Amanda Bueno

I have grappled with the angle to take with writing a review of Drop the Disorder. Should it be from my perspective as Family Psychotherapist working in our NHS Crisis teams and struggling to have my no labeling stance heard or respected by my colleagues clinging to their DSM bibles of pharmaceutical damage? Or perhaps it could come from my experience within education of working with families for thirty years, and witnessing younger and younger children meet the lowering thr

There’s a problem a brewing, I know where it’s at. It’s inside mum’s tummy, Cos she’s getting fat. I’m moved from my bedroom, I’m kicked out my cot. I sleep in a big bed, That I don’t like a lot. My car seat is bigger, I walk all the time. Mum’s growing a baby, And somehow it’s mine? I cling to her legs more, Try to sleep in her bed. If I don’t get what I want, Then I scream instead. I gather my toys up, Follow her to the loo. She says it’s a playmate, But I’m sad and I’m

The new baby. Picture this… Your husband has decided to choose a new wife. She is younger than you and super cute. She is going to sleep with him in his room and wear all your clothes. (You know, the one’s that you are too old and fat for). She also get’s to drive your old car and play with all your favourite things, as you are too old for them now. This is really exciting for you, you will be able to share your world, and shop together and eat together and share your husban

Sometimes toddler behavior can appear puzzling , it seems like a child is being ‘naughty’ and we can get driven to our wits end trying to change their behaviours with time outs, sticker charts and so on. Frequently it is our own behaviours or to put it clearer it is what is going on in the child’s system and family that is causing a child’s ‘naughty’ times. It is important to attempt to understand what a child’s behavior is actually saying. Young children ( and many adults) a

Are the terrible two’s actually so terrible or is your child struggling to find ways to express him/herself and become more independent? Many of us fall into the trap of micro managing our children. We leave work and they become our new project. We monitor their every waking or sleeping moment busily comparing them against other children. We measure, weigh, log and buy baby books crammed full of advice without really consciously considering who the advice came from. I recal

Education in the UK is voluntary until the age of five. Hence, having spent the last three decades providing pre-school education, I am constantly grappling with the incongruence that what we teach at nursery to the under-fives is compulsory. This compulsory regulated curriculum has gone through a plethora of changes since I first opened my nursery in 1991. Perhaps there is a statistical analysis that could be done that neatly correlates this intense early academic pressure,

I work within the crisis team, Where clients don’t have names. Just diagnosis and their numbers, Hence their heads are hung in shame. Their details up on whiteboards, Medications for review. The homeless and the desperate, Most seasoned and some new. The Workforce tap their notes up, Feeding diagnostic lies the ink of truth. And doctors look right through me, When I ask them for some proof. I work within the crisis team, Who visit clients bearing meds. To dampen out emotio