Book Review: Please Don’t Label My Child by Scott M. Shannon, MD, with Emily Heckman
Rodale , hardcover, 284 pages, copyright 2007.
$25.95 US/ $31.95 CAN

Reviewed by Tina Velgos, Managing Editor, The Review Zone.com, and Julie Lowicki, wife and mother to 5 young children, Chandler, AZ.

Not since the record-selling child care “bible” by Dr. Benjamin Spock was published has a parenting book made such an impact on helping the parenting community understand the importance of child psychiatry and breaking the doctor-diagnosis-drug cycle. The title says it all, “Please Don’t Label My Child”!

Scott M. Shannon, MD, a highly experienced pediatric psychiatrist who is board certified in general psychiatry, child/adolescent psychiatry, and holistic medicine has hit the head on the proverbial nail. Dr. Shannon has written a book which defies the current medical system used today which labels our children. In great detail, Dr. Shannon explains the damage currently being done by medical professionals and others who choose to label and medicate our kids instead of treating the behavioral and emotional problems “as the relational, nutritional, and environmental problems they are.”

Have you ever wondered why so many kids in this world today are on psychiatric medication? Kids are getting labeled and mislabeled and are being medicated at astounding rates, yet they don’t seem to be getting much better. To me, that should send up a RED flag to physicians and medical health professionals in the mental health field. Dr. Shannon waives his RED FLAG by writing this book, which explores the very important issue. It’s true—kids are being diagnosed at alarming rates with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, bipolar disorder, “and even autistic spectrum disorders”. Dr. Shannon challenges, “Is it because more and more of our children are born with faulty brain chemistry or some other genetically related weakness that makes them more susceptible to these very serious illnesses? I highly doubt it.”

How do we stop health professionals from mislabeling our children? Could it be that due to our health insurance industry that doctors are feeling the pinch to choose diagnostic codes (labels, if you will) as quick and possible and write prescriptions instead of seek the reason for complex behavioral health issues?

Although life stressors which burden entire families are at an all-time high, it seems that Shannon is on to something big. Attaching a label to a child will not make the child feel better, a label will not make the parents feel good for very long. We need to think outside the box, and define what is considered “normal” in a child.

Kids fall through cracks in the precarious medical system at alarming rates in today’s world. Even “gifted” children are being affected by these labels. Since being labelled, could a child like this suffer from chronic anxiety because he or she is “expected to excel academically at all times.”

Children today need consistent, unconditional love and focused attention. Shannon insists that our tendency to label things has not only left our kids without these important needs, but the right to enjoy a childhood free of damaging and debilitating diagnostic labels.

I would recommend this book to parents, caregivers and those in the health care industry for children of all ages. Whether you are the fortunate parent of an innocent newborn, or whether you are dealing with an out-of-control teenager, this book will help you see beyond the labels and it will show you that the current system is totally upside down. It’s backward, according to Shannon, and after his heart-warming examples and keen insight into the unique problems kids experience, I will say that this book should be in every public library system and hospital/institutional systems in the nation and in the world. Every parenting library—whether it be your personal library or your community’s (your doctor’s, your hospital’s library)– should have access to this revolutionary book which is a treasure to read as it is well written and nicely organized—it is easy enough for parents to understand, whether they have one child or 8 children. It presents complex issues for physicians and healthcare providers. Make it required reading in every medical school in the country. Seriously. This book breaks new grounds for healthcare professionals and Dr. Scott Shannon is a practical physician in this age-old field. He makes sense when the whole system is broken. Let’s fix the bridges and stop the gaps. More importantly, let’s get our children healthy.

By reading this book, you can help your health care provider break up the “rigid doctor-diagnosis-drug cycle” that our system is currently in. Children and their highly adaptable brains need our help to see things from their perspective. It is only then that we can stop the doctors from reaching out to the prescription pad first. Since there is very little science behind most psychiatric labels, psychiatry is the only branch of medicine that has no biochemical test or form of imaging to verify clinical diagnosis. Because clinicians know so very little about the individual brain (as it is based on patient history and personal, subjective judgment), the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis remains poor in clinical practice (according to a recent psychiatry journal article on the consistency of psychiatric diagnosis).

Yes, these doctors are overwhelmed, as are their patients and the parents and caregivers of the patients. Dr. Scott Shannon aims to practice in a system that puts the “power to heal squarely back into the hands of the children and parents” he works with. He sees how strong the young brain is, how adaptable and resilient. He is a great educator. He encourages parents (and institutions) to “look at children differently and to understand more fully how a child’s brain actually works.” By doing this, he is helping our children develop “the mental and emotional resources they’ll need for succeeding in life”. His goal? Quite simple, yet so challenging. Says Dr. Shannon, “My goal is to empower families to take ownership of their emotional and mental health, to learn the tools needed to identify and combat brain stress, and to learn how to effectively eliminate the offending stressers from their lives. When I’m able to facilitate this, I get to step back and watch the flowering of ever member of a family, from the youngest to the oldest.” It should be noted that Dr. Shannon’s method is one of moderation and restraint. His book is meant to empower others to break free of the doctor-diagnosis drug cycle. He strongly believes that labeling is used too often, but notes that sometimes it can be useful to first aggressively treat initial symptoms a child may display.

Julie Lowicki is a wife and super mom to five young children in Chandler, AZ. I asked Julie to read this book and to give me her opinion on it, based on her years of parenting young children with her husband. Julie called this book “a good wake up call to parents that they should be more involved and in tune with their children”. She cited Dr. Shannon’s mention of the environmental stressers as causes of children’s mental unhealthiness as one of the most valuable parts of this book.

Julie’s favorite chapter was Relationships and the Young Brain. According to Julie, “it affirmed how I raised my kids, but also provided the scientific facts to prove that attachment parenting is BEST! In my 10 years as a parent, there has been a wave of influence on parents to practice the opposite: all in the name of scheduling a child to fit the caregiver’s routine. I have seen children in their toddler years and older with major detachment issues as well as signs of significant stress because of this,” adds Julie.

There are many examples of children that Dr. Shannon has seen through his years in his pediatric practice. Julie loved the examples that Dr Shannon gave. She said that they provided the reader with great insight into how a balanced psychiatrist would handle many different issues.

Julie admits that while she hasn’t experienced teaches getting involved in psychiatric diagnoses of children, she has heard “from too many friends lately” that their children have been diagnosed with mild forms of autism, ADHD, violent behavior, and even bipolar disorder.

Dr. Shannon provides great insight into the importance of nutrition and the child brain. Julie also felt that the dietary guidelines for a healthy child were “key”. Other critical areas which she identified with included the “fit” dynamic in a family. Respecting and being in tune with all of the family’s differences were addressed and Julie found these mentions important in their method to rearing their own young family.

Also important were practical sections on helping your kids deal with stress, and the different learning styles of children.

“I loved the whole book!! I highly recommend it to all adults but especially parents, teachers, pastors, counselors and anyone who is involved with children,” Julie said.

We totally agree with Julie, here at The Review Zone.com. Two thumbs up to Dr. Scott Shannon for his “must-read” book which provides parents and health care providers with a well-written medical reference which spells out, loud and clear, how labeling a child has proved to be dangerous and has caused millions of our children to suffer greatly (their health, their self-esteem, their ability to thrive and fit in and their capacity for joy and success).

Although labels may have been thought to help our children initially, the facts are staggering. The number of children in our country who were prescribed psychiatric medication TRIPLED from 1987 to 1996. If this horrible trend is allowed to continue, within a generation, accord to Dr. Scott Shannon, half of all American children will be on some kind of psychiatric drug. Truly, this should be a RED light alert to physicians and mental health providers everywhere. It is time to look at the numbers and realize that according to at least one study, 65 percent of children and adolescents taking behavioral medications were also on antidepressants. What this means is frightening: kids are on two or more psychiatric drugs at a time despite there being “little or no research on what the effects of combining such drugs has on children”. Our doctors, who continue to pull out the prescription pads, have “no body of scientific research to prove that these drugs are safe for our children over the long term.”

Let’s help our physicians “undiagnose” our children by addressing each label that has been stuck on to our kids today. Put the P-Touch label maker away and save the labels for scrapbooking projects! Perhaps, by hesitating to label children so often, their brains will given the chance to continue to grow and heal themselves, adapting to their stresser environments by tapering off (slowly discontinuing) psychiatric drugs which may, in fact, compound their problems. It is then that our children’s self esteem will thrive. And it is then that our families will develop total awareness of the frightening amount of labelling going on in the medical world.There is no one-size-fits all diagnosis when it comes to our kids. Let’s take Dr. Shannon’s advice and break away from the label system, which seems to do more damage than good.

How It Is: The Native American Philosophy of V.F. Cordova
Edited by Kathleen Dean Moore, Kurt Peters, Ted Jojola, and Amber Lacy
Foreword by Linda Hogan

The University of Arizona Press, published 12/6/2007
$19.95 paperback, ISBN: 978-0-8165-2649-9

Reviewed by Tina Velgos, Managing Editor, The ReviewZone.com

After reading this book, which goes deep into the soul of V.F. Cordova, I will look at my world a little differently.

Living in Arizona, it is hard not to be inspired by our Native Americans. Although I did not know V.F. Cordova personally, this well-written book (superbly edited by Kathleen Dean Moore, Kurt Peters, Ted Jojola, and Amber Lacy) gave me a window into the soul of Violet Cordova, the first Native American woman to receive a Ph.D in philosophy.

In resounding words, the editors of this book compiled the works of V.F. Cordova, who left this world too soon. Sadly, she passed in November, 2002, at the age of 65. Although she was the natural mother of 5 children, she embraced her world and offered others endless insights into “how it is” in this world. Her works, however, have left a true wealth of knowledge. Whether she inspired you as a former college student, whether you were lucky enough to hear her lectures, or as a reader of this book, or you knew her as a friend, this book shares her insights, her desires, her questions, her passions, her challenges. Although she is no longer with us, her words live on.

The book begins with a brief, but brilliant, foreword by Linda Hogan who pulled one of the most relevant quotes out of the book. Like inspiring poetry, it read:
“I am always on my way home.
There is the breathing landscape, the wind.”

It was an inspirational quote by V.F. Cordova, an Apache philosopher, the daughter of a Hispanic, Catholic mother and a Jicarilla Apache father, raised in Colorado and New Mexico. Her name was Viola Cordova and her words will remain with us forever, even though this Jicarilla Apache/Hispanic woman, the first Native American Woman to receive a Ph.D in philosophy (University of New Mexico), left this earth way too soon. She was powerful, and her powerful words will live on, and continue to inspire generations of people who call Earth their home.

Her impact on this world will not be forgotten, as captured by this book, which looks into her writings and her philosophies of the past and present. She reminds us that the future that doesn’t exist without our decisions and actions. This book, which is available as a cloth book and a paperback and published by The University of Arizona Press, is a “must read” for anyone interested in exploring diverse thoughts of the world and its people, including the Native American philosophy. You can meet V.F. Cordova through her thoughts and words by reading this wonderful book.

As a former professor (she held many faculty positions) at the University of Alaska, Oregon State University, Colorado State University, Lakehead University, most recently,Idaho State University, Dr. Viola Cordova prompted students to think outside their circular world. She was co-founder of two journals, and three articles, and now, the subject of a book which explores her own Native American philosophy.

She asked questions where no answers were incorrect, yet by her reading her words or listening to her discussions, inspired much philosophical thoughts. Students were typically asked, among other things, to ponder three questions, which the book explores in detail.
They are:
1. “What is the world?”
2. “What is a human being?”
3. “What is the role of a human being in this world?”

Like an unrelenting hot wind whipping through the desert, brushing the trees and bushes, and swirling dirt furiously into the air, reading this book gave me the next best thing in spending an afternoon with V.F. Cordova. Not only was she a philosopher, but a gifted painter. I can imagine her swirling thoughts embraced by bold strokes, and vivid colors. Yet V.F. Cordova had a special softness, so it could be a world of pastels that she threw on canvas.I have not seen any of her paintings yet, but hope to one day.

She tells us of her complete circle of life. She lets us gaze into the circle of her world, which is simple, yet complex. Her words inspire further discussion. They are words of hope, of challenge, of emotion. Anger, powerful words, provocative thought, it has been successfully captured by this book. It is hard to walk away from this book, once you start reading it. If you are a philosophy student, this would be prerequisite in any class I taught on the subject. You will keep her book, and not discard it. Her words can be applied to our world, which we share with others. Her worlds will challenge you to think in a different way. Will you agree or choose to disagree? You, alone, will determine that.

She weaves magical stories of her past, yet embraces the present, and challenges the future. Her value system was “built around the concept of a human being that says that all humans are equal and therefore deserving of respect.” She questions who she is, and encourages others to look around and see their world for what it is. Her words have personally inspired me beyond most others.

I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for something to stimulate your thoughts and enlighten you about the world we live in. This book could be added to any college philosophy curriculum, and would be an asset to any philosophy studies, whether personal or at school.

Could you survive in a world that is different from “the one you have been prepared for?” To me, V.F. Cordova’s questions make me realize that interpretation is vital in this world. Each one of us has their own perspectives on the world. Reading V.F. Cordova’s perspective promotes insight into your own. She does not ask you to change. Her thoughts will provoke you to challenge your very own beliefs.

We should “celebrate and honor” our differences and yes, we can learn from them about how we choose to live.

I especially enjoyed the chapter, Bounded Space, in which V.F. Cordova discusses The Four Directions, which are very symbolic to Native Americans, and made more sense than our North American views of sense of place and ownership. The word, “boundaries” will forever remind me of Dr. Cordova’s discussion of it and how the sanctity of the Native American’s Four Directions is applied to this world. I loved her insight on the differences between Europeans and Native Americans in instinct vs. “rightful homes.”

I would enjoy reviewing a book of V.F. Cordova’s art, as she was a fine painter, as well. She paints a picture with her words. I can only imagine her art, which would stimulate the words she crafted so well.

This book has done a thorough job in capturing V.F. Cordova’s words of wisdom and her open questions will, again, live on and shed light to this world as future generations of students and adults explore her words in this book, whether they are Native Americans or Europeans.

In summary, this book is thought-provoking and encourages others to see Native Americans and to honor their identities, their cultures, their languages, and their cultures. We should continue on with the works of V.F. Cordova in cherishing our Earth together and helping the Native Americans continue to “maintain an identity, a culture, a language, and most of all, the obligation to speak up.”

You will remember her prophetic words at the end of the book, “I am not that” and her beliefs of alternative ways of “seeing, interpreting and explaining the world.”

This book, How It Is: The Native American Philosophy of V.F. Cordova has earned The Review Zone.com’s highest recommendations.

For reprint rights or if you wish to use excerpts of this review, please know this review is copyrighted material and is owned by the review author at TheReviewZone.com. Please contact me at TheReviewZone@cox.net for further information about reprint rights.