One of the hardest things a parent may have to face is a mental illness or psychiatric disorder in their child. It is terrifying both in the presnt and in the future. How best to diagnose mental illness in children and how best to treat it.  Should psychotrofic drugs be used and are psychiatric medicines safe for children.  Our guest is Dr. Joshua Sparrow, child and adolescent psychiatrist, Associate Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Strategy, Planning and Program Development at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Children’s Hospital Boston. He also writes a regular column for the New York Times.ADHD, bi-polar, oppositional defiance disorder, ODD, sensory processing disorder, SPD, reactive attachment disorder, RAD, depression, schizophrenia