The following editorial on the crisis in pediatric psychiatry (e.g., there has been at least a 40 fold increase in diagnosing pediatric bipolar disorder in this country, unlike other countries such as Puerto Rico) was published in a recent issue of Nature Neuroscience (a basic science journal relevant for anyone interested in what neuroscience has to offer psychoanalysts). Fairly recently, the Hastings Center (a bioethics think tank) held a conference on child psychiatry and psychopharmacology with Steve Hyman (former NIMH Director and Provost at Harvard) as one of the speakers. Hyman, a representative of what became known as the molecular biological approach to psychiatric neuroscience, gave an excellent review of the problems in the field. Parenthetically, Hyman underscores a nonreductionistic approach which includes the value of psychotherapy in mental illness. The Hastings Center’s website has interesting information on children and psychopharmacology.
Brian Koehler
Click Here To Read: Credibility crisis in pediatric psychiatry, an editorial from Nature Neuroscience 11, 983 (2008).