New York Times – October 13, 2011
by Dr. Peter Breggin
click image to read Psychiatric Disorders - The Facts Behind the Billion Dollar Marketing Campaign
The drugging of children for A.D.H.D. has become an epidemic. More than 5 million U.S. children, or 9.5 percent, were diagnosed with A.D.H.D. as of 2007. About 2.8 million had received a prescription for a stimulant medication in 2008.
The A.D.H.D. diagnosis does not identify a genuine biological or psychological disorder. The diagnosis, from the 2000 edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” is simply a list of behaviors that require attention in a classroom: hyperactivity (“fidgets,” “leaves seat,” “talks excessively”); impulsivity (“blurts out answers,” “interrupts”); and inattention (“careless mistakes,” “easily distractible,” “forgetful”). These are the spontaneous behaviors of normal children. When these behaviors become age-inappropriate, excessive or disruptive, the potential causes are limitless, including: boredom, poor teaching, inconsistent discipline at home, tiredness and underlying physical illness. Children who are suffering from bullying, abuse or stress may also display these behaviors in excess. By making an A.D.H.D. diagnosis, we ignore and stop looking for what is really going on with the child. A.D.H.D. is almost always either Teacher Attention Disorder (TAD) or Parent Attention Disorder (PAD). These children need the adults in their lives to give them improved attention.
Stimulant drugs “work” by suppressing all spontaneous behavior in normal children — and even in chimpanzees and other animals. This suppression of behavior and production of compulsive activities looks like an improvement in a classroom or home where the child has seemed uncontrollable and required a great deal of attention. The drugs do nothing to improve learning or psychosocial development. I document these observations in many scientific articles and books, most recently in the second edition of my medical textbook “Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry.”
Drug company marketing has focused on selling the diagnosis and the drugs to American parents and teachers.
Why are the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and the use of stimulants so prevalent in America? The idea that American children are somehow genetically or even culturally predisposed has no scientific or common sense basis. For several decades, starting in the 1970s, drug-company marketing has focused on selling the diagnosis and the drugs to American parents and teachers. As I first documented in my book “Toxic Psychiatry” in 1971, “Astroturf” organizations like Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and National Alliance on Mental Illness masquerade as representing families while taking millions of dollars from drug companies in support of their promotion of psychiatric medication for children. The National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association and even the American Neurological Association have promoted the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and stimulant medication, which leads to considerable business for mental health clinicians.
As the American market gets saturated, promotional efforts are increasing in other countries, like Canada, Britain, Australia and Germany, which are also experiencing increased rates of diagnosing and drugging children. In Australia, the controversy has been especially heated in recent years. Everywhere that A.D.H.D. and stimulants are promoted, they substitute for needed modern reforms in education and family life.
In all cases of so-called A.D.H.D., the diagnosis is harmful. The child instead needs a real medical and psychosocial educational evaluation, and usually the child will quickly respond to improved teaching and parenting. We are diagnosing and drugging millions of our children instead of providing them the improved educational and family life that they truly need.
Peter R. Breggin, a psychiatrist in Ithaca, N.Y., is the author of more than 20 books
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Tags: ADD, ADHD, American Psychiatric Association, attention deficit disorder, children, medication, psychiatry, stimulants
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 1:57 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Thank-you for this article. Teachers are not qualified to diagnose or suggest a diagnosis. The school has taken away gym and given the elementary kids a 5 minute recess. Sorry with a class of 32 children focus is not always there. I guess it’s easier to medicate. Although the side effects to medications are not something to take lightly. The scariest is when a child on medications goes into siezure in the classrooom. We are to the point where this is a normal. I was surprised when 2 school officials suggested my 9 year old has an attention issue and that I should see my doctor. Wrong..he has an issue at school but not at home. 30 plus years of teaching experience and they had no other suggestion except to go see the doctor. Maybe we as parents should review the people teaching our children. Afterall, our children spend a great deal of time in school. What kind of influence do they have? What are they projecting on our children?
When the pharmacy is out of Ritalin, you know there is an epidemic. I would like to see more acurate statistics about how many kids are diagnosed.
This has BEEN an issue. For anyone to blame parents, alone, shows how ignorance without experience in Today’s youth, is unacceptable. Research and keep paying more tax dollars for educational and clinical psychology research for children!
Children DO not learn in the ways we used to, via parents’ expectations or as our country continues to keep and stay with the traditional styles of teaching and learning. Taxpayers dollars are being wasted! The focus is less expensive, the demand for entire systems and teachers who either are unable after facilitation, not one hour workshops and a resource book, then an inexperienced principal to come and keep our teachers accountable!
It’s about the creating of larger class sizes, up to 24-28, implementing a new curriculum
Integrating all of the subjects, ridding of teachers who will not change or just or inable due to their long term styles, ridding of gifted programs and too much psychological testing, which creates less need for some positions and placing half day full time teachers in the classroom in order to work with children in many ways, with focus on one concept or theme and integrating all, including technology, ridding of technnology labs, not necessary by using ipads, itouches, laptops and 2-3 printers in-class, BA Ed degrees are sufficient and/or internships for a full year with the teachers supporting, literally allowing these interns to lead, not just watch.
Learning with each other, through each other, to cut down on bullying and teasing, and stop designing curriculum and testing that expect children or anyone to sit down, memorize and test on things that mean nothing to them without a connection, no matter who they are or where they live, what they lack or don’t. Oops! That would mean our children would be able to perform, by building, writing and drawing through performing skills and standards and may move and create and not be overly diagnosed ?
Parents support what the Government expects, and teachers attempt to expect the same things.
My proposal, which is built on observation, experience, research(not paid), rearing children( full time ), and observing how they learn, not the way I did, is for every adult to go back to elementary school in your head, and go to a lecture/workshop now that a passionate, all around, creative educator teaches standards of today, and IF these practices, were allowed, believed in, due to experiences by all and facilitated, not taught to and expect 2-3-5-10 year olds, young adults to adults, middle-agers, to grandparents, caregivers, to our own Presidents, Scientists, Journalists, Artists, Mathematicians, Chemists, Politicians, Physicians, Nurses, Teachers, Mayors, Senators, Self-Employed, Commentators, Sports Players(who by the way) get paid by Citizens (worldwide), and may be paid billions of dollars in endorsements, THOUGH our state, federal and government officials who also have families, education, parenting, homes, and travel to pay for cannot, even while staying in public service enduring scrutiny and inequality in both pay and recognition(gratitude); we expect all of these to sit down and do, and if they don’t and/or can’t, they MUST have some sort of Special issue that should be addressed! ?
We played outside after school, we didn’t do homework for an hour until 6 grade or above, and it was an hour, not two or 3. We were emotionally, socially, and physically ready and even then, we took breaks. I wasn’t held back because I didn’t read until 2nd grade, and then rapidly progressed to a great reader and writer. And my birthday is a late December birthday! I never was placed in a high or low track, I asked for help or teachers lead me to Encyclopedias for more depth or a different way to do something I mastered. And that was in South Louisiana, low socio-economic status, divorce survivor by 6, a new rural large family by 8, new school, adopted last name, loss of a biological father to suicide by 8, bullied and teased due to inexpensive clothing, accent from the city, and “feeling” excluded in a new family with several cousins, same age and gender, and finally, my mother was an orphaned, foster home child who got pregnant at 18, ran away because she did not want to adopt me out, and worked 3 jobs to care for me.
So….Was I on medication, in therapy, diagnosed with depression, not motivated, defiant, disrespectful? No! But I will tell you, it had nothing to do with my parents being overly bossy, heavy rules, perfect expectations, or even spankings or punishment. We did go to mass, but it had nothing to do with that. My behavior, along with two brothers, had everything to do with what our Nation’s experiences were, up until that time.
We were who and what we saw others around us being/doing as the “norm”, and our teachers cared about us and had individual relationships with us. The teachers called when we weren’t at school. Sure, we had the SAT’s in elementary and middle schools, as well as other testing, but we were not taught in response to that. Their jobs were. It on the line, so that we, as students and children of parents at home, prequel zing us to keep up with “whatever”. Our teachers, parents and selves were happy, had recess to socialize, PE, in 5 th grade and on, so as to not be introduced to competition too early, ith more bullying and teasing. This is not a parenting issue. It’s our society’s ignorance and refusal to grow from the inside out. And we talk about psychology and God?The People have forgotten “Inside-Out”! This is moral/value.
BTW: Since I’m on my soapbox, when is every single human being in the United States, no matter what religion, race, ethnicity going to create their own family tree and note that each of us was/came from immigrants? What did we and our children need when WE, first arrived? Food, jobs, education… Most of all, acceptance and belief.
OR, we can begin where the TRUTH lies. Italians and Israeli’s came here with slaves, and yes, admittedly or not, we were slaves with them, working in homes, factories, businesses, and fields, without papers(Dare I say W.O.P. or CHEAP), as the words still are spoken in the South about these two cultures, who only earned money and education privileges, rights, work and freedom of choice in all areas first, not because they were more intelligent or worked harder or even worshipped a different God, but because no matter how ANYONE wants to coat ALL of our country’s historical mistake, which we refuse to look at,claim and work on, is while we, the different colored ones, who got things quicker in every way, leaving behind an equal people, the make-up of TODAY’s welfare, work accomplishments for far more, educational backlash(due to latter inclusion, fear, and continuous teasing and bullying), has created and is backing it up ore and more no matter what party, race,ethnicity, gender is in the Big seat or the others, will not be attended to.
Taxpayers are sick of where tax dollars are being spent, including educational reform, then let’s speak about Truths, connect them today, and change everything, one thing at a time from top to bottom, bottom to top and side to side, and through and through. Our nation is responsible to those who serve, what about those who were never taught?
I’ve taught Mexicans, Israelis, South Americans, African Americans, Africans from all over in many colors, and in the same classrooms as Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, several Asian countries, and others .
In elementary school and beginning middle learning, along with girls(of all) have been more focussed, better parented with humility and practice of mixing their religion in the educational arena, the ideals of what our Country promises, the dedication to learning the language and parents asking for the same, to serve our country with fantastic work ethics, that do not end at 5 or 6 pm on a Friday or on Saturdays and Sundays either, understanding that some people must work on those days to feed and clothe their families. They are also leaders in helping others in the classroom, on geography, in connecting of world issues to our history and comparing and contrasting.
Then all of a sudden, they need medication to learn, to focus, testing for IQ, which btw, rarely comes up below 70(waste of taxpayer dollars testing, not teaching). Those that I have taught between newcomers in South Florida to the so-called, smarter in Atlanta suberbs to Inner City Atlanta, when asked, personally, after rapport is built, what they express most of all is being like everyone else. They, whatever status, race, ethnicity, social,economic, language, gifted, challenged, and all in between, just want to feel the gifts that God gave us as a Country, long ago, friendship, to learn, to feel connected, to not be judged, to be accepted and believed in.
Now, people want to dissect brains and segregate and separate a country, by utilizing our children through clinically figuring out what ” they” think is wrong and ” fixing” it with medication. Humorous acts of kindness, when education is ALL about similarities, not differences, and it’s always been about learning from our mistakes to do something different to move forward and grow.
What happens to these children by middle school and high school to engage in specific behaviors that takes them out of the majority or moving forward? They finally become aware that no matter how hard they try or work , they will never, for the most part be looked at from the inside- out!
Now, we are doing it again to other ethnicities. Let’s keep wasting money on articulate degrees to make ourselves look great on resumes, make more money , and let’s keep thinking we know more, because of books without experience. It all goes back to one thing! Who’s better than, and they must be that way because of a degree. What happened when our greatest historians, philosophers, presidents and teachers did not have degrees but plenty of innate insight and experience in the roles they took on.
We used to lock up children and adults who had particular aversions to people, places and things in the 40′s, and Piaget and several others found a way to identify child/human development and then Howard Gardner began to understand that each of us learns differently, which is connected.
I, for me, adore both processes, however, I do not need, nor have I ever needed their styles to figure out how to teach my students/children and/or how they learned, because once again, this still places children that do not fit into one of those categories at risk. Teachers don’t follow on the sleeves of psychologists or tradition. Good educators research, agree to disagree and intuitively, after awhile of trying everything that is out there to try, and nothing is changing, we move to a specialist!
Educators need freedom, less bullying from all, ability to make more decisions with parents, permission to teach parents what we are teaching and how and guaranteed, students will learn, stick and stay and save money in more areas conceivable, while implementing more standards than most even pass up while creating them.