When the Clock Struck Zero: Science's Ultimate Limits

Making frequent references to the Holocaust, the psychiatric team of Peter and Ginger Breggin ( Toxic Psychiatry ), who are married, here accuse federal and mental health agencies, largely funded by drug companies, of planning an extensive ``federal violence initiative'' to test and treat children (especially those of the inner city), for a ``genetic predisposition'' to violence--Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBDs). Their expose is well-researched but not well-presented. The involuntary dosing of one million children with drugs such as addictive Ritalin, and the confinement of 270,000 others under 18 to mental hospitals in 1985, reflect ``growing rejection and abandonment'' of the young, the Breggins argue. Declaring the situation of today's children a ``natural disaster,'' the authors call for a ``true public health approach'' to improve poor economic and social conditions: parental neglect, sexual abuse, education, racism, etc., plus ``wrapping'' children in ``unconditional love and care'' as does the Alaska Youth Initiative which the authors view as a model program for helping disadvantaged youngsters. (May)