It Takes a (Green) Village

A concern I have harbored for over a decade pertains to an increasing trend in child and adolescent psychiatry (especially among many of our graduates): although we are building ever stronger skills in DSM diagnosis and pharmacotherapy, it could be at the expense of a decreased understanding of the important developmental and environmental factors in shaping children's behavior and emotions. Given the relative ease with which they can be quickly applied, my concern is that there might be a growing resort to psychotropic medication in handling problems that might be more appropriately addressed by our thorough knowledge of the child's environment and developmental context.