Your Child in the Balance: An Insider's Guide for Parents to the Psychiatric Medicine Dilemma

Dealing with a child's illness in any form is always difficult and emotionally draining, but when it comes to less tangible psychological disorders, the acknowledgment of the condition and the subsequent choice of treatment for our children are among the most difficult of all medical issues a parent must deal with. The shift from Freudian therapy to pharmacological treatment of children is new to many of us, and I was admittedly a skeptic and needed a lot of information and understanding. Dr. Kalikow's book was by far the best treatment of any such parenting issue I've ever read. His style of writing - while suffused with an extraordinary amount of well-organized information - is engaging and gentle, and in my case, managed to address almost all of the questions I had on the subject. By presenting scores of individual case vignettes, along with the arguments both for and against various types of treatments, their effects, potential side-effects, time scales, and long-term considerations, Dr. Kalikow's book provided me with a substantial tool with which to deal with problems "in my own back yard." There's a lot of hand-holding in his narratives, and in some cases Dr. Kalikow's easy-going manner may seem like he's addressing an audience of adolescents. But when it comes to handling our children, perhaps we can all benefit from being treated in this way, with a touch on the shoulder and the reassurance that the understanding of these disorders in chldren is still new to everyone, and their treatments are even newer. Bravo and thanks to Dr. Kalikow for providing a very useful and engaging body of information.

I found this book very thought provoking. It provides an unbiased perspective and insight into a very controversial topic.

Ths is a sensitive, thoughtful, informative, intelligently written book authored by a well respected psychiatrist. This book is a must read for anyone involved with the welfare of a child.

A thoughtful and helpful book for a complex subject. Dr. Kalikow addresses the decision making process of the parents, the child and the health care professional when choosing how to address the needs of their child. It is written clearly, with humor, compassion and tenderness. I believe parents will be able to make a more educated decision after reading this book.

I have found this book incredibly helpful especially in working with parents who are fearful of putting their kids on medication. I have recommended the book to some of my patients. They felt it was an easy book to read and was helpful to them in deciding whether to put their child on meds or not. I highly recommend this book for both therapists as well as patients. Lori Weinreich