What Kids Need: Today's Best Idea's for Nurturing, Teaching, and Protecting Young Children

• Author: Linda Hockenberry
• Published date: 01 January 2006
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00386.x
• Date: 01 January 2006

Book Reviews

Straight Talk About Your Child’s Mental Health: What

To Do When Something Seems Wrong. Stephen V.

Faraone. New York: The Guilford Press. 2003. 389

pp. Cloth ISBN: 1-57230-894-X, $35.00; Paper

ISBN: 1-57230-631-9, $16.95.

Dr. Stephen Faraone presents a very readable interpreta-

tion of the latest scientific information on the behavioral,

emotional, and learning problems of childhood paired with

clear assessment strategies for parents, in Straight Talk About

Your Child’s Mental Health: What To Do When Something

Seems Wrong. Dr. Faraone, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry

at Harvard Medical School and Director of Pediatric

Psychopharmacology Research at Massachusetts General

Hospital, leads the reader through a clear and inclusive look

at children’s psychological health, how disorders are diag-

nosed and treated, and finally where to turn for professional

help.

Faraone describes how professional and personal experi-

ences heighten his awareness of the complexity of dealing

with childhood psychological problems. Even as Dr. Faraone

names five main types of behavioral problems that can

occur, he concurrently reiterates that each child has a unique

profile of psychological strengths and weaknesses.

Common threads found throughout Straight Talk About

Your Child’s Mental Health are honesty about the variety of

societal responses to psychiatric and psychological disorders

coupled with identification of the risks related to not seeking

professional help. Faraone challenges the reader to use criti-

cal analysis and a firm foundation in logic and data while

working to achieve optimal outcomes for children with

behavioral, emotional, and learning problems.

Straight Talk About Your Child’s Mental Health is unique

in its focus on providing guidance on psychological health

care for children, parents, and other significant caregivers.

Faraone’s style is professional in tone and language and yet

not stilted. The clearly outlined structure and strategically

placed prompts about what to expect in subsequent chapters

motivate the reader to continue reading. Further, the book

helps adults develop the skill set necessary to distinguish

between developmental stages, transitory phases, and diag-

nosable illnesses.

From the parental perspective, telling how to connect

with community-based mental health facilities across the

country would strengthen the resource section. In addition,

translation of Straight Talk About Your Child’s Mental

Health into other languages would create an invaluable

resource for underserved parents and professionals.

Teachers, school counselors, parent educators, and

instructors in secondary and postsecondary human develop-

ment and child psychology classes will find this book a valu-

able resource. For teachers, parent educators, and school

counselors, this is a wonderful desk reference. For the aca-

demic instructor, this book has value as a supplemental text

or for inclusion on recommended reading lists.

Dr. Faraone’s clear examples, treatment road maps, and

concrete suggestions are useful to community-based parent

educators and to other professionals who write for parent

and educator audiences. I have included Dr. Faraone’s book

on suggested reading lists for parenting classes, have cited it

in parent and educator focused publications, and recom-

mend it as an addition to public and institutional library

collections.

JANET C. BENAVENTE

Colorado State University

Treating Difficult Couples: Helping Clients With Coexist-

ing Mental and Relationship Disorders. D. K. Snyder

andM.A.Whisman(Eds.).NewYork:TheGuilford

Press. 2003. 448 pp. Cloth ISBN: 1-57230-882-6,

$45.00.

Practitioners who work with couples will welcome Treat-

ing Difficult Couples, which provides an excellent guide for

treating couples who also are experiencing mental or behav-

ioral disorders. Because relationship problems often are

exacerbated by mental disorders, and couple distress may

influence the development of mental disorders (e.g., depres-

sion, anxiety, or sexual dysfunction), couples-based treat-

ment is a valuable resource. This book discusses the

reciprocal impact between a number of mental disorders

and relationship dysfunction and suggests couples therapy

methods that effectively influence both.

The first section of the book establishes the importance of

couple therapy for treating mental disorders. The prevalence

of comorbid relationship problems and mental disorders is

discussed, and a conceptual approach for couples’ treatment

that is tailored to the distinct characteristics of the individual

mental problem is developed. The second section presents

couples-based treatments for specific mental disorders,

including anxiety,depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,

substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, and physical aggression.

A third section proposes methods for adapting couples’

Family Relations, 55 (January 2006), 146–150. Blackwell Publishing.

Copyright 2006 by the National Council on Family Relations.