Integrating strategic problem-solving, and emphasis on stories and the cultural context of meaning, this book introduces the theoretical stance of semiotic constructivism. Its main argument, illustrated in engaging cases, is that all experience is a construction of signs, and that symbolic forms such as language, myth, ritual and drama create and shape our realities, and provide useful tools for encouraging therapeutic change.

Since 1987, the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has increased dramatically. Alarmed by this trend, family therapist, Marilyn Wedge, set out to understand how ADHD became an American epidemic-and to find out whether there are alternative treatments to powerful prescription drugs. In A DISEASE CALLED CHILDHOOD, Wedge examines the factors that have created a generation addicted to stimulant drugs. Instead of focusing only on treating symptoms, she looks at the various potential causes of hyperactivity and inattention in children and behavioral and environmental-as opposed to strictly biological-treatments that have been proven to help. In the process, Wedge offers a new paradigm for child mental health-and a better, happier and less medicated future for American children.

With more than four million American children diagnosed with ADHD and other psychiatric disorders, taking a child to a psychiatrist is as common as taking them to soccer practice. But, disturbingly, a great number of children experience dangerous emotional and physical side effects from psychotropic medications. Where can parents who are eager to avoid shaming labels and drugs turn when their child exhibits disturbing behavior? Suffer the Children presents a much-needed alternative: child-focused family therapy. A family therapist for over twenty years, Marilyn Wedge shares the stories of her patients. Wedge presents creative strategies that flow from viewing children's symptoms not as biologically determined "disorders" but as responses to relationships in their lives that can be altered with the help of a therapist. Instructive, illuminating, and uplifting, Suffer the Children radically reframes how we as parents, as health professionals, and as a society can respond to problems of childhood in a considerate and respectful fashion.