In this paper, the author argues for a more humanistic approach to children and young people who face difficulties in their personal and social lives. Increasingly, young people in the developed world who are troubled or troublesome in school or in their neighbourhoods are categorised and labelled in terms of psychiatric disorder. The number of children taking psychotropic drugs is increasing rapidly in the most affluent countries. The need for wider markets for drug manufacturers suggests that this phenomenon will soon become even more widespread. While it may sometimes be appropriate to prescribe medication for children with mental health problems, in countries like Britain, the USA and Australia this solution can often be too quickly reached. In this paper, the author argues for the development of a multi-dimensional model which recognises that individual young men and women have their own subjectivities and may have personal troubles; but she also acknowledges that the way such troubles are expressed and described reflects the enmeshing of the individual experience with a complex range of social factors.