Learn to Help Children Without Psychiatric Drugs

There is one week to go before the best conference in the world about psychiatry, mental health, and the well-being of our families and children. Experts from around the world will explain how the psychiatric diagnosing and drugging of our children does more harm than good, and present far better alternatives based on sound psychological, moral, and educational principles.

I will be joined by psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, and interested citizens from across the country and from around the world--all concerned about protecting children from psychiatric abuse while empowering them through improved family and school life.

The conference is put on by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.icspp.org) Friday October 9 and Saturday October 10, 2009. It starts each day at 8:15 AM at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel in Syracuse, New York. Although ICSPP advocates for individuals of all ages, this year's conference focuses on children and their families.

None of the speakers are paid and none of the leadership of ICSPP makes any money from this volunteer organization. None have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. These are professionals genuinely dedicated to reforming psychiatry and mental health services and to providing children and families the kind of help that they really need.

I'll be giving a talk toward the end of each day, but you won't want to miss any of the outstanding presentations. Learn how psychiatric diagnoses disempower children and mislead their parents and teachers. Learn how psychiatric drugs retard the development of children, cause serious adverse effects, and teach children to give up responsibility for themselves. Learn how our society's reliance of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs prevents us from finding real solutions to the problems in our families and schools. And learn about far more effective interventions that help children to grow up in our families and schools by providing for their real needs for discipline, love, and inspired education.

Information on the conference can be obtained at www.icspp.org. You can also register at the conference a week from now at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel on Friday, October 9 or on Saturday October 10. If you decide to come, please say hello to me.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Ithaca, New York, and the Founder and Director Emeritus of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. His latest book is Wow, I'm an American: How to Live Like Our Heroic Founders. Pre-publication copies can be obtained with a bonus interview by Dr. Breggin on his website, www.breggin.com.