by Peter R. Breggin

About the author: Peter R. Breggin is a psychiatrist practicing in Bethesda, Maryland, and the author of Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Prozac, and Talking Back to Ritalin.

In recent years, the basic principle of adult responsibility for children has been drastically eroded by a scientific medical approach to educating and rearing children. Health professionals began telling many adults—parents as well as teachers—that they have no responsibility for the misconduct or failures of the children under their care. Similarly, these adults are told that they cannot take responsibility for improving the lives of troubled or troublesome children. Instead, parents and teachers are taught to believe that millions of children suffer from exotic psychiatric maladies such as attention-deficit disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder and conduct disorder...