No Child Left Different

Subjects:

• Psychology » Psychology (General)
• Psychology » Developmental Psychology

Reviews:

• This work raises important issues concerning the deteriorating mental health of American children. Contributors explore the societal and cultural issues related to this emerging phenomenon, as well as some related theories of psychosocial development and genetics.
  —Choice November 2006
• [T]hose seeking an introduction to alternative ways to view the problems facing Americas children--and progressive solutions to these problems--will appreciate this collection. Editor Sharna Olfman, whose series "Childhood in America" also includes the volumes Childhood Lost: How American Culture is Failing Our Kids and All Work and No Play...:How Educational Reforms Are Harming Our Preschoolers, is to be commended for making this range of views readily accessible.
  —Metapsychology June 2007
• [S]ucceeds admirably in alerting the reader to the problems of psychotropic drugs for children....[t]his book raises many potential ethical issues....[o]pens a much needed conversation about the cultural and ethical implications of medical interventions for normalizing individuals.
  —The Hastings Center Report May-June 2007
• [T]akes a critical look at the promotion and overuse of pyschoactive drugs in children.
  —Easton's Public Library eNewsletter August 2006
• A group of authors from various disciplines explain why there has been a 300-percent increase in the use of psychotropic medications for children under the age of 20 and why prescriptions for preschoolers have skyrocketed. The authors question the causes, describe the risks and discuss how emotional, social, cultural and physical environments can both damage and heal young minds. The book also looks at the controversy of whether psychiatric medications are safe or effective for children and what is known about their effects on brains that are still developing.
  —District Administration March 2006
• No Child Left Different takes a critical look at the promotion and overuse of pyschoactive drugs in children.
  —The New York Review of Books June 8, 2006
• Over the past 15 years, there has been a 300 percent increase in the use of psychotropic medications for children and youth under the age of 20. This volume traces the emergence of this phenomenon and critically examines the establishment of drugs as the treatment of choice--rather than last resort--for children and teens diagnosed with mental illnesses.
  —SciTech Book News March 2006

• Endorsement From David Healy
  Professor of Psychiatry, Cardiff University
  author of The Antidepressant Era and Let Them Eat Prozac: Children in America are being given psychotropic medications at an ever-increasing rate, driven by the fashionable diagnoses like bipolar disorder. No Child Left Different charts the emergence of this phenomenon. The contributors grapple with the issues in a nuanced and constructive way rather than simply express their horror. But the bottom line is that the book labels what is happening as a folly in the classical meaning of the word--something that was or could have been recognized to be a mistake at the time it was happening. Follies can be amusing and harmless, but this one has the dimensions of a tragedy.
• Endorsement From Susan Linn, Ed.D,
  author of Consuming Kids
  Associate Director of the Media Center of Judge Baker Children's Center and Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School: An important book raising critical concerns about childhood, drugs, and how unfettered corporate interests combine with the romance of a quick fix to undermine children's health.
• Endorsement From Laura E. Berk
  Distinguished Professor of Psychology
  Illinois State University
  author of Awakening Children's Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference: Sharna Olfman has masterfully edited this extraordinary volume that critically examines our nation's gullible faith in drugs as the treatment of choice for the rising tide of American children and youths diagnosed with mental illness. Through compelling statistics, wide-ranging research evidence, and poignant case examples, a renowned cast of contributing authors expose the clinical, industrial, and social conditions that have led to unwarranted drugging of our children. The chapters offer an incisive reminder that family, community, and societal supports combine with biology and are crucial for the development of every mentally healthy human child. The clarity, passion, and power of the authors' writing strengthen their vital message. A MUST READ for parents, mental health professionals, and policy makers, and a forceful call to action.
• Endorsement From Joel Bakan
  Professor of Law
  author of The Corporation: This is a must read for anybody interested in the health and welfare of children....In ten compelling, often chilling, articles, helpfully organized and introduced by Dr. Olfman, the various authors, leaders in their respective fields, and drawn from a number of disciplines, demonstrate how a medical establishment obsessed with finding genetic causes rountinely obfuscates environmental factors, and how a pharmaceutical industry obsessed with profits only sees self-interested opportunity in the suffering of children.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction, by Sharna Olfman
• Environments Matter
• The Building Blocks of Children's Mental Health: Care and Community, by Sharna Olfman
• The Dance of Nature and Nurture: How Environment Impacts Brian Development and Genetic Expression, by Jane M. Healy
• Toxic World, Troubled Minds, by Varda Burstyn and David Fenton
• Media Violence: The Drug of Choice for Young Males, by John P. Murray
• Medical Remodel
• Child Psychiatry, Drugs, and the Corporation, by Michael Brody
• The Development of Mentally Healthy Children, by Staurt Shanker
• Diagnosis, Drugs, and Bipolar Disorder in Children, by Daniel Burston
• Pathologies of Normalcy
• Running on Ritalin: Children, Society, and Performance on the Pill by Lawrence Diller
• Why Medications Aren't Enough: Looking More Deeply at Depression and Anxiety in Children, by Molly Burke
• Global Girls, Consumer Culture, and Eating Disorders, by Margo Maine
• Series Afterword, by Sharna Olfman
• About the Editors and Contributors
• About the Series Advisors

PDF Catalogs:

Praeger Health and Wellness Spring 2008.pdf