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**Patrick J. Kennedy**, the former congressman and youngest child of Senator Ted Kennedy, details his personal and political battle with mental illness and addiction, exploring mental health care's history in the country alongside his and every family's private struggles. On May 5, 2006, the New York Times ran two stories, “Patrick Kennedy Crashes Car into Capitol Barrier” and then, several hours later, “Patrick Kennedy Says He'll Seek Help for Addiction.” It was the first time that the popular Rhode Island congressman had publicly disclosed his addiction to prescription painkillers, the true extent of his struggle with bipolar disorder and his plan to immediately seek treatment. That could have been the end of his career, but instead it was the beginning. Since then, Kennedy has become the nation’s leading advocate for mental health and substance abuse care, research and policy both in and out of Congress. And ever since passing the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act—and after the death of his father, leaving Congress—he has been changing the dialogue that surrounds all brain diseases. Image: [IrishCentral.com](http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/Patrick-Kennedys-cheap-shots-at-his-father-Ted-Kennedy-Senior.html "Ted and Patrick Kennedy")

Harvard Book Store is pleased to welcome the editor of The Atlantic, Scott Stossel and editor at large for Vanity Fair, Cullen Murphy for a discussion of Stossel's latest work, My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind. A riveting, revelatory, and moving account of the author's struggles with anxiety, and of the history of efforts by scientists, philosophers, and writers to understand the condition As recently as thirty-five years ago, anxiety did not exist as a diagnostic category. Today, it is the most common form of officially classified mental illness. Scott Stossel gracefully guides us across the terrain of an affliction that is pervasive yet too often misunderstood.

Whitaker's work has alerted both the medical community and the general public to the serious dangers of psychotropic medicines when used for extended periods. He has become a standard reference for the facts. Two of Robert Whitaker's books on this subject are among the most cited in the literature: Mad in America (2002) and Anatomy of an Epidemic (2010). He has received numerous awards, including a George Polk Award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine article. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Robert Whitaker is a prominent medical writer, whose concentration is on psychiatric care and psychotropic drugs. In this presentation he provides important information about how ADHD 'now an 'epidemic'' is diagnosed and why users of medications for ADHD should be cautious. Recent news stories about the hazards of long-term ADHD medications and the more general use of these drugs to enhance concentration underscore the importance of Whitaker's discussion.

The foundation for a healthy adulthood is a healthy childhood. Despite our prosperity, growing numbers of American children are plagued with two chronic and intractable health challenges: obesity and compromised mental health. Nearly one third of children in the U.S. are overweight and more than half of this group is obese. In addition to the increased medical problems associated with being overweight, these children and adolescents suffer from a higher prevalence of psychological problems resulting in poor academic performance, low self-esteem, depressive disorders, and a greater number of suicide attempts. Moreover, approximately 15 million children and adolescents in the U.S. have a mental health problem that impairs their functioning at home or at school, but less than 25% receive treatment. Innovative strategies including coordinated efforts among healthcare providers, schools, academic and research institutions, federal agencies, funders and policy makers are urgently needed to reverse these alarming trends in child and adolescent health. Through this forum, a panel of experts in the field, policy-makers, and national leaders tackle these epidemics and offer cutting edge solutions to ameliorate them.

Barbara Almond, Stanford professor and psychoanalyst, discusses the darker side of childbearing and her new book, *The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood*. Whether it is uncertainty over having a child, fears of pregnancy and childbirth, or negative thoughts about one's own children, mixed feelings about motherhood are not just hard to discuss, they are a powerful social taboo. In her new book, Barbara Almond draws on her extensive clinical experience to bring this highly troubling issue to light. In a portrait of the hidden side of contemporary motherhood, she finds that ambivalence of varying degrees is a ubiquitous phenomenon, yet one that too often causes anxiety, guilt, and depression. Weaving together case histories with examples from literature and popular culture, Almond uncovers the roots of ambivalence, tells how it manifests in lives of women and their children, and describes a spectrum of maternal behavior--from normal feelings to highly disturbed mothering characterized by blame, misuse, abuse, even child murder.

Mark Vonnegut talks about his memoir *Just Like Someone without Mental Illness Only More So*, a follow-up to the acclaimed *The Eden Express*. Here is Mark’s childhood spent as the son of a struggling writer in a house that eventually held seven children after his aunt and uncle died and left four orphans. And here is the world after Mark was released from a mental hospital to find his family forever altered. At the age of twenty-eight—and after nineteen rejections—Mark was accepted to Harvard Medical School, where he gained purpose, a life, and some control over his mental illness.

Pioneer of mind body medicine Herbert Benson explores his new book, *The Relaxation Revolution: Enhancing Your Personal Health Through the Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing*. In the 1970s, Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School ushered in a new era of understanding in the field of mind body medicine. Coining the term "relaxation response," Dr. Benson identified the body's physiologic reaction that is the exact opposite of the stress (fight-or-flight) response. In the four decades since that initial discovery, Benson and his colleagues have established the first effective therapy to counteract the harmful effects of stress. They have explored how the relaxation response, the power of expectation and belief, and other mind body phenomena can produce healing in your own body. *Relaxation Revolution* details Dr. Benson's recent work with colleagues in the field of genetics, which links mind body treatments to the healing of a steadily expanding number of medical conditions. Mind and body have become part of a scientific and medical whole; together they represent a complete approach to healing and maximal well-being. In clear, straightforward language, Benson and Proctor cite the experiences of real people to show how mind body techniques have the potential not only to enhance healing but also to reduce health costs to individuals and to society as a whole.

Robert Whitaker, author of *Anatomy of an Epidemic*, discusses the disturbing effects of psychotropic drugs prescribed for children. Such medications, used for ADHD, depression, and anxiety, for example, have become commonplace over the past 30 years. This practice profoundly alters the lives of the children, and so now we, as a society, urgently need to address this question: do the medications help the children thrive and grow up into healthy adults? Or does this practice do more harm than good over the long term. Robert Whitaker emphasizes two things: first, the need for an objective, evidence-based approach to evaluating these drugs; and second, the need for better public understanding of how these medications work.

Robert Whitaker, award-winning science and medicine journalist, discusses his new book, *Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America*. Why has the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States tripled over the past two decades? Every day, 1,100 adults and children are added to the government disability rolls because they have become newly disabled by mental illness, with this epidemic spreading most rapidly among our nation’s children. *Anatomy of an Epidemic* first investigates what is known today about the biological causes of mental disorders. Do psychiatric medications fix “chemical imbalances” in the brain, or do they, in fact, *create* them? Then comes the scientific query at the heart of this book: During the past 50 years, when investigators looked at how psychiatric drugs affected long-term outcomes, what did they find? Did they discover that the drugs help people stay well? Function better? Enjoy good physical health? Or did they find that these medications, for some paradoxical reason, *increase* the likelihood that people will become chronically ill, less able to function well, more prone to physical illness?

Music therapist Suzanne Hanser shares examples of how the neurobiological foundations of music are leading to exciting new treatments for a variety of health problems. Music not only energizes us and calms us; research shows that it has powerful healing properties. Music can ease pain, lower blood pressure, and relieve anxiety and depression. It can even alleviate the symptoms of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, mitigate the side effects of cancer, and help women in childbirth.