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We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication
In her provocative new book, New York Times -bestselling author Judith Warner explores the storm of debate over whether we are overdiagnosing and overmedicating our children who have "issues."
In Perfect Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety , Judith Warner explained what's gone wrong with the culture of parenting, and her conclusions sparked a national debate on how women and society view motherhood. Her new book, We've Got Children and Parents in the Age of Medication , will generate the same kind of controversy, as she tackles a subject that's just as contentious and Are parents and physicians too quick to prescribe medication to control our children's behavior? Are we using drugs to excuse inept parents who can't raise their children properly?
What Warner discovered from the extensive research and interviewing she did for this book is that passion on both sides of the issue "is ideological and only tangentially about real children," and she cuts through the jargon and hysteria to delve into a topic that for millions of parents involves one of the most important decisions they'll ever make for their child.
Insightful, compelling, and deeply moving, We've Got Issues is for parents, doctors, and teachers-anyone who cares about the welfare of today's children.
In Perfect Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety , Judith Warner explained what's gone wrong with the culture of parenting, and her conclusions sparked a national debate on how women and society view motherhood. Her new book, We've Got Children and Parents in the Age of Medication , will generate the same kind of controversy, as she tackles a subject that's just as contentious and Are parents and physicians too quick to prescribe medication to control our children's behavior? Are we using drugs to excuse inept parents who can't raise their children properly?
What Warner discovered from the extensive research and interviewing she did for this book is that passion on both sides of the issue "is ideological and only tangentially about real children," and she cuts through the jargon and hysteria to delve into a topic that for millions of parents involves one of the most important decisions they'll ever make for their child.
Insightful, compelling, and deeply moving, We've Got Issues is for parents, doctors, and teachers-anyone who cares about the welfare of today's children.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published February 23, 2010
13 people are currently reading
332 people want to read
About the author
Judith Warner
17 books47 followersJudith Warner is the author, most recently, of And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School, which was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice when it was published in early May. She is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story, as well as the multiple award-winning We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication. A senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, she has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times, where she wrote the popular Domestic Disturbances column, as well as numerous other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 16, 2010
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 mind, 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.
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.
March 26, 2010
When Warner set out to write a book about childhood mental illness and pharmacology, she expected to write about the drugging and over-pathologizing of children, and the grasping parents who would do anything to give themselves breathing room and their children a competitive edge.
And yet - when she began to talk to families of children with mental illnesses, to psychiatrists, psychologists, and even critics of Big Pharmacology, she didn't find evidence of the hyper-driven parents and over-diagnosed kids whose stories saturate our received wisdom about childhood illness. Instead she found parents trying to literally save their children's lives, and children struggling with pain and deep social difficulties, and enormous stigma acting as an obstacle to parents seeking medication and help for even those children with the most destructive, even murderous, behaviors.
Warner's book, in sum, is a breath of fresh air - a compassionate, even-handed, culturally sensitive investigation of what we're really talking about when we keep repeating largely baseless stories about the over-medicalization and diagnosis of otherwise healthy youth. She doesn't gloss over real and persistent problems that weave through the issue of correctly diagnosing and treating children with mental illness - she addresses the horrifying collusion of Big Pharm and too many members of the psychiatric profession, the ineffective policing offered by the FDA, the way in which health insurers limit what can and cannot be offered to suffering children and families, and the effects of poverty and racism on our entire health care system. Yet she still returns to a basic fact - children do suffer from mental illness; families need better help in dealing with this; and most importantly, the suffering child needs to be at the center of our discourse about illness, not at the periphery, sacrificed to ideology of any and all kinds.
Highly recommended.
And yet - when she began to talk to families of children with mental illnesses, to psychiatrists, psychologists, and even critics of Big Pharmacology, she didn't find evidence of the hyper-driven parents and over-diagnosed kids whose stories saturate our received wisdom about childhood illness. Instead she found parents trying to literally save their children's lives, and children struggling with pain and deep social difficulties, and enormous stigma acting as an obstacle to parents seeking medication and help for even those children with the most destructive, even murderous, behaviors.
Warner's book, in sum, is a breath of fresh air - a compassionate, even-handed, culturally sensitive investigation of what we're really talking about when we keep repeating largely baseless stories about the over-medicalization and diagnosis of otherwise healthy youth. She doesn't gloss over real and persistent problems that weave through the issue of correctly diagnosing and treating children with mental illness - she addresses the horrifying collusion of Big Pharm and too many members of the psychiatric profession, the ineffective policing offered by the FDA, the way in which health insurers limit what can and cannot be offered to suffering children and families, and the effects of poverty and racism on our entire health care system. Yet she still returns to a basic fact - children do suffer from mental illness; families need better help in dealing with this; and most importantly, the suffering child needs to be at the center of our discourse about illness, not at the periphery, sacrificed to ideology of any and all kinds.
Highly recommended.
April 20, 2010
I LOVED this book! As a mother of a child with ADHD, this book was just what I needed. I learned that kids with ADHD have social skills that are three to five years behind their age (which explains A LOT!!!!). I also read about a study that followed ADHD kids treated different ways and learned what treatment is the most affective. I just feel a little more in control of life now. This book is also validating in that it confirms that mental health issues in children are real and that they really do need treatment.
The author of this book set out to write about how kids' mental health issues are really just an extension of the pressure put on them by parents to be perfect, and that doctors are quick to medicate children that don't need it. She started researching these things years ago and discovered that her thinking was all wrong. She realized parents and doctors are actually usually too slow to medicate because they're worried about the "stigma". And that parents of kids with mental health issues are usually doing everything they can just to help their kids be normal, but they don't push them to be perfect in any way.
The middle of this book does tend to get a little long and she has so many studies and things she shares that it's easy to forget exactly what she was trying to defend; but the first chapters and last chapters were just what I needed!
This book would be a perfect read for all the people out there that have bad things to say about mental health issues in kids. She THOROUGHLY researched the information and strongly supports her discoveries. Unfortunately, I'm guessing not many of these people would really spend time reading this book...
For any mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. of a child with a mental health issue (from bipolar, to ADHD, to depression, etc.), I HIGHLY recommend reading this book!
The author of this book set out to write about how kids' mental health issues are really just an extension of the pressure put on them by parents to be perfect, and that doctors are quick to medicate children that don't need it. She started researching these things years ago and discovered that her thinking was all wrong. She realized parents and doctors are actually usually too slow to medicate because they're worried about the "stigma". And that parents of kids with mental health issues are usually doing everything they can just to help their kids be normal, but they don't push them to be perfect in any way.
The middle of this book does tend to get a little long and she has so many studies and things she shares that it's easy to forget exactly what she was trying to defend; but the first chapters and last chapters were just what I needed!
This book would be a perfect read for all the people out there that have bad things to say about mental health issues in kids. She THOROUGHLY researched the information and strongly supports her discoveries. Unfortunately, I'm guessing not many of these people would really spend time reading this book...
For any mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. of a child with a mental health issue (from bipolar, to ADHD, to depression, etc.), I HIGHLY recommend reading this book!
April 18, 2010
there is a good basic premise in here. sadly it happens to be buried under the author's tedious need to justify her previous bullshit assumptions of people medicating their children out of laziness [why would anyone care how deeply affected the author is by the struggles of other parents?:], her poor writing and her continuing elitism [her conclusion is that there needs to be more child psychiatrists, after she rather obnoxiously dismisses all other mental health practitioners:]. she also attempts a few times to address the fact that she's describing a very small demographic population, and then it turns into another "destruction of the middle class american dream" story which has, particularly in the past few years, been covered ad nauseum. the history of children's mental health services and that of the anti-psychiatry movement were both pretty interesting. my biggest question is who she believes her audience is. parents who have children with mental health issues will be insulted by her judgmental attitude, even if she claims to have been reborn. people who believe those notions of a nation of overmedicated kids aren't going to be motivated to read it. and those of us who work with children with mental illness are just going to think this woman's a moron.
May 29, 2010
As someone who took a trip with about 30 juniors and seniors two years ago and was in charge of dispensing medication, I am glad I read this book. See, about a third of those 30 were on meds, and it lent credence to my general opinion of "Man, ALL of them are on meds these days! Do SO MANY kids need them?. Warner, too, had the idea that children were carelessly overmedicated, until she began looking more closely into the issue and finding out that few parents and doctors medicate a children lightly, and, indeed, most agonize over putting their kids on meds. They are also exceptionally grateful for the improvement that the meds can make for kids. My general opinion about psychiatric medication also went through a change. By the middle of 2008, I had started taking an antidepressant myself and saw an incredible improvement in my mood and my ability to live and enjoy life. I stopped for a time in 2009--I didn't want to be on meds if I didn't have to--and my mood plummeted. It seems that I have some kind of chemical imbalance in my brain, and I am grateful that I have the resources and medical care to take medication that makes an enormous difference. I therefore agree with Warner's calls for the continuation of responsible prescription for and study of the effects of psychiatric medication on children and adolescents whose brains need a bit of help.
July 25, 2011
Do you remember pulling an all-nighter to write a term paper. Ever read that term paper in the light of day and found it full of specious, circular argument, weak support, and repetitive statements? Then you've got Judith Warner's new book - We've Got Issues - in a nutshell. As she mentions in the book time and again, it came in WAY over her publisher's deadline - and it reads like she needed the rest of her advance and fast.
I generally believe that American children are over-diagnosed and over-medicated. Warner promised to refute that belief. She didn't do it. While I love anecdotal evidence - after reading Gary Taubes, I may never be able to accept it as truth again. Poorly designed studies and bad science has led us down many bad roads. Now before I can expand my beliefs to include new facts, I need good, hard, solid, evidence. This isn't the book for that.
I generally believe that American children are over-diagnosed and over-medicated. Warner promised to refute that belief. She didn't do it. While I love anecdotal evidence - after reading Gary Taubes, I may never be able to accept it as truth again. Poorly designed studies and bad science has led us down many bad roads. Now before I can expand my beliefs to include new facts, I need good, hard, solid, evidence. This isn't the book for that.
March 13, 2010
As a child who was prescribed medication after one meeting with a psychiatrist, I wasn't expecting to appreciate this book as much as I did. On the other hand in college I had a room mate who literally could not live without a cocktail of antidepressants, and sadly took his life when his current mix stopped being effective. Yet he would not have been with us as long as he was if not for that medication.
The book discusses the authors change in opinion from the over-medication and over-drugging of today's children to a realization that many of our children desperately need these drugs to give their lives some semblance of normalcy. Other chapters discuss why there is a perception that children are being over-medicated; the media's role in that perception and what the statistics mean; the roles doctors play in promoting the necessity of medication and how they damage parents'/consumers' trust by associating with pharmaceutical companies and lack of time spent with patients.
While there is a good body of research in this book, Warner relies mostly on anecdotes about friends or acquaintances, interviews she has conducted herself, or interviews from previous news articles. Most parents who have had to medicate their children will find comfort in these stories about children with ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, and many more. People who read this and are against medicating children for mental or emotional disorders will hopefully rethink their assumptions.
I would still caution parents to use medication as a first option, but by all means if your child needs medication, please give them the help they need.
A note on the reviewer: I am 2009 graduate of Kent State University's Master program for Library and Information Science and a 2006 graduate of Antioch College (B.A. in History).
This book was obtained through the First Reads Giveaway, I attempted to be fair in my review of this work. However readers should keep in mind that by the very nature of the giveaway the review may not be totally impartial.
The book discusses the authors change in opinion from the over-medication and over-drugging of today's children to a realization that many of our children desperately need these drugs to give their lives some semblance of normalcy. Other chapters discuss why there is a perception that children are being over-medicated; the media's role in that perception and what the statistics mean; the roles doctors play in promoting the necessity of medication and how they damage parents'/consumers' trust by associating with pharmaceutical companies and lack of time spent with patients.
While there is a good body of research in this book, Warner relies mostly on anecdotes about friends or acquaintances, interviews she has conducted herself, or interviews from previous news articles. Most parents who have had to medicate their children will find comfort in these stories about children with ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, and many more. People who read this and are against medicating children for mental or emotional disorders will hopefully rethink their assumptions.
I would still caution parents to use medication as a first option, but by all means if your child needs medication, please give them the help they need.
A note on the reviewer: I am 2009 graduate of Kent State University's Master program for Library and Information Science and a 2006 graduate of Antioch College (B.A. in History).
This book was obtained through the First Reads Giveaway, I attempted to be fair in my review of this work. However readers should keep in mind that by the very nature of the giveaway the review may not be totally impartial.
April 11, 2010
I won this on Firstreads!! My second!!
Unfortunately, just after I got this book, I hit a reading funk. I have finished reading it, even if a little late.
I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who works with kids, has kids, or has theories about "kids today." I went to school to teach kids; I now work with adults with mental illnesses. I have to say this book startled me in many ways. Many times I read on the page thoughts I'd had in my head, "It must be this... or that..." "If only parents would..." Even though I work in this field and even though I would be the first person to tell you "mental illness can affect anyone," I don't think I ever applied that thought to children. I played blame games, and made mental lists of all the things I would or would not do as a parent. While I definitely recommend this book to anyone, I will tell you the abbreviated message: THIS KIND OF THINKING HAS TO STOP. Children and parents are suffering. Stop blaming TV, food additives, immunizations, and "lazy" parents/teachers. Most people (children and adults) never get the care they need for their mental illness, due largely to stigma or prohibitive costs. Most people with mental illnesses can go on to lead productive lives (trust me, I work with amazing people who do it every day), but not if they don't get treatment. Get your head out of the sand! Children have mental illnesses. Instead of demonizing them and/or their parents, we need to help them live the highest quality of lives they can. We'll all be better off for it.
By the way, the reason I gave this book 4, instead of 5, stars was because I found the chapter "Stuck in the Cuckoo's Nest" confusing and non-informative. You could easily skip that chapter and not miss anything... unless I missed something.
Unfortunately, just after I got this book, I hit a reading funk. I have finished reading it, even if a little late.
I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who works with kids, has kids, or has theories about "kids today." I went to school to teach kids; I now work with adults with mental illnesses. I have to say this book startled me in many ways. Many times I read on the page thoughts I'd had in my head, "It must be this... or that..." "If only parents would..." Even though I work in this field and even though I would be the first person to tell you "mental illness can affect anyone," I don't think I ever applied that thought to children. I played blame games, and made mental lists of all the things I would or would not do as a parent. While I definitely recommend this book to anyone, I will tell you the abbreviated message: THIS KIND OF THINKING HAS TO STOP. Children and parents are suffering. Stop blaming TV, food additives, immunizations, and "lazy" parents/teachers. Most people (children and adults) never get the care they need for their mental illness, due largely to stigma or prohibitive costs. Most people with mental illnesses can go on to lead productive lives (trust me, I work with amazing people who do it every day), but not if they don't get treatment. Get your head out of the sand! Children have mental illnesses. Instead of demonizing them and/or their parents, we need to help them live the highest quality of lives they can. We'll all be better off for it.
By the way, the reason I gave this book 4, instead of 5, stars was because I found the chapter "Stuck in the Cuckoo's Nest" confusing and non-informative. You could easily skip that chapter and not miss anything... unless I missed something.
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January 29, 2023I have to give Judith Warner much credit for her courage to write this book, which is very different than the one she first envisioned. Originally, she intended to write about her theory that parents were willy-nilly medicating their kids in order to achieve some nirvana of perfection from their offspring. Instead, she found that there are many families raising children with significant mental health issues ... which makes for a changed mindset - and a very different book - indeed.
This book is very well-researched, which is what one expects from a journalist and author of Warner's caliber. As the book jacket states, she "uses exclusive research and interviews with dozens of doctors, researchers, family experts, and parents to cut through the received wisdom and hysteria to try to bring insight and compassion to the 'drugging kids' debate." It does this very well.
What We've Got Issues doesn't do is become the definite answer on whether or not one specific kid should or should not be on medication for anxiety disorders or ADD or whatever else. And really, it SHOULDN'T be the definitive answer to what is a complex question - because it is ultimately an INDIVIDUAL question.
That's at the heart of Warner's book: that for millions of individual children and their families, this is a complex issue within many other complex issues (the difficulty of obtaining a diagnosis, the unethical practices of practitioners being in bed with Big Pharma, the lack of services in some communities and the full-time job nature and financial toll that defines the quest to secure them ... just to name a few).
We've Got Issues was simultaneously comforting and sobering. Listening to the personal stories from parents was like having a support group in my car. From an audiobook production standpoint, it kept my attention throughout and Kirsten Potter's narration was absolutely perfect. She might just be my favorite audiobook narrator, now that I am paying more attention to such things. Her tone - and the emotion within it while telling the families' stories - was filled with just the right amount of compassion without sounding patronizing or accusatory, and I for one appreciated that.
We do, indeed, have issues. What Judith Warner's book does is to define them to show us that they are issues belonging to all of us ... whether or not we have a child "with issues."
This book is very well-researched, which is what one expects from a journalist and author of Warner's caliber. As the book jacket states, she "uses exclusive research and interviews with dozens of doctors, researchers, family experts, and parents to cut through the received wisdom and hysteria to try to bring insight and compassion to the 'drugging kids' debate." It does this very well.
What We've Got Issues doesn't do is become the definite answer on whether or not one specific kid should or should not be on medication for anxiety disorders or ADD or whatever else. And really, it SHOULDN'T be the definitive answer to what is a complex question - because it is ultimately an INDIVIDUAL question.
That's at the heart of Warner's book: that for millions of individual children and their families, this is a complex issue within many other complex issues (the difficulty of obtaining a diagnosis, the unethical practices of practitioners being in bed with Big Pharma, the lack of services in some communities and the full-time job nature and financial toll that defines the quest to secure them ... just to name a few).
We've Got Issues was simultaneously comforting and sobering. Listening to the personal stories from parents was like having a support group in my car. From an audiobook production standpoint, it kept my attention throughout and Kirsten Potter's narration was absolutely perfect. She might just be my favorite audiobook narrator, now that I am paying more attention to such things. Her tone - and the emotion within it while telling the families' stories - was filled with just the right amount of compassion without sounding patronizing or accusatory, and I for one appreciated that.
We do, indeed, have issues. What Judith Warner's book does is to define them to show us that they are issues belonging to all of us ... whether or not we have a child "with issues."
October 23, 2017
I read this book years ago and found it so helpful to refute the various people who say, "Kids are just over-medicated these days, and if they could just get outside more/have more chores/stop looking at screens/insert other random solution they wouldn't have to be medicated." Judith Warner had that perspective until she started researching this book, and changed her mind and wrote an entirely different book.
I picked it up again when I read the excellent "The Vanishing American Adult" by Ben Sasse. My quibble with it, and why I gave his book 4 stars instead of 5 on GoodReads, is that several times he says, “and this is why kids are over-medicated.” I just get so frustrated by this argument, because there are so many, many conditions, including mental health ones, for which medication is the best first option (along with counseling and other strategies), and helps a person, especially a young person, to be free to act in a normal and healthy way. If I could talk to him, I’d encourage him to read this book.
I picked it up again when I read the excellent "The Vanishing American Adult" by Ben Sasse. My quibble with it, and why I gave his book 4 stars instead of 5 on GoodReads, is that several times he says, “and this is why kids are over-medicated.” I just get so frustrated by this argument, because there are so many, many conditions, including mental health ones, for which medication is the best first option (along with counseling and other strategies), and helps a person, especially a young person, to be free to act in a normal and healthy way. If I could talk to him, I’d encourage him to read this book.
June 7, 2019
This is a really important book.
I used to despair that the DSM-V diagnosed children with mental illness by administering various drugs and seeing what worked. Now I realize that that's exactly what we should be doing - giving medication and therapy that alleviate symptoms, without worrying about the particulars of classification. The label isn't significant; what is significant is letting the brain develop as normally as possible by whatever means necessary.
I used to despair that the DSM-V diagnosed children with mental illness by administering various drugs and seeing what worked. Now I realize that that's exactly what we should be doing - giving medication and therapy that alleviate symptoms, without worrying about the particulars of classification. The label isn't significant; what is significant is letting the brain develop as normally as possible by whatever means necessary.
September 8, 2019
DNF. I read about half. The author excellently walks through why we are seeing more children with mental health conditions and medication to manage those diagnoses. However, it should have stayed a article in the NYT and not a book.
April 24, 2010
We've Got Issues is Judith Warner's attempt to justify the world's increasing use of medications for mental illness, particularly in children. This book would have been better as a New York Times column (as it once was) than as a full book. I use the term "full" liberally. A promising start quickly turned to a poorly-researched diatribe filled with anecdotes and pop culture references, but relatively few solid studies or statistics.
Warner's effort surely does not suffer from too few footnotes. Unfortunately, they are largely without relevance. Warner relies heavily upon second-hand media souces (Newsweek, UPI) and online magazines (Salon.com? And what the hell is "Spiked Online" anyway?) for her references. It appears that much of Warner's research was conducted via Google searches in which she simply finds statistics ("seek and ye shall find" as she notes in the book) that fit the particular questions that she posed. Even the more scholarly sources are from what are generally second-tier medical journals. There was not much New England Journal or JAMA in this book.
Warner takes great pains to portray herself as a moderate in the debate. This leads to so many contradictions that the main points become irrelevant by the end of the book. She begins the book with the premise that we are indeed over-medicated. But, she is so touched by the stories she heard that she changed her mind. She attacks liberals as too flighty and hostile of psychiatry; and conservatives as too close-minded and traditional. The "perfect" middle.
She insists that our fascination with medication is not simply a result of our over-stressed, ultra-competitive society. We have issues, after all. Then, she spends the last three chapters bemoaning society as over-stressed and ultra-competitive. Somewhere along the way, the same author of Perfect Madness forgot which book she was writing.
Our fascination with pharmaceuticals is more than just massive drug company marketing. We have issues, after all. Yet, she devotes an nearly a full chapter to the need of pharmaceutical reform. Psychiatrists get a bum rap from psychologists, social workers, and others for their perceived over-reliance on drugs over therapy. But, she then talks about the need for mental health parity particularly through cognitive behavioral therapy. "Psychiatry has changed" she writes at one point. That's it. She never elaborates on how or why it has changed. But, hey, how could one distrust a profession that waited until 1980 to officially remove homosexuality as a diagnosable illness?
The contradictions continue for most of the book. For example, on one hand only the wealthy can take advantage of new and expensive therapies and coping mechanisms especially for childhood illnesses like ADHD and autism. Then, she cites another crack source that says the privileged may be less likely to go to therapy because of the stigma. Which is it? Warner so desperate to prove a multitude of points throughout the book that she forgets which points she was trying to prove in the first place. Perhaps during Warner's "awakening" from a pharma-doubter to a true believer, she forgot to remove the parts of the book that conformed to her original thesis.
I was about to give this book an average 3 out of 5 stars. Perhaps I was too critical. Perhaps it was unfair of me to expect an academic exploration. That is not the point of this book. But, by the time Warner got to the last few chapters on society pressures, and wants for more government action with no data, I could barely squeak 2 stars out of this book. Warner does a decent, journalistic job of preaching to the converted. It is a light read for those who want to learn more about the subjects of childhood mental illness but do not want to spend a month at the medical library. I cannot recommend this for anyone who craves anything beyond some personal interest stories and "common sense" sililoquies.
Warner's effort surely does not suffer from too few footnotes. Unfortunately, they are largely without relevance. Warner relies heavily upon second-hand media souces (Newsweek, UPI) and online magazines (Salon.com? And what the hell is "Spiked Online" anyway?) for her references. It appears that much of Warner's research was conducted via Google searches in which she simply finds statistics ("seek and ye shall find" as she notes in the book) that fit the particular questions that she posed. Even the more scholarly sources are from what are generally second-tier medical journals. There was not much New England Journal or JAMA in this book.
Warner takes great pains to portray herself as a moderate in the debate. This leads to so many contradictions that the main points become irrelevant by the end of the book. She begins the book with the premise that we are indeed over-medicated. But, she is so touched by the stories she heard that she changed her mind. She attacks liberals as too flighty and hostile of psychiatry; and conservatives as too close-minded and traditional. The "perfect" middle.
She insists that our fascination with medication is not simply a result of our over-stressed, ultra-competitive society. We have issues, after all. Then, she spends the last three chapters bemoaning society as over-stressed and ultra-competitive. Somewhere along the way, the same author of Perfect Madness forgot which book she was writing.
Our fascination with pharmaceuticals is more than just massive drug company marketing. We have issues, after all. Yet, she devotes an nearly a full chapter to the need of pharmaceutical reform. Psychiatrists get a bum rap from psychologists, social workers, and others for their perceived over-reliance on drugs over therapy. But, she then talks about the need for mental health parity particularly through cognitive behavioral therapy. "Psychiatry has changed" she writes at one point. That's it. She never elaborates on how or why it has changed. But, hey, how could one distrust a profession that waited until 1980 to officially remove homosexuality as a diagnosable illness?
The contradictions continue for most of the book. For example, on one hand only the wealthy can take advantage of new and expensive therapies and coping mechanisms especially for childhood illnesses like ADHD and autism. Then, she cites another crack source that says the privileged may be less likely to go to therapy because of the stigma. Which is it? Warner so desperate to prove a multitude of points throughout the book that she forgets which points she was trying to prove in the first place. Perhaps during Warner's "awakening" from a pharma-doubter to a true believer, she forgot to remove the parts of the book that conformed to her original thesis.
I was about to give this book an average 3 out of 5 stars. Perhaps I was too critical. Perhaps it was unfair of me to expect an academic exploration. That is not the point of this book. But, by the time Warner got to the last few chapters on society pressures, and wants for more government action with no data, I could barely squeak 2 stars out of this book. Warner does a decent, journalistic job of preaching to the converted. It is a light read for those who want to learn more about the subjects of childhood mental illness but do not want to spend a month at the medical library. I cannot recommend this for anyone who craves anything beyond some personal interest stories and "common sense" sililoquies.
July 13, 2010
It's a good book, but makes me anxious:)) I guess it will take time for me to finish it....
Judith Warner was supposed to write a book about lazy parents and evil psychiatrist conspiring together to drug our kids. Isn't this what "everybody' knows to be true? As soon as she started doing her research, meeting parents and doctors, her opionion changed by 180 degrees. She met desperate parents, whe spent years trying to help their kids before, resigned and with the feeling of a failure, they turn to psychiatry for help. She met doctors doing their best to help these kids. Kids, who otherwise could end up in juvenile system, may have a chance for a normal llife, with the help of therapy and medication.
Warner spent 5 years researching and wrting this book. She very thorough, writes about all the antipsychiatry attitude, and when it came from. She analyzes the "dark ages" of psychiatry - unitl 60ties of this century, when the psychiatric patient was dehumanized. Today's psychiatry is completely different, respects the patients problems, and tries to help with them. Unfortunately, the picture of evil psychiatrist still well alive in our society....
the popular saying is that all the kids today are on medication, that the parents are just not doing their job, etc. She didn't find it to be true. She've heard heartbreaking stories from paretns, counselors, doctors and that's when Judith Warner came to conclusion that there is one big piece missing in all this debate about medicating kids: empathy. Empathy to those kids, who've got these issues. Nobody talks about them, how this is helping them to live more normal life. In the past, some of them would be closed in mental institution or home school, isolated from their peers. And it was always a horrible mother's fault........
Judith Warner was supposed to write a book about lazy parents and evil psychiatrist conspiring together to drug our kids. Isn't this what "everybody' knows to be true? As soon as she started doing her research, meeting parents and doctors, her opionion changed by 180 degrees. She met desperate parents, whe spent years trying to help their kids before, resigned and with the feeling of a failure, they turn to psychiatry for help. She met doctors doing their best to help these kids. Kids, who otherwise could end up in juvenile system, may have a chance for a normal llife, with the help of therapy and medication.
Warner spent 5 years researching and wrting this book. She very thorough, writes about all the antipsychiatry attitude, and when it came from. She analyzes the "dark ages" of psychiatry - unitl 60ties of this century, when the psychiatric patient was dehumanized. Today's psychiatry is completely different, respects the patients problems, and tries to help with them. Unfortunately, the picture of evil psychiatrist still well alive in our society....
the popular saying is that all the kids today are on medication, that the parents are just not doing their job, etc. She didn't find it to be true. She've heard heartbreaking stories from paretns, counselors, doctors and that's when Judith Warner came to conclusion that there is one big piece missing in all this debate about medicating kids: empathy. Empathy to those kids, who've got these issues. Nobody talks about them, how this is helping them to live more normal life. In the past, some of them would be closed in mental institution or home school, isolated from their peers. And it was always a horrible mother's fault........
June 9, 2010
While I am not a parent, nor do I work with children, I found We've Got Issues to be a fascinating analysis of how our society views children with mental health issues, the decisions their parents make, and how this stigma is driving a lot of bad choices that don't allow suffering kids to receive the help they need.
Warner believed, at the start of her writing process, the conventional wisdom that "most kids" these days seem to be medicated for something--whether it be ADHD, autism, or bipolar disorder--and that this was more a product of competitive parenting and anxiety rather than an indication of real troubles. What she found, when she delved deep into research and interviews, was quite the contrary--that in fact children often do not receive the medication or therapy that is recommended for them because parents are terrified of the stigma and of starting their kids on a regimen of pills. And rather than finding kids whose parents were simply trying to get them better grades, she found legions of parents whose worlds had been turned upside down by kids who couldn't function day to day without some type of psychotropic medication to keep them "normal".
Warner has bravely stepped away from her original hypothesis in order to challenge the misinformation that has been created by generations of suspicion of psychiatry and a storyline that has played well in the media in our anxious times. It's a book that should be discussed because it challenges us to think more critically and be more compassionate when it comes to the issue of mental health--both for kids and adults.
Warner believed, at the start of her writing process, the conventional wisdom that "most kids" these days seem to be medicated for something--whether it be ADHD, autism, or bipolar disorder--and that this was more a product of competitive parenting and anxiety rather than an indication of real troubles. What she found, when she delved deep into research and interviews, was quite the contrary--that in fact children often do not receive the medication or therapy that is recommended for them because parents are terrified of the stigma and of starting their kids on a regimen of pills. And rather than finding kids whose parents were simply trying to get them better grades, she found legions of parents whose worlds had been turned upside down by kids who couldn't function day to day without some type of psychotropic medication to keep them "normal".
Warner has bravely stepped away from her original hypothesis in order to challenge the misinformation that has been created by generations of suspicion of psychiatry and a storyline that has played well in the media in our anxious times. It's a book that should be discussed because it challenges us to think more critically and be more compassionate when it comes to the issue of mental health--both for kids and adults.
February 5, 2016
I cannot stress strongly enough how much I want people to read this book. Judith Warner's presentation is informative, yet easy to read, and her assertions here are solidly backed up with research and input from professionals in the field. I love that she set out to write a book confirming the public attitude that too many children are being incorrectly diagnosed and medicated for mental health issues inappropriately. This has often been the tone of the response I've gotten from people when they find out that my son was diagnosed and started medication for ADHD when he was only four years old. The attitude that this disorder, along with others including bipolar disorder, autism and depression among children are diagnosed at such higher rates today than ever before in the past must mean that many children are receiving labels incorrectly is much too simple a viewpoint. Warner lays out several contributing factors that help to explain why the diagnosis rates are higher today, and she sheds light on many of the complexities in the actual experiences of children and families. Bottom line- these disorders are real, and parents like me who opt to medicate their children aren't doing so because of our poor parenting abilities, or because we want to get our child undue special services so they can be super-achievers, or because our children are undisciplined and just plain bad. We are trying to help treat their illnesses with the options available to us, and all we want is for our children to find success in their educational, personal and familial lives. Simply put- READ THIS BOOK.
March 7, 2012
The overall premise of Warner's book is simple: Despite popular belief parents do not lightly medicate their children in order to have perfect children and, in fact, our society often fails those children who need our compassion and help the most.
This book would have made a fantastic essay. However, the extra 240 pages or so weren't really necessary. Warner has clearly done her research but the chapters blended together, the shifts in topic so subtle as to be almost indistinct (with the exception of the railing against the medical industry). She sticks to facts and statistics, likely in an attempt to sound credible. But she glosses over the very real human stories that would bring this home. We get little bits her and there, fragmented quotes and families referred to once or twice. A few compelling, illustrative stories would have been much more powerful than simply slinging more statistics, especially given her own acknowledgement that one can make the numbers say whatever you like.
The book may be useful for those who believe, as Warner initially did, that our kids are over-medicated and under-parented. If you already understand the fallacy in that, you are better off skipping it.
This book would have made a fantastic essay. However, the extra 240 pages or so weren't really necessary. Warner has clearly done her research but the chapters blended together, the shifts in topic so subtle as to be almost indistinct (with the exception of the railing against the medical industry). She sticks to facts and statistics, likely in an attempt to sound credible. But she glosses over the very real human stories that would bring this home. We get little bits her and there, fragmented quotes and families referred to once or twice. A few compelling, illustrative stories would have been much more powerful than simply slinging more statistics, especially given her own acknowledgement that one can make the numbers say whatever you like.
The book may be useful for those who believe, as Warner initially did, that our kids are over-medicated and under-parented. If you already understand the fallacy in that, you are better off skipping it.
August 16, 2010
There were times when this book dragged or was repetitive, and there were a few sections I thought about skimming, because they didn't pertain to me. I am so glad I did read this book though. It is hard living in the world of having a child with special education needs. Even though you know other parents, it can still feel lonely and scary. This book was a revelation in a lot of ways for people like me who grew up in the generation that said ADHD was nonsense. It was also wonderful to read about the reality of the heartbreak, fear and difficulty involved in making the decision whether or not to medicate your child. This book will not tell you what to do. It is simply very informative of the situation out there and what parents and children in that situation are going through.
May 7, 2010
Won this on first reads.
I have very strong feelings on this type of issue. Medically, I think this country is too much into the "throw a pill at it" mentality. I have been through dealing with family who have had issues like this (ADHD,depression, bipolar, etc) and while I feel that there are alot of things we still do not know, I think there is also alot that we just do not want to deal with that we do know.
I can not say how much I agree or disagree with the author but I can say that there were times I got frustrated with some of the statements. I could not say I got into the book or felt as good about reading it as I thought I would when I got it.
I have very strong feelings on this type of issue. Medically, I think this country is too much into the "throw a pill at it" mentality. I have been through dealing with family who have had issues like this (ADHD,depression, bipolar, etc) and while I feel that there are alot of things we still do not know, I think there is also alot that we just do not want to deal with that we do know.
I can not say how much I agree or disagree with the author but I can say that there were times I got frustrated with some of the statements. I could not say I got into the book or felt as good about reading it as I thought I would when I got it.
April 18, 2010
Won this in a goodreads giveaway. Interested in this topic during a year when many of my students are medicated to control their inappropriate behavior.
While the anecdotes and research were interesting, they started to fall flat and I lost interest when there were too many to remember what the point being made was. It reminded me of reading Tom Robbins, when you get lost for pages in his tangential thoughts and then try to remember what point was being made.
There were definitely sections I highlighted and shared, but definitely sections I skimmed because I just wasn't interested or pulled in by the writing.
While the anecdotes and research were interesting, they started to fall flat and I lost interest when there were too many to remember what the point being made was. It reminded me of reading Tom Robbins, when you get lost for pages in his tangential thoughts and then try to remember what point was being made.
There were definitely sections I highlighted and shared, but definitely sections I skimmed because I just wasn't interested or pulled in by the writing.
September 12, 2010
Open, curious and honest. Warner started this book on the premise that parents were overmedicating to achieve the "perfect" child, but realized early on that for many, meds are the last ditch effort to save their child and family. Being one of those parents I was happily taken by surprise as she jumped across the chasm of her original premise to get to the truth, how broken the system in the US is as it relates to the care of our mentally ill children. I loved this book so much I wrote her personally and was thrilled to hear back from her. I greatly admire her candor and her strength in admitting her misperception.
December 26, 2011
This is a terrific analysis of the issue and controversies surrounding psychiatric medications for children. Warner admits she started researching the book firm in her belief in the conventional stance: that too much medicating of children goes on. She then discovers that the opposite is the case...most children who need mental health treatment (including but not only medication) are not getting it. Parents who choose the psych med option are branded as lazy, and dangerous. Warner goes into the science and politics of each part of the messy scenario, sparing no one responsibility or blame for their part in the resulting nonproductive situation--including big pharma, doctors and parents.
March 9, 2012
Felt like I was being hit over the head with the same points over and over at times, but this is a great book for giving a sense of perspective to mental health issues in general, and in children in particular. Like despite the fact that the common perception is that "all" kids are on medication of some sort, very few actually are and the sad fact is that a LOT of kids that really need help aren't getting it. There is still a huge stigma around mental health for both children and adults (and the parents of children with mental health issues) and that is a big problem. This book shines a bright light on that and is worth reading for that reason alone.
August 18, 2012
I had to give this book 2 stars because it was so repetitive. It was written with the intention to have a skeptical perspective of the overuse of medication in children, and during research the author found that SURPRISE! some children really do need medication.
This book would have been so much better as a long article. It was a huge stretch to turn this into a book. I mean, I'm glad this type of book exists but I imagine only parents of children with mental health issues are going to read this, and they're usually the ones who already know medication is sometimes necessary.
This book would have been so much better as a long article. It was a huge stretch to turn this into a book. I mean, I'm glad this type of book exists but I imagine only parents of children with mental health issues are going to read this, and they're usually the ones who already know medication is sometimes necessary.
July 1, 2013
Great book for those who have preconceived notions and quick judgements about kids and the new 'epidemic' disorders - ADHD, autism, aspergers, anxiety, etc. The author was very thoughtful and well researched in my opinion. It shed a light on how present the stigma still is on children having mental health problems. Many people think that these conditions are over diagnosed and that parents want a quick fix to help control their child. This is a must read if you are a parent or educator and see these issues as very prevalent.
April 28, 2010
A lot of the foster children I work with are starting to take some pretty massive does of anti-psychotic medication, so I was interested in this topic. While this book does not present a rigorous scientific examination of psychotropic medication for children, it does present a interesting counterpoint to the commonly accepted wisdom that most children on medication are overmedicated for their parents' and teachers' convenience.
December 14, 2010
Kind of a muddled take on a complex situation. Warner was underinformed when she started on this writing project and spends a lot of time making up for this in the book talking about how wrong she initially was, so the end result doesn't feel very authoritative and seems to be scattered since she tries to cram in as many viewpoints as possible. But at least she did get a lot of issues out there for discussion.
December 1, 2010
I am a big fan of Judith Warner's and I learned a lot from this exploration of whether we are overmedicating our children (Warner argues that we are not). I thought the book could have been better organized - perhaps this was due to the fact that Warner ended up defending a thesis the opposite of what she believed when she undertook the assignment. Worth reading, especially by parents of school-aged kids or kids about to be.
May 20, 2011
An excellent book about the lack of mental health care for children. The author originally set out to write a book about how Americans parents push psychiatrists to prescribe psychotropic medications to children to give them an edge. She couldn't find any of these parents or psychiatrists. What she did find were parents overwhelmed by their kids' serious mental health issues and psychiatrists who lamented a lack of well-researched treatment options for kids.
February 13, 2012
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.
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