CCHR International » attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

ADHD: Has this diagnostic fad run its course?

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:10:08 +0000

“On a societal level, we take responsibility for the fact that the diagnostic labels we have accepted, and pharmacological interventions we have embraced, are harming children and that we have no right to ask children to bear those harms. On a personal level, we place the difficulties of childhood within the context of the life of each child, and within the nature of childhood itself. We make a commitment to helping children be their best selves, and above all, we do the best we can to make sure that we never use our positions of authority to harm anyone.” — Professor Stephen R. Herr

The Christian Science Monitor

August 20, 2010

The idea of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a credible diagnostic term has passed and it is time that we accept that and move on. Fads and disappointments are not new to the field of psychology nor is the need for people to get beyond them.

Phrenology, hysteria, eugenics, compulsory sterilizations, shock therapy, and Thalidomide all at one time had some grounding in hope and reason. For awhile, each of them captured the imagination, but over time each led to more pain than good, and for that reason they all got left behind.

Like diagnostic fads before it, ADHD has been in many ways a disorder of its time.

Previous diagnostic fads

Hysteria found expression in a Victorian-era society that vigorously attempted to constrain the lives of women. The eugenics movement addressed societal concerns of the early 20th century relating to burgeoning minority populations.

ADHD became a popular diagnosis in the 1980s as more parents went to work and the role of schools and teachers changed. If we look at the history of our culture and the ailments that have plagued it, is not difficult to see why people in positions of authority told women that they were weak, minorities that they were feeble-minded, and children that they had a psychological disorder: It was easier for them than addressing the difficult conditions that women, minorities, and children faced.

At one time, ADHD appeared to be a reasonable theory that might help people address genuine concerns. Raising children can be hard, especially when adults are tired, frustrated, overwhelmed, and riddled with self-doubt. Beyond that, children can be annoying; They fidget, they interrupt, they don’t pay attention, and they don’t always do what they are told.

The behaviors of children and the difficulties of adults often lead to guilt, worry, and a sense of wrong that concerned adults feel a responsibility to address. The creation of ADHD as a psychological disorder was in part an attempt to deal with some of the difficulties of raising children. Unfortunately, that attempt has fallen short and led to new problems in recent years.

On a diagnostic level, ADHD is problematic. After generations of research, there is still no test for ADHD, nor is there a standard diagnostic measure within the profession.

A huge – and lucrative – market

What started out as a theory articulated by professionals is now an urban legend. Parents, teachers, talk show hosts, friends, neighbors and even the person you’re standing next to in the grocery store each believe that they can diagnose and treat ADHD. This superfluity of focused misinformation has helped fuel a pharmacological intervention that would have seemed absurd two generations ago. As of 2006, 4.5 million kids have been diagnosed with ADHD, with nearly half taking medication. In 2008, the ADHD pharmaceutical market was worth $4 billion.

Another problem with our fixation on ADHD is that it is not working. Again, even after generations of research there is no evidence that suggests placing children on Schedule II drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, or Vyvanse improves their intellectual abilities over an extended period, or that these drugs affect children with ADHD any differently than they affect any other child. A stimulant is a stimulant is a stimulant. What we do know is that the use of these drugs can be debilitating, addictive, and deadly.

And just this week, a Michigan State University study found that nearly one million children in America are potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD – in large part because they were the youngest and least mature in their kindergarten classes.

Maybe the greatest problem regarding ADHD as a diagnostic label is that our faith in that label has distracted us and kept us from looking for the better understandings we should be seeking. Stress and sleeplessness lead to inattention. Frustration leads to anger and rebellion. Depression leads to indifference and a lack of enthusiasm.

Probably one of the best ways to make sense of children and the rise of ADHD is for adults to focus on some basic questions. Don’t most adults become distracted when they are tired? Don’t most adults become fidgety when they are bored? Don’t most adults lose interest in their work when they don’t see any significance in what they are doing? And when adults wrestle with concerns relating to stress, sleeplessness, frustration, and depression, aren’t the responses often “get some rest,” “exercise” “start eating better,” and “try finding something you’re interested in”?

As adults, aren’t some of our most meaningful discussions about how to live a meaningful life? If that’s the case for adults, why don’t we put more emphasis on these sorts of answers for children? Wouldn’t more rest, better meals, more exercise, and a greater focus on helping children understand their interests serve most children well?

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0819/ADHD-Has-this-diagnostic-fad-run-its-course

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USA Today: Researchers say nearly 1 million kids diagnosed “ADHD” simply because they’re youngest in their class

cchrint — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:07:22 +0000

USA Today
By Liz Szabo
August 17, 2010

Nearly 1 million children may have been misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, not because they have real behavior problems, but because they’re the youngest kids in their kindergarten class, researchers say.

Kids who are the youngest in their grades are 60% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest children, according to a study out today from Michigan State University, given exclusively to USA TODAY. A second study, by researchers at North Carolina State University and elsewhere, came to similar conclusions. Both are scheduled for publication in the Journal of Health Economics.

TEENS: 1/3 with ADHD drop out or delay graduation

About 4.5 million children have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the studies.

Misdiagnosing children can have long-lasting effects, says assistant professor of economics Todd Elder, author of the Michigan State study. In fifth and eighth grade, the youngest kids in a class were more than twice as likely to use Ritalin, a stimulant commonly prescribed for ADHD, compared with the oldest students, his study says.

While many parents say Ritalin has helped their kids, it also can have significant side effects, causing headaches, dizziness and even high blood pressure, according to the paper from North Carolina State.

The findings could influence the way that teachers evaluate children with ADHD symptoms — as well as complicate parents’ decisions about when to start children in kindergarten, Elder says.

Read entire article here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-08-17-1Aadhd17_ST_N.htm

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Heavy Doses—Drug Company J&J Pays Docs Millions for “speaking & consulting gigs”

cchrint — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:53:39 +0000

Portfolio.com
By Brett Chases
July 9, 2010

Speaking and consulting gigs for drug companies can be lucrative for doctors.

Birmingham, Alabama, psychiatrist James E. Parker was paid more than $21,000 in speaking fees between January and March by a Johnson & Johnson company that sells mental health drugs.

Patricia Quinn, a retired Washington, D.C., physician and expert on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, received more than $26,00 in the same period for consulting and speaking fees paid by a J&J company that markets Concerta, a leading drug for the condition.

The payments are part of just-released disclosures by J&J, which is following Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc in making public the amounts of money it pays physicians for speaking, consulting and conducting clinical trials.

Unlike other drug companies, J&J didn’t aggregate the total payments but the Wall Street Journal tallied the sum to be around $2.85 million in payments in the first quarter. J&J has a large medical device division and it pledges to divulge doctor payments for that business by next year. In three years, drug and device companies will be required to report such payments to the government as part of the new health reform law.

The financial relationships between doctors and health products companies are being scrutinized more closely by critics, Congress and the Justice Department. Pfizer’s decision to reveal its payments wasn’t voluntary. It agreed to do so as part of a $2.3 billion fraud settlement with the government. The company was accused to pushing docs to prescribe medicines for unapproved uses.

Read entire article: http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/heavy-doses/2010/07/09/johnson-and-johnson-pays-doctors-millions-in-first-quarter

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Seriously great article: “New Psychiatry Manual Defines Almost Anyone as Insane”

cchrint — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:58:34 +0000

Loewak
By Martijn Benders
June 27, 2010

What is wrong with a psychiatric industry that is financed by drug companies? Well isn’t that very obvious: they will try and try to classify more and more mental conditions as ‘diseases’ simply because their financers want them to do so. Nowadays children can’t behave like children anymore or they are ‘hyperactive’ or diagnosed as ‘ADHD’ and pumped full of drugs of which no one knows what the long term consequences of their use are.

At the same time, digg this, there was a recent research into which jobs have the highest suicide rates. Guess what? Yes, doctors and Psychiatrists rank amongst the highest, the most number of suicides take place in that job catagory.

Ask yourself this: why do these rather suicidally depressed people want to drug everyone? Because that’s basically what the new ‘Psychiatric Manual’ named ‘the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

“With DSM-V, American psychiatry is headed in exactly the opposite direction: defining ever-widening circles of the population as mentally ill with vague and undifferentiated diagnoses and treating them with powerful drugs,” Professor Shorter of the University of Toronto writes in the Wall Street Journal.

New diseases in the thick manual include the ‘Psychosis Risk Syndrome’ which is a particular type of ‘disease’ that can be streched to encompass half the world population. Twitch your eye? Behave a little weird? Have a stutter? Well, those might be signs of you having PSR which basically means you have the potential to become psychotic and, according to the manual, must be treated with drugs.

Symptoms of “psychosis risk syndrome” include vague descriptors as “disorganized speech.”

“Minor neurocognitive disorder” describes a reduction in cognitive function over time, such as that normally experienced by people over the age of 50, while “temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria” refers to children who suffer from outbursts of temper.

The psychiatric industry has become a drugdealer culture. All these drugs do not just effect the people that take them but dissapear and mix with the environment. So ALL OF US are effected by these billions of tuns of chemical drugs that are pumped into the various water systems.

Read entire article: http://www.loewak.nl/2010/06/27/new-psychiatry-manual-defines-almost-anyone-as-insane/

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The Huffington Post— Creating Disease: Big Pharma and Disease Mongering

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:35:08 +0000

The Huffington Post
by Dr. Larry Dossey
June 18, 2010

You may think there is enough disease in the world already, and that no one would want to add to the diseases that we humans must deal with. But there is a powerful industry in our society that is working overtime to invent illnesses and to convince us we are suffering from them.

This effort is known as “disease mongering,” a term introduced by health-science writer Lynn Payer in her 1992 book Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick. Payer defined disease mongering as “trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill.” This strategy has also been called “the corporate construction of disease” by Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath and David Henry in the British Medical Journal. “There’s a lot of money to be made from telling healthy people they’re sick,” they say. “Pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in sponsoring the definition of diseases and promoting them to both prescribers and consumers.”

Read entire article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-larry-dossey/big-pharma-health-care-cr_b_613311.html

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Time Magazine—ADHD Checklist Too Easy to Fake (Note to Time: that’s because it’s not a real medical disease. Get it?)

cchrint — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:08:03 +0000

TIME Magazine
By Megan Gibson
June 15, 2010

It turns out you don’t need to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in order to get the prescription drugs that treat it – you just have to know how to fake it.

A new study released in the journal Psychological Assessment has found that the initial self-report checklists used for ADHD diagnoses are actually quite easily faked by anyone who has a basic knowledge of the disorder.

Since Adderall and Ritalin abuse is quite common on college campuses and kids these days are quite adept at Googling things, this poses a problem for medical professionals. And while the study did show that follow-up tests were a bit more successful at weeding out feigned cases, they still weren’t hacker-proof.

Read entire article: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/15/study-faking-adhd-is-easy-so-is-getting-adhd-drugs/

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“ADHD is a total 100% fraud. The millions of schoolchildren around the world being drugged have no disease” – Neurologist

cchrint — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:25:15 +0000

ArticlesRoad.com
May 29, 2010

The term “ADHD” is simply a label used to categorise a list of psychosocial traits that Psychiatry considers to be improper or abnormal in society. Psychiatry defines these traits as a “mental illness”, and promotes it as a “disease” that requires “treatment”.

It is not a “disease”, despite claims or implications made by certain psychiatric or pharmaceutical organisations. There is NO credible scientific evidence that shows the existence of what constitutes “ADHD” as a biological/neurological disorder, brain abnormality or “chemical imbalance”.

“For a disease to exist there must be a tangible, objective physical abnormality that can be determined by a test such as, but not limited to, blood or urine test, X-Ray, brain scan or biopsy. All reputable doctors would agree: No physical abnormality, no disease. In psychiatry, no test or brain scan exists to prove that a ‘mental disorder’ is a physical disease. Disingenuous comparisons between physical and mental illness and medicine are simply part of psychiatry’s orchestrated but fraudulent public relations and marketing campaign.” Fred Baughman, MD., Neurologist & Pediatric Neurologist.

“Chemical imbalance” it’s a shorthand term really, it’s probably drug industry derived “We don’t have tests because to do it, you’d probably have to take a chunk of brain out of someone – not a good idea.” Dr. Mark Graff, Chair of the Committee of Public Affairs for the American Psychiatric Association. July, 2005.

Such behavioural characteristics that Psychiatry created this unscientific “disease” from are, and always have been, generally considered “normal”. Now, it seems, inattention or “hyperactivity” (Hyperactivity means ‘excessively active’* — what is excessive? On whose authority?? It’s ridiculous!!) is abnormal, a “mental illness”.

Read entire article: http://articlesroad.com/adhd/what-is-the-defination-of-addadhd-according-to-the-dsm_iv.html

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Huffington Post: Neurotoxins cause ADHD symptoms—why do so few (& hardly any psychiatrists) not get rid of the neurotoxins?

cchrint — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:28:34 +0000

The Huffington Post
By Annie B. Bond
May 28, 2010

My friend Sally used to corral her three teenage children to clean their house every Saturday morning. I was envious of her chutzpa to demand this of her kids, but the part of the story that was always tragic to me was that every Saturday afternoon without fail, Sally’s son Sam was sent to his room for hyperactive, “out of control” behavior.

Looking at the cause and effect of the son’s behavior through my lens of awareness of how neurotoxic many cleaning chemicals are, I could see it would make sense that the son’s central nervous system and brain could be reacting to these chemicals. Symptoms of neurotoxicity include lack of concentration, personality changes, depression, hyperactivity and the mimicking of psychiatric disorders.

Not being particularly “green,” the cleaning products Sally would buy for her kids to use were the standard store-bought fare readily available in supermarkets. Examples of neurotoxins found in such products include VOCs (furniture polish can contain VOCs), neurotoxic disinfectants, petroleum distillates, fragrances (scented products are notoriously neurotoxic,) and waxes (VOCs again in the solvents), to name a few.

Pesticides take front seat in the arsenal of poisons that hurt the central nervous system and brain. After all, they are designed to kill. A new study reported in the June issue of Pediatrics, published online May 17, links organophosphate pesticide metabolites found in urine to a much higher incidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Read entire article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-b-bond/neurotoxins-and-adhd-conn_b_592796.html

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Huffington Post: Poor Kids far more likely to be prescribed psychiatric drugs

cchrint — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:14:18 +0000

Huffington Post
By Bruce E. Levine
May 20, 2010

Children covered by Medicaid are far more likely to be prescribed antipsychotic drugs than children covered by private insurance, and Medicaid-covered kids have a higher likelihood of being prescribed antipsychotics even if they have no psychotic symptoms. This is reported in the May19, 2010 Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) article, “Studies Shed Light on Risks and Trends in Pediatric Antipsychotic Prescribing.”

Researchers at Rutgers University and Columbia University found that children and adolescents covered by Medicaid were four times as likely as those with private insurance to receive an antipsychotic in 2004. Among those aged six to 17 years who were covered by Medicaid, 4.2 percent were prescribed at least one antipsychotic drug. In contrast, among those in this same age group who had private insurance, less than 1 percent were prescribed an antipsychotic. Nearly half of these Medicaid-covered pediatric patients receiving antipsychotic drugs had nonpsychotic diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or some other disruptive behavior disorder. In contrast, of the privately insured pediatric patients receiving antipsychotics, about one fourth were diagnosed with ADHD or some other disruptive behavior disorder.

The current issue of JAMA also reports another troubling study published earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics. This study, conducted by Robert Penfold of the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, examined the use of the antipsychotic Geodon (ziprasidone) in pediatric patients covered by Medicaid in Michigan in 2001. Of the pediatric patients who had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and had received Geodon, only 53.3 percent actually had a diagnosis of psychosis. The other children who received Geodon had one or more of the following diagnoses: 24.1 percent were diagnosed with explosive personality disorder, 17.6 percent were diagnosed with depressive disorder, and 13.1 percent of these kids who were prescribed Geodon had oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). What exactly does it take to get an ODD diagnosis?

Read entire article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/psychiatric-drugs-and-poo_b_583568.html

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The Daily Mail: What does it say about our school system when teachers try to control unruly pupils with drugs?

cchrint — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:10:59 +0000

The Daily Mail
By Rowenna Davis
May 12, 2010

Leon Perry is in trouble for insulting his teacher. Fidgeting on a chair in the assistant head’s office of Queen’s Park Community School in North London, the 13-year-old admits he’d skipped his medication.

‘I can get a bit hyperactive when I come off,’ he says. ‘I’ll be honest, I can be violent. When I’m on my tablet, I think before I act; when I’m off, I think after. If teachers get on my nerves, I’ll say what I want. When I’m on my tablet, I can’t be bothered.’

Leon has been taking Ritalin - known as the ‘chemical cosh’ - since he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when he was six.

He’s not alone. According to data obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, there has been a 65 per cent increase in spending on drugs to treat ADHD over the past four years. Such treatments now cost the taxpayer more than £31million a year.

The figures do not include private prescriptions, and may include some sufferers of narcolepsy as well as adult ADHD sufferers, but these are only a tiny minority.

With such a huge increase in figures, a growing number of academics are raising concerns that some teachers are either recommending these drugs as an easy alternative to dealing with bad behaviour, or simply turning a blind eye to those on medication when they should be investigating the root cause of their problems. In the worst cases, schools have been known to put significant pressure on students or their parents to seek the medication.

Take Leon. He insists he didn’t want to start taking Ritalin. His mum didn’t want him to, either. It was his junior school that gave him an ultimatum: go on the drug or leave the school. Seven years later, he relies on Concerta Exel - a slow-release form of Ritalin - to control his moods.

‘I know it helps me in some ways, but I hate taking it,’ he says, ‘There are days when I deliberately avoid it. You just don’t feel yourself, you feel so drained out. It makes you feel disgusted and down. Like you’ve got no soul or something. My mum doesn’t want me to take it, but what can she do? She wants me to get an education.’

The drugs most frequently prescribed for ADHD patients are atomoxetine, dexamfetamine and methylphenidate 3 - the last most commonly known by the brand name Ritalin.

Read entire article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1277674/Ritalin-used-control-unruly-pupils.html

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CCHR International » attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

ADHD: Has this diagnostic fad run its course?

Previous diagnostic fads

A huge – and lucrative – market

Related Posts

USA Today: Researchers say nearly 1 million kids diagnosed “ADHD” simply because they’re youngest in their class

Related Posts

Heavy Doses—Drug Company J&J Pays Docs Millions for “speaking & consulting gigs”

Related Posts

Seriously great article: “New Psychiatry Manual Defines Almost Anyone as Insane”

Related Posts

The Huffington Post— Creating Disease: Big Pharma and Disease Mongering

Related Posts

Time Magazine—ADHD Checklist Too Easy to Fake (Note to Time: that’s because it’s not a real medical disease. Get it?)

Related Posts

“ADHD is a total 100% fraud. The millions of schoolchildren around the world being drugged have no disease” – Neurologist

Related Posts

Huffington Post: Neurotoxins cause ADHD symptoms—why do so few (& hardly any psychiatrists) not get rid of the neurotoxins?

Related Posts

Huffington Post: Poor Kids far more likely to be prescribed psychiatric drugs

Related Posts

The Daily Mail: What does it say about our school system when teachers try to control unruly pupils with drugs?

Related Posts