childhood experiences increase the risk of psychological and physical problems in adulthood. When will we start incorporating these findings into public health policy and medical care?

Lexapro for Children: Drug With No Meaningful Benefit and Increased Suicidality Gets FDA Approval

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Response and remission rates were the same in the drug versus placebo groups, and Lexapro increased suicidality sixfold.

The Note

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I’ve helped dozens of my students through tough times and suicidal thoughts. But my own child? How do I handle THIS?
helping children angry child

Helping Children With Angry Outbursts

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Finnish psychiatrist Ben Furman reviews various non-drug therapies for children with aggressive outbursts of anger, including the Kids' Skills approach that he and social psychologist Tapani Ahola developed. These approaches focus on helping children come up with their own ideas for overcoming their problems with the help of family and friends.
prescriptions and suicide

Suicides Are Increasing – And So Are Antidepressant Prescriptions

Disturbingly, our study and others reveal that the black box warning is now ignored in many countries, since antidepressant prescriptions for children are on the rise again. Despite increasing certainty that antidepressants are ineffective and likely cause suicidal behavior in young people, psychiatry continues to claim that they reduce suicide risk.
OCD worry monster

Helping Children to Overcome OCD: 6 Creative Strategies for Parents

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Here, Dr. Ben Furman offers a creative approach to helping children who struggle with OCD. Explaining why behaviors like reasoning, reassuring, and superstitious rituals don’t work, he suggests engaging alternatives that teach kids how to manage their “worry monster” and make sense of their distressing experience.

Q&A: How Can We See ADHD From Another Angle, and What Can We Do...

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We all want to help our kids or our students, and sometimes finding the right key to unlock a child’s gifts is a matter of time, patience, trial, and error.

Q&A: What Is Informed Consent, and What Should I Know to Help My Child?

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My experience caused me to look into the origin of including the patient in decision-making about treatment and informed consent.

The Nurtured Heart Approach Goes Mainstream: Research and Experience Support “Celebrating Greatness in Every...

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The Nurtured Heart Approach represents a massive shift in thinking—about schooling, about children and how to raise them, about how we regard those with intensity, and about the medical model pathologizing them.
Close up of Pills spilling out of pill bottle on blue background. with copy space. Medicine concept .

Animal Study: SSRI Neurotoxic in Pregnancy

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Researchers: Fetal exposure to vilazodone hampers neurodevelopment and leads to "long-lasting neurodevelopmental impairments."

Q&A: How Can I Motivate My “Deadbeat” Teenager?

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My 19-year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD, depression, and ODD. He refuses to go to school or get a job; instead, he just hangs around and plays video games. He has prescriptions but refuses to take them. Frankly, he contributes nothing to the household but stress and is a bad role model for his siblings. How can I make him take his meds and shape up?