PARENT RESOURCES

Mad in America is a webzine devoted to rethinking psychiatry’s current “disease model” for diagnosing and treating psychiatric disorders. This Parent Resources section is designed to provide information and resources for parents who wish to explore alternatives to conventional, drug-based psychiatric care for children and youth.

Join the Discussion

SUPPORT GROUPS: MIA offers moderated, online peer-support groups for parents. U.S./Canada groups meet twice monthly on alternating Tuesdays. There is one group for parents of children 18 and under and another for parents of adult children. The European group (children of all ages) meets on the second Thursday of each month. Learn more and sign up here.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How can I motivate my “deadbeat” teenager? Steve McCrea, M.S., answers a parenting question. Have a question of your own? Submit it for an online reply from one of our experts.

Drug Info

Did you know:

That longer-term studies of ADHD have found worse outcomes for the medicated youth?
In a large NIMH study, researchers concluded that few youth “benefit long-term” from antipsychotics.
That marijuana, stimulants, and antidepressants increase the risk that a youth will be diagnosed with bipolar disorder?

Research on psychotropic use in children and adolescents

Research on non-pharmacological treatments

Featured Resources

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

Joshua Kendall - May 26, 2019

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?

Helping Children to Overcome OCD: 6 Creative Strategies for Parents

Ben Furman, MD - May 22, 2019

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.

New Video Series: ‘Parenting Today’

Eric Maisel, PhD - September 30, 2018

This series of thirty video interviews with leading experts from around the world is designed to help parents better understand how to raise strong, resilient kids and how to deal with the pressures exerted on them by the current dominant “mental disorder” paradigm. We hope that this interview series will provide helpful ideas that you may not be able to get anywhere else. The interviews can be found HERE.

Webinars

Antidepressants in Pregnancy

In this webinar, Dr. Adam Urato, a practicing OB-GYN, reviews the risks of SSRI use during pregnancy. He details the role that serotonin plays in normal fetal development, and reviews the extensive literature, from both animal studies and human studies, that warns of potential harm to the fetus and newborn child from exposure to a drug that disrupts normal serotonin function. Dr. Urato also discusses the financial conflicts of interest that have led to a societal failure to warn pregnant women of this risk.

Blogs

Letter to My Child’s Psychiatrist

Elizabeth Moy - June 8, 2019

Dear Doctor, I wonder if you remember my son... you only spent about ten minutes with him, exactly four days after his first suicide attempt. I asked you if his medication, Zoloft, had anything to do with what was happening. You looked at me and said, "There's no way of knowing; there are too many factors involved."

FDA Approves Using Electricity All Night Long on Children’s Brains

Michael Cornwall, PhD - May 21, 2019

The FDA just approved sales of an electrical device called the Monarch eTNS to be used on the brains of children diagnosed with so-called ADHD. The device “sends therapeutic signals to the parts of the brain thought to be involved in ADHD,” according to the FDA press release. “Therapeutic signals”? Really?

My Son and the “Mental Health” System

Alan Moster - May 17, 2019

As a father whose 27-year-old son is trapped in the mental health system, I am painfully aware that I have been unable to protect him. At age 19, my son naively told his mother and his doctor that he was hearing voices, marking the beginning of a hellish nightmare which he is still unavoidably immersed in. I would like to explain my perspective on why this is the case.

Lithium: A Survivor’s Guide for Parents

Julie Greene, MFA - May 1, 2019

When I was a young adult, I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on lithium. I am 61 years old now, living on the edge of end-stage kidney disease. If I could undo everything, by all means, I would not have taken this drug. It is not safe for anyone at any age.