The War Against Children of Color: Psychiatry Targets Inner-City Youth

From the authors of the bestseller "Talking Back to Prozac" comes the definitive work exposing how mental health agencies and the government are using invalid science for social control rather than addressing the decline of families, schools and communities as well as escalating racism and poverty.

Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin inspired a national campaign against the proposed federal "Violence Initiative," aimed at identifying inner city children with alleged defects that were said to make them more violent when they reached adulthood. Many of the research plans, still in operation, involve searching for a "violence gene," finding "biochemical imbalances," and intervening in the lives of schoolchildren with psychiatric drugs.

The Breggins describe this broad network of private and public programs--funded by the pharmaceutical industry as well as tax dollars--in the single-minded quest for a genetic or biological answer to the rising crime rate.

With several million youngsters already on Ritalin and other medications, diagnoses and treatments are replacing adult responsibility and social reform. The Breggins warn that the low priority of the rights and emotions of children is the real epidemic that must be addressed, and soon.

As an alternative, THE WAR AGAINST CHILDREN OF COLOR offers a host of measures for fulfilling the genuine needs of children without invasive treatments and stigmatizing labels.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Bethesda, Maryland, where he also directs the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He teaches on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling. His background includes Harvard College, the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, a Teaching Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and two years as a full-time consultant with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He has published more than a dozen books, including Talking Back to Prozac, Toxic Psychiatry, and Talking Back to Ritalin.