Welcome to Childhood Made Crazy, an interview series that takes a critical look at the current “mental disorders of childhood” model. This series is comprised of interviews with practitioners, parents, and other children’s advocates as well as pieces that investigate fundamental questions in the mental health field. Visit the following page to learn more about the series, to see which interviews are coming, and to learn about the topics under discussion:

Tabita Green is an author, speaker, and community organizer. Her popular blog explores the intersection of simple living, health, and social change. After three years of research into mental health and resilience for her book, Her Lost Year: A Story of Hope and a Vision for Optimizing Children’s Mental Health, she believes humanity’s future health and happiness depends on the creation of resilient, sustainable communities and a society focused on equality, justice, and dignity for all people.


EM: How would you suggest a parent think about being told that his or her child meets the criteria for a mental disorder or a mental illness diagnosis?

TG: Start by considering the motivation behind the mental illness diagnosis. Is it to understand how best to help your child? Is it required for health insurance? Or is it maybe needed for special services at school? In all these cases, it may be valid for a practitioner to think about your child's distress or behavioral problems in these clinical terms.
In general, though, I do not think it is helpful for a child to be labeled with a mental illness diagnosis. First of all, they are often not accurate and quite situational. Further, a mental health diagnosis stigmatizes and defines a young person, sometimes to the point of no return. It also completely ignores the underlying environmental factors that are playing into the situation.

A more effective approach (borrowed from ADHD expert Dr. Jeff Sosne) is to have the child express specific problems with specific situations. A child that meets the criteria for ADHD might say, "I have trouble focusing when I have to sit down and read in a classroom full of students." This also allows children to embrace their strengths, because they are not defined by a diagnosis.
EM: How would you suggest a parent think about being told that his or her child ought to go on one or more than one psychiatric medication for his or her diagnosed mental disorder or mental illness?
TG: In my experience, psychiatric medications are offered as a first, rather than last, resort. My young teen daughter saw a therapist exactly once before they recommended that we "kickstart" her treatment with an antidepressant. This led to a year of hospitalizations, polypharmacy (the use of multiple drugs by a single patient), and extreme weight gain. My husband and I went along with it because we wanted to trust the professionals.

However, we didn't know then that the pharmaceutical companies peddle these drugs to physicians on an ongoing basis. We also didn't know that about half of all continuing education for physicians is sponsored by drug companies. And we definitely didn't know that most of the psychiatric drugs given to children are not widely tested on children and often not even approved for use in children. (Doctors can still legally prescribe "off-label.")

As such, I think it is the parents' responsibility to advocate for their children. Ensure that all other avenues have been explored first (diet, exercise, sleep, wilderness therapy, adjustments at home/school, yoga, family therapy, etc.) as they are available. Medicating children for behavioral and emotional problems should be a last resort and done carefully with close monitoring and a full understanding of possible side effects, both short-term and long-term.

EM: What if a parent currently has a child in treatment for a mental disorder? How should he or she monitor the treatment regimen and/or communicate with mental health professionals involved?
TG: You know your child best. End of story. You are the best monitor of your child's progress or decline. And you must pay attention, because these are potent drugs.
Know that a psychiatric medication is not a cure. At best, it provides relief for symptoms of mental distress for some finite period of time. At worst, it doesn't provide any relief, but results in scary side effect such as facial tics, hallucinations, and suicidal ideation.

One of the biggest struggles for me and my husband was that there was never an exit strategy. When we asked our daughter's psychiatrist about it, he shrugged and said that she would probably have to be on drugs the rest of her life. That is not very encouraging, nor conducive to healing.
Medication may mask symptoms, but it doesn't help heal the underlying trauma or malnutrition or unsuitable school environment or whatever the real problems may be. In a way, medication allows us to not have to deal with the underlying problems.
If you are not comfortable with the idea of your child taking psychiatric medications, talk to your child's psychiatrist about it. It will be an uphill battle, because prescribing and monitoring medication is often the only way psychiatrists make money. You may need to find a new team of mental health professionals who know how to work with children and families without relying on medication. Don't give up. You are your child's best advocate.

EM: What if a parent has a child who is taking psychiatric drugs and the child appears to be having adverse effects to those drugs or whose situation appears to worsening? What would you suggest the parent do?

TG: Document the adverse effects (when they started, any significant details) and contact your child's prescribing physician with this list in hand. If they are anything like the psychiatrists we encountered, they will deny that the side effects are caused by the medication. Instead, they may consider a new diagnosis and prescribe even more medication to deal with the new symptoms.
Hold your ground. Remember, you know your child best. We insisted again and again that our daughter's severe side effects (hallucinations, suicidal ideation, complete inability to focus, etc.) were caused by the medication. We were repeatedly told that these were new symptoms presenting as the illness unfolded and sent home with new prescriptions