Letter to the Editor I laud the Times for their article on the challenges that children with mental health disorders and their families face in receiving a diagnosis. These concerns are due to the chaotic health care system that families must navigate. As noted, child psychiatry is about 300 years behind other medical specialties in reliably diagnosing various psychiatric disorders for children. While I am pleased that there is progress being made with a new classification system, we simply cannot wait 5 years to remedy this crisis. Diagnosis has significant implications for treatment and there is resultant difficulty in treating children with these disorders. Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) released the findings of a comprehensive investigation examining medication and psychosocial treatments for various childhood disorders. The results indeed are alarming and reveal that medication treatments are widely used for children although there is frequently no approval from the Food and Drug Administration for their use. Further, the majority of the medications have not undergone the rigorous studies that are the standard for use of these medications with adults. Of greatest concern is the evidence indicating that there is widespread use of these medications and that their use far exceeds their documented safety and effectiveness. Indeed, there are many psychosocial (non-medication) treatments available but there is often poor access to trained mental health providers and many insurance companies will not reimburse for psychosocial treatments because they are frequently costlier than medication. As part of the APA study, recommendations were made for much more research on medications that are used for mental health disorders in children. Given this current crisis, it is absolutely crucial that mental health treatment research receive high priority from the federal government and that vigorous efforts are made to provide enhanced funding for universal mental health care to children. Ronald T. Brown, Dean Professor of Public Health Temple University Health Sciences Center College of Health Professions © 2006 American Psychological Association 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242 Telephone: 800-374-2721; 202-336-5500. TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123 PsychNET® | Contact | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Security