Stop Rosemond

I am writing to request that you stop carrying the opinions of John Rosemond in your newspaper. Actually, it’s just his one opinion that there is no such thing as mental illness in children; there are only parents who are spoiling their children.

Rosemond’s opinion flies in the face of generations of research showing that mental illness does indeed begin in childhood. He falsely overestimates how often diagnoses are made in children, never quoting actual research. This anti-science approach of his is incredibly detrimental to children and their parents and perpetuates the stigma associated with mental illness.

As a professional marriage and family therapist, as well as a psychiatric nurse, I have worked with many children who suffer from ADHD, depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. Attention difficulty and hyperactivity in children are often indicators that something is wrong, rather than indicating an ADHD illness in itself. Professionals working with children are trained to recognize this.

Rosemond has not learned anything new in his nearly 50 years of advising parents. We all know what he has to say by now. Please stop spreading his harmful opinion to generations of parents and children.

I am not alone in our profession in calling for his removal from our family newspapers.

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Stop Rosemond."