Bipolar Children: Cutting-Edge Controversy, Insights, and Research (Childhood in America) (Hardcover)

by Sharna Olfman (Author)
Key Phrases: bipolar epidemic, juvenile bipolar disorder, bipolar children, United States, Heather Norris, Joseph Biederman (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“[P]rovocative and highly readable....Bipolar Children provides a reminder of the urgency of the question and warns of the weakness of current treatment approaches.”–Journal of the American Medical Association

“This important and urgently needed volume of outstanding, but disturbing, essays, written by a group of eminent scholars and practitioners, sounds the alarm on a development in our society of Orwellian proportions. This incautious use of drugs also has the effect of obscuring, and thus leaving unaddressed, social and environmental factors in children's lives that may be the real source of their problems. The volume is a must-read for parents, and for professionals who work in areas that touch upon children's health and well-being.”–Joel Bakan, Author of The Corporation, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia

“Thank you, Sharna Olfman! These comprehensive chapters expose a truly alarming twist on childhood in the 21st century. Parents, teachers, physicians, and therapists: Please take notice--and then take action!”–Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist and author of Your Child's Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning from Birth to Adolescence

“An important, ground-breaking book exposing the devastating impact of corporations on children's mental health, from drug marketing's influences on diagnosis and treatment to the effect of toxic chemicals on brain development. A necessary read for health care professionals, policy makers, and parents.”–Susan Linn, Ed.D. Author, Consuming Kids and Associate Director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center and Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

“A shocking expose of wayward diagnostic and drug-prescription practices that do great harm to children, this book is essential reading for pediatricians, psychologists, social workers, lawmakers, educators, child development specialists, and others entrusted with the welfare of our youngest citizens. The contributors are an eminent cast of researchers and practitioners from diverse fields. The chapters are compellingly written, carefully documented, and enriched with many moving case examples. Bravo to editor Sharna Olfman for this powerful call to action!”–Laura E. Berk, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Illinois State University

Book Description

Scrutinizes the incredible increase in the number of children - some as young as one year old - being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and being treated as a result with drugs that have dangerous side effects.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Praeger; 1 edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275997308
• ISBN-13: 978-0275997304
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #88 in

  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Manic Depression

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sick children, or a sick society?, November 1, 2007

By	Ben Hansen (Traverse City, Michigan) - See all my reviews

The number of U.S. children diagnosed with bipolar disorder rose an astounding 4,000% in the past ten years. This startling fact drives home the urgency of this important new book edited by Sharna Olfman and bringing together some of the world's most distinguished experts in the field.

Each of the book's nine contributors offers a unique perspective on the issue, providing readers with a comprehensive view of a controversial and disturbing subject.

Among the most passionate voices are those of Dr. David Healy and Dr. Joanna Le Noury, who dissect the pharmaceutical industry's unscrupulous strategies to expand the psychiatric drug market, resulting in the unprecedented "tidal wave" of child drugging currently sweeping our nation.

Award-winning journalist Robert Whitaker writes a carefully documented chapter citing solid scientific evidence showing that the widespread practice of medicating young children with stimulants like Ritalin or antidepressants like Prozac has fueled an explosion of drug side effects including psychosis, mania and suicidal impulses. These drug reactions are then misinterpreted as symptoms of severe mental illness, resulting in a mis-diagnosis of bipolar disorder which leads to treatment with "mood stabilizers" often combined in drug cocktails including major tranquilizers like Risperdal or Seroquel.

We may be witnessing a drug-induced epidemic of mental and physical disabilities directly caused by the irresponsible and misguided medical mis-treatment of our nation's children. Psychology professor Daniel Burston looks at what is happening and calls it "the chemical colonization of childhood."

Regardless of who or what we choose to blame for causing this catastrophe -- Big Pharma, bad parenting, overcrowded schools, environmental toxins, television violence, etc. -- one thing is certain: nothing will change until DOCTORS stop making the diagnoses and DOCTORS stop writing the prescriptions. What will it take to bring about such a change?

Perhaps we should begin focusing less on the children who are diagnosed, and more on the doctors who do the diagnosing. Lawrence Diller writes, "Only economic factors, the threat of legal action, or very negative publicity (e.g., children's deaths while taking antidepressants) have widespread influence on doctors' prescribing practices and treatment."

In the book's final chapter, epidemiologist Philip Landrigan sounds the alarm over the growing number of neurotoxic chemicals including mercury that are poisoning our environment. Landrigan writes, "It is striking that the mental health community has virtually ignored the health risks to children growing up in a world that is awash with thousands of synthetic chemicals, hundreds of which are already known to be poisonous to the brain."

How ironic, then, if our society's response to the harm caused by environmental toxins is to give our children drugs -- chemical substances that are toxic to growing bodies and vulnerable brains!