ABSTRACT
Contemporary Western society has increasinglycome to recognize that children and adoles-cents have psychological problems that can be treated through the methods of psychiatry and clinical psychology. As academic demands on children in schools grow, children with psychological difficulties have greater trouble in coping, and there is more pressure on parents to have their children assessed and treated by mental health professionals. Many people are ambivalent about this trend. On the one hand, we are glad to be able to identify problems and mental disorders and treat them appropriately in ways that help children perform better in their studies and avoid the dangers such as low selfesteem that come with most enduring psychological problems. Most obviously, if we have a way to help children who are suffering, we should use the advances of medical science to relieve that suffering. On the other hand, many are concerned that through labeling more children with mental disorders and putting them on medication or in some forms of therapy that have not been fully studied and proven safe and beneficial in the long term, we will be increasing levels of bureaucracy and surveillance of family life in an effort to ensure conformity to standards that are hard to measure and are of questionable value. The increasing rates of diagnosis of children and adolescents with mental disorders are sometimes interpreted as a symptom of our society’s decreasing tolerance for individual difference and the normal difficulties associated with growing up.
