Harold S. Koplewicz

Fear of side effects and the stigma of brain disorders keep many parents from medicating their children for their mental disorders. Harold S. Koplewicz argues in the following viewpoint, however, that mental disorders are serious afflictions that prevent children from leading normal lives. Medicating children for brain disorders can make their lives easier and healthier, he asserts. In fact, Koplewicz contends, the effects of not medicating a child for a brain disorder are frequently worse than any side effects from the drugs used to treat it. Koplewicz is the author of It’s Nobody’s Fault: New Hope and Help for Difficult Children and Their Parents, from which this viewpoint is taken.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What is Koplewicz’s response to those who claim that medication...