Principal Investigator: Erik Parens, and Josephine Johnston
Funders: National Institute of Mental Health, The Hastings Center’s Fund for Families and Children

The purpose of this project was to produce an integrated analysis in plain English of the controversies surrounding the growing use of psychotropic medications in children and to identify areas where further empirical and conceptual work can help to advance those debates. It led to these published reports:

• Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, Troubled Children: Diagnosing, Treating, and Attending to Context, Special Report, Hastings Center Report 41, no. 2 (2011).
• Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston. “Controversies Concerning the Diagnosis and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Children,” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 4, no. 9 (2010).
• Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Facts, Values, and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): An Update on the Controversies.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 3, no. 1 (2009).
• Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Understanding the Agreements and Controversies Surrounding Childhood Psychopharmacology.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2, no. 5 (2008).