Sharna Olfman

Drugging Our Children: How Profiteers Are Pushing Antipsychotics on Our Youngest, and What We Can Do to Stop It - Childhood in America Sharna Olfman

Commendation Quotes:"The over-use of anti-psychotic drugs with America's children has been one of the leading scandals in mental health for years, and this outstanding volume explores every angle of it, from its history and causes to some solutions in the best interests of children. Parents and professionals alike need to read this book."Commendation Quotes:""Drugging Our Children" is compelling and disturbing. It is a must-read for all health care professionals. This enlightening well-researched volume will help to protect our children from maltreatment and abuse from inappropriate use of medication. I highly recommend it--for parents as well as professionals."Commendation Quotes:"This is a powerful indictment of the American penchant for prescribing cocktails of dangerous drugs for troubled children instead of dealing with the underlying problems. Anyone who is worried about this nation's children--and we all should be plenty worried--will find the book eye-opening."Commendation Quotes:"Aggressive drug company marketing has promoted the widespread overuse of antipsychotic drugs with potentially harmful side effects. This valuable book provides a powerful pushback."Commendation Quotes: "The over-use of anti-psychotic drugs with America's children has been one of the leading scandals in mental health for years, and this outstanding volume explores every angle of it, from its history and causes to some solutions in the best interests of children. Parents and professionals alike need to read this book."Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Commendation Quotes: ""Drugging Our Children" is compelling and disturbing. It is a must-read for all health care professionals. This enlightening well-researched volume will help to protect our children from maltreatment and abuse from inappropriate use of medication. I highly recommend it--for parents as well as professionals."Commendation Quotes: "Aggressive drug company marketing has promoted the widespread overuse of antipsychotic drugs with potentially harmful side effects. This valuable book provides a powerful pushback."Commendation Quotes: "This is a powerful indictment of the American penchant for prescribing cocktails of dangerous drugs for troubled children instead of dealing with the underlying problems. Anyone who is worried about this nation's children--and we all should be plenty worried--will find the book eye-opening."Publisher Marketing: Since 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of antipsychotics to treat children for an ever-expanding list of symptoms. The prescription rate for toddlers, preschoolers, and middle-class children has doubled, while the prescribing rate for low-income children covered by Medicaid has quadrupled. In a majority of cases, these drugs are neither FDA-approved nor justified by research for the children's conditions. This book examines the reasons behind the explosion of antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children, spotlighting the historical and cultural factors as well as the role of the pharmaceutical industry in this trend; and discusses the ethical and legal responsibilities and ramifications for non-MDs--psychologists in particular--who work with children treated with antipsychotics. Contributors explain how the pharmaceutical industry has inserted itself into every step of medical education, rendering objectivity in the scientific understanding, use, and approvals of such drugs impossible. The text describes the relentless marketing behind the drug sales, even going as far as to provide coloring and picture books for children related to the drug at issue. Valuable information about legal recourse that families and therapists can take when their children or patients have been harmed by antipsychotic drugs and alternative approaches to working with children with emotional and behavioral challenges is also provided. Review Citations:

Reference and Research Bk News 04/01/2012 pg. 243 (EAN 9780313396830, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Olfman, Sharna Sharna Olfman is Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology at Point Park University, the Founding Director of the Childhood and Society Symposium, and Series Editor for the Childhood in America book series for Praeger Publishers. She is a member of the Council on Human Development and a partner in the Alliance for Childhood. She has written and presented widely on topics including gender development, women's mental health, infant care, and child psychopathology. Her earlier books with Praeger include "Child Honoring: How to Turn This World Around, co-edited with Raffi Cavoukian" (2006), "No Child Left Different" (2006), "Childhood Lost "(2005), and "All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming Our Preschoolers" (2003).