[Are we (child psychiatrists) pathologizing childhood?]

Child psychiatry is a young discipline with great potential. Comparing the current resources that we had a few decades ago the contrast is marked. Our discipline has had a great development. The current psychiatric thinking cannot be defined based on one main theory to which all psychiatrists adhere. There is a theoretical pluralism where different models coexist in tension. The child psychiatrist requires conducting diagnostic regardless of their frame of reference without polarizing the field because not only is required to make a psychiatric diagnosis but also requires an understanding of the unique problems of the patient. Currently we have two methods of assessment and diagnosis of children with psychiatric disorders: 1) the phenomenological method (derived from DSM), and 2) the traditional method (dynamic). The best is to make use of all available resources and clinical tools. The use of psychotropic drugs in clinical practice in children and adolescents has been installed as a controversial issue in our society. These debates have great difficulty crossing ideological and clinical arguments. It is appropriate to put in discussion the use of drugs. It is remarkable the therapeutic potential of psychotropics but we must also keep in mind the great business environment underlying our practice.