We've Got Issues: Children And Parents In The Age Of Medication (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
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. 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.
What do You think about We've Got Issues: Children And Parents In The Age Of Medication (2010)?
It made some good points, It's a book for skimming, not reading cover to cover.
—Liz
