Lawton Chiles GovernorofFlorida, 1991-1998 Social Change, Public Policy and Community Collaborations: Training Human Development Professionalsfor the Twenty-First Century is more than the name of the Third National Applied Developmental Science Conference; it is more than the name of a book prepared from the proceedings of this conference. It describes one of the largest and most complex challenges facing state government, higher education and communities in the coming decade. The answer to this challenge will not be found in a college or program in our higher education institution nor in laws conceived and written in state capitals. The answers to this challenge are to be found at the place where academia, public policy, and communities meet. The problems and issues that are facing our children and families will require that all the players work together to develop community-driven programs, designed and evaluated using current research and staffed by highly trained professionals. It will be critical that academia, policy makers, legislators, and community members work together to ensure that the programs we design work. We must ensure that research is being conducted so that programs that work better are continued and programs that don't are stopped.

Over the past 15 years, there has been a 300 percent increase in the use of psychotropic medications with girls and boys under the age of 20, and prescriptions for preschoolers have skyrocketed. A stellar group of authors from across disciplines explains this increase, questions the causes, and presents disturbing thoughts regarding this phenomenon as they describe the risks it creates for children. While there are certainly extreme cases where drugs are the only option, medication rather than psychotherapy and counseling has become the first choice for treatment rather than a last resort. The experts who joined forces for this book take an in-depth look at the conditions that have led to "drugging our children," and stress how emotional, social, cultural, and physical environments can both damage and heal young minds. The so-called medical model, one maintaining that psychological disturbance is genetic and thus requires medication, is challenged in this volume. Contributors range from a pediatrician who has testified before Congress and been featured in a Time magazine cover story, to a top child psychiatrist who is an official for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, along with a well-known child psychiatrist, psychologists, environmentalists, and a public policy consultant. This is riveting reading for all who care about the youngest members of society. Among other issues, this work looks at controversy over whether psychiatric medications are safe or effective for children--and what little we know about their effect on still-developing brains--as well as the role of corporate interests in the increased use of psychotropics for children. Chapters address the roleof environment in both causing and curing disorders more and more often diagnosed in our youngsters: from ADHD, depression, and anxiety to eating disorders. The core questions addressed by this sage group of contributors are these: Why are so many children being diagnosed with "psychiatric" disturbances and given drugs? Why have drugs become the first treatment of choice to deal with those disorders?