“I have found that many people think they understand depression because they have been sad,” a mother of a boy diagnosed with high-functioning autism, sensory-integration issues and obsessive-compulsive behavior tells Judith Warner in the early pages of her new book, “We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication.”

“They think they understand addiction because they have had cravings. They think they understand A.D.D./A.D.H.D. because they have been bored and restless. They think they understand sensory-integration dysfunction because there are foods or noises they are not fond of. They think they understand obsessive-compulsive behavior because they’ve occasionally felt an urge to do something. The truth is that their own experiences are so far removed from the depth and magnitude of true disorders that they have no bearing on developing a better understanding of the problem.”

When Warner began writing what was to become this book, back in 2004, she expected it would be about the overdiagnosis and overmedication of children by parents who could not discipline their children or tolerate or accept their imperfections.

Instead “We’ve Got Issues,” which was published today, is about her realization that her initial assumptions were wrong; while there is fault to find with the pharmaceutical industry, the school system, some parents, some psychiatrists, the pace of society and the heightened expectations put on children, she says, the idea that parents willy nilly medicate their kids on a whim, or to improve their SAT scores, is a myth.

And a telling myth, too. The larger question, of course, is why this view — that “all kids are medicated” because “too many parents are lazy” or “seeking an unfair advantage” — took root in the first place. And the answer, as it is so often when the subject is parenting, can be found in the judgment we bring to rearing children.

 

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