Kaitlin Bell Barnett interviewed many young adults who took psychotropic medication as children and teenagers for her book Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up. In the book she explores their experiences with medication, and the effect it had on their identities.
In this video Barnett, a Brooklyn-based journalist and writer, offers advice to parents gleaned from what she learned in those interviews, and from her own experience as a teenager on antidepressants. She focuses on the importance of explaining to children, in an age-appropriate way, why they are taking medication and how it can help them. And listening well can be as valuable as talking openly: close attention to their thoughts and feelings about the medication not only gives you valuable information, it helps give them some sense of ownership of the experience.
Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up is available on Amazon.
Related: Managing Medication in College
