CCHR International » Concerta

Israel Health Ministry: Use of ADHD drugs soars by 76% in 2010

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:40:54 +0000

Ministry figures recently passed on to Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a psychiatric and human rights violations watchdog, show 621 kilograms of methylphenidate were issued in 2010, compared with 352 kilograms in 2009.

The 2010 figures show the steepest increase since surveillance on Ritalin and Concerta marketing in Israel began in 1993. The surveillance is required since these drugs contain the active ingredient methylphenidate, which is classified in Israel as a dangerous drug.

Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant that affects chemicals in the brain and nerves, is used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD ) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD ). Ritalin is also used in the treatment of a sleep disorder called narcolepsy (an uncontrollable desire to sleep ).

Ministry figures recently passed on to Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a psychiatric and human rights violations watchdog, show 621 kilograms of methylphenidate were issued in 2010, compared with 352 kilograms in 2009.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-health-ministry-use-of-adhd-drugs-soars-by-76-in-2010-1.396957

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New Study Confirms: Millions of kids misdiagnosed with ADHD and drugged

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:49:18 +0000

September 20, 2011

New Study published in American Journal of Family Therapy confirms millions of normal kids misdiagnosed with ADHD & drugged.

by CCHR Int—A new study published today in the American Journal of Family Therapy has found that millions of children have been misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and wrongly prescribed amphetamine-like drugs categorized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the same class of highly addictive drugs as cocaine, opium and morphine.

The study conducted by researchers at the New England Center for Pediatric Psychology and the Rhode Island College Department of Special Education found that of the “over 5 million children who are now being treated with ADHD medication, a majority may be suffering from Faux-ADHD, a disorder linked to irregular bedtimes” and that a majority of the children diagnosed ADHD may be unnecessarily medicated. Now while we at CCHR applaud any study on the issue of “ADHD” which is not ghost written by Big Pharma or those with a vested interest in drugging kids, we would like to pose two simple questions regarding this latest study:

1) If there is such as thing as “Faux-ADHD” what exactly is “real” ADHD? There are no blood tests, brain scans, x-rays or genetic abnormalities that can prove any child has a “real” condition of ADHD. Therefore any diagnoses of ADHD is “Faux.” The criteria for an ADHD diagnoses rests entirely on a checklist of behaviors, including such “abnormal” child behavior as:

“runs about or climbs excessively in situations when it is not appropriate”
” is often “on the go”
“acts as if driven by a motor”
”blurts out answers”
”is easily distracted”
” loses pencils or toys”
“often doesn’t seem to listen”

2) Given the diagnoses itself is not a medical condition, what child being prescribed drugs isn’t being “unnecessarily medicated?” ADHD drugs are classified by the DEA as schedule ll drugs because they are as highly addictive as cocaine, morphine and opium. ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall are documented by the FDA and international drug regulatory agencies to cause hallucinations, mania, psychosis, drug dependence, stunted growth, insomnia, heart attack, suicidal ideation and sudden death. Normal children are simply being drugged. Not medicated. Drugged.

The fact is that any child diagnosed with ADHD has been misdiagnosed. Any child placed on cocaine–like ADHD drugs is being unnecessarily drugged. The diagnoses of ADHD in any circumstances is a Faux-diagnoses, serving only the psychiatric pharmaceutical industries and fueling their $4.8 billion a year ADHD drug empire.

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The United States of Adderall

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:19:47 +0000

“83,776 tons of legal speed were approved for production in 2010 equaling more than half a pound for every man, woman and child in America.”

The Huffington Post – September 9, 2011
by Lawrence Diller, MD

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released analysis of data revealing a major increase in the incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children in the United States. The number of children between the ages of five and 17 reported by their parents to “have” ADHD or the non-hyperactive form of the disorder (ADD) had risen from 7 to 9 percent over a decade ending in 2009. Nine percent translates to 4,858,210 children according to 2010 U.S. Census data.

In actuality, the researchers do not know for certain whether these children actually meet criteria for ADHD/ADD. The data is culled from a national telephone survey which asks parents the question, “whether or not a doctor or other health-care provider had ever told them that their child had attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactive disorder, that is, ADD or ADHD.’”

Since there is no biological or psychometric test for ADHD/ADD no one can be certain these children have a definitive neurological condition.

In its extreme form the hyperactivity and impulsivity of ADHD are easy to recognize. But most children are commonly diagnosed with the mild variety which blends seamlessly into the behavior of normal but active or lively children. It is with this mild form where opinions vary widely between professionals. This survey then only measured what parents had been told.

Still the continued rise in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/ADD in children is unmistakable. As a long time observer and participant (I prescribe drugs like Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta every day) of this trend, I have watched the 20-year growth of this condition with curiosity and some consternation. I have also been involved in what has been colloquially called “The Ritalin Wars” — an often polemical debate conducted in the media as to whether the widespread use of prescription stimulant drugs (essentially amphetamine) is good or bad for the children of this country.

The upward trend continues. Given the current CDC data, one can safely estimate (based on previously detailed distribution curves) that one of six 11-year-old white boys with medical insurance currently take a stimulant drug at least during the school week. Is this over medication or simply good medical care for children with a previously undiagnosed and untreated condition? What I do know is that we are the only society currently managing our under performing/misbehaving children with drugs to this degree.

While the diagnosis of ADHD/ADD can seem ephemeral, the production of prescription stimulants, whose use is closely tied to the diagnosis, is monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Since 1996 the annual amount of Ritalin type drugs approved for production by the DEA multiplied 4000 times to 50 million kilograms, and for Adderall 10000 times to 26 million kilograms. In more common terms, 83,776 tons of legal speed were approved for production in 2010 equaling more than half a pound for every man, woman and child in America.

The U.S. is a signatory to a 1972 United Nations treaty monitoring the production and sale of potentially addicting substances. The U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) based in Vienna, monitors the production of legal stimulants worldwide. INCB data shows that in 2009 the U.S., representing 4 percent of the world’s population, produced 88 percent of the world’s legal Ritalin type drugs. Canada uses a third per capita of prescription stimulants compared to the U.S. — Germany, one eighth, the U.K. one twelfth, Japan, one fiftieth.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-diller/overuse-of-prescription-drugs_b_950802.html

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ADHD drugs linked to heart disease and death

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:22:04 +0000

NaturalNews – August 2, 2011

by Ethan A. Huff

Click image to watch 1 minute video: ADHD—Labeling Normal Kids 'Mentally Ill'

A major study recently published in the journal Pediatrics — and republished by countless other medical and mass media sources — made the bold claim that stimulant drugs like those used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are not linked to cardiovascular events and death. But a recent analysis by Dr. Robert Tozzi writing for FOX News explains that the study was flawed, and that the drugs will cause cardiovascular events or death, especially in individuals with certain conditions.

Like most studies that allege the safety of pharmaceutical drugs, the Pediatrics study was at least partially, if not completely, funded by the drug industry. It was also deliberately constructed in such a way as to artificially minimize the risks associated with stimulant drugs. As a result, its findings ended up mirroring claims long made by the drug industry that stimulant drugs are safe, and that children do not need to be tested for certain conditions prior to being prescribed them.

The study included two groups of children, one taking stimulant drugs, and the other not taking stimulant drugs. The idea was to simply compare the number of heart events between the two groups, and determine whether or not stimulant drugs are associated with an increased risk of heart events and sudden death.

Well, according to Dr. Tozzi, few, if any, of the high-risk children with conditions that would react negatively in the presence of stimulants were placed in the stimulant group. Most parents of children with such conditions, as well as their doctors, would not normally opt for giving stimulants to their high-risk children, and thus the vast majority of these children were placed in the non-stimulant group.

This inherent and obvious flaw completely debunks the credibility of the study. After all, the whole point of it was supposedly to identify whether or not children need to be pre-screened for certain conditions before being prescribed stimulant drugs. With this in mind, it makes sense to actually identify how children with existing conditions respond to stimulant drugs, otherwise the data is meaningless.

It is difficult to say which is worse — testing dangerous drugs on high-risk children, or not testing dangerous drugs on high-risk children and simply declaring that they are safe (which is what the drug industry basically did in a recent study). One thing is for sure, though. The propositions made in the study that stimulant drugs are safe and do not raise the risk of heart disease and sudden death are patently false. And many children will likely suffer and die as a result of these lies.

To read all international drug regulatory warnings and studies on Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and other ADHD drugs visit CCHR’s Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Search Engine”

http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

http://www.naturalnews.com/033204_ADHD_drugs_death.html

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Attention deficit disorder gurus in conflict of interest

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:09:23 +0000

The Australian – July 14, 2011

by Sue Dunlevy

TWO of the seven experts advising the government on national guidelines for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have links to ADHD drug companies, new conflict-of-interest declarations show.

Westmead adolescent health expert Michael Kohn, who has been appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council working group, was paid by Eli Lilly, the maker of the ADHD drug Strattera, to develop educational material.

And Janssen-Cilag, which makes the ADHD drug Concerta, gave funds for Professor Kohn to go to a Beijing conference on mental health and to produce teaching material.

Claims have been made that some experts advising the government on ADHD have links to drug companies. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The consumer representative on the committee, Margaret Vikingur, the president of Learning and Attentional Disorders, says her organisation received $5000 from three drug companies to develop educational materials.

More than 400,000 ADHD prescriptions a year are written, and their use has soared by 300 per cent over the past seven years, sparking debate about use and conflicts of interest.

Drug firms told Medicines Australia they spent more than $40 million wining and dining and “educating” doctors in the six months to March last year.

The conflict-of-interest declarations will be made public today by Mental Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler, and follow the controversy over the 2009 draft ADHD guidelines, which were never adopted by the NHMRC because of concerns US research heavily cited in them was compromised by drug firm funding.

US psychiatrist Joseph Biederman, whose work is cited over 80 times in the draft guidelines, and two colleagues were sanctioned by Harvard University after allegedly failing to report more than $1.6m they received from drug firms.

The 2009 ADHD guidelines will be redeveloped.

“I am committed to ensuring the clinical practice points developed by this group will not be influenced by undeclared or inappropriate conflicts of interest,” Mr Butler said yesterday.

West Australian Labor MP Martin Whitely said the conflicts of interests declared by Professor Kohn and Ms Vikingur should have had them excluded from the panel.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/attention-deficit-disorder-gurus-in-conflict-of-interest/story-fn59nokw-1226093390142

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Ritalin for children is “quick fix” and should be reviewed, demand educational psychologists

cchrint — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:33:48 +0000

Psychminded.co.uk
By Angela Hussain
June 15, 2011

Ritalin and other psychotropic medication for children are a “quick fix” and the government should urgently review their use, psychologists have urged.

The Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) fears there is insufficient data on the effects such drugs have on child development. Further research is urgently needed, it says.

The AEP’s demand is despite the fact that a European Medicines Agency (EMA) investigation into methylphenidate drugs, which include psychotropics Ritalin, Concerta, Equasym, Medikinet and Rubifen – had previously stated that the benefits of such drugs outweigh any negative effects for children diagnosed with ADHD and other conduct disorders..

Plus, UK doctors have been advised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence not to prescribe methylphenidate as a first-line treatment for children diagnosed with ADHD.

But the AEP – which represents UK educational psychologists – fears there will be an increase of methylphenidate prescribing because the number of official psychological disorders for children is set to increase.

The American Psychiatric Association is working on its 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSMV) in which additional psychological disorders for children are due to be added. These include Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Preschool Children, Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria, Callous and Unemotional Specifier for Conduct Disorder, Non-Suicidal Self Injury, and Non-Suicidal Self Injury Not Otherwise Specified.

“These could lead to more young people being referred for treatment with these [psychotropic] medications,” said Kate Fallon, AEP’s general secretary.

She said: “There is a danger that we rely on the ‘quick fix’ for children with conditions such as ADHD, which frequently means the prescription of medication such as Ritalin instead of a number of other possible interventions.”

Medicine regulators in European member states had in 2007 requested EMA’s mediation because of concerns over cardiovascular and cerebrovascular effects of methylphenidate – such as heart rate and blood pressure increases and heart attack.

A review was carried out by the EMA’s committee for medicinal products for human use. It was based on reported side effects and all studies on methylphenidate since the fifties.

The committee also investigated any link between methylphenidate and psychiatric problems, reduced growth and sexual maturation.

An urgent restriction to methylphenidate prescribing was not needed, the committee concluded.

http://psychminded.co.uk/news/news2011/june11/Ritalin-for-children-is-quick-fix-and-should-be-reviewed-demand-educational-psychologists001.html

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Nation of Pill Poppers: 19 Potentially Dangerous Drugs Pushed By Big Pharma

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:50:34 +0000

AlterNet — December 6, 2010

by Martha Rosenberg

Here are some of the dicey drugs many Americans are hooked on,

thanks to greedy pharmaceutical companies.

Since direct-to-consumer drug advertising was legalized 13 years ago, Americans have become a nation of pill poppers — choosing the type of drug they desire like a new toothpaste, sometimes whether or not they need it.

But if patients want the drugs, doctors and pharma executives want them to have the drugs and media gets full page ads and huge TV flights (when many advertisers have dried up), is the national pillathon really a problem?

Yes, when you consider the cost of private and government insurance and the health of patients who take potentially dangerous drugs like these.

Seroquel, Zyprexa, Geodon, atypical antipsychotics

Even though the antipsychotic Seroquel surpasses 71 drugs on the FDA’s January quarterly report with 1766 adverse events, even though it’s linked to eight corruption scandals, even though military parents blame Seroquel for unexplained troop deaths, it is the fifth biggest-selling drug in the world and netted AstraZeneca almost $5 billion last year.

Atypicals were originally promoted to replace side-effect prone drugs like Thorazine but soon became pharmaceutical Swiss Army Knives for depression, anxiety, insomnia, bipolar and conduct disorders and other off label uses — and betrayed the same side effects as older antipsychotics. (Especially tardive dyskinesia-linked Abilify.)

Foisted disproportionately on the young, poor and disadvantaged, atypicals cause such weight gain and metabolic derangement — 16 percent of Zyprexa patients gain 66 pounds and some gain over 100 — manufacturer Lilly Eli Lilly agreed to pay the state of Alaska $15 million in 2008 for the Medicaid costs of Zyprexa patients who developed diabetes.

Atypicals carry warnings of death in demented patients but are widely used in nursing homes. And even though Risperdal maker Johnson & Johnson, Geodon maker Pfizer, Abilify maker Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lilly and AstraZeneca have all entered into government settlements that acknowledge fraudulent or wrongful atypical marketing, FDA rewarded atypical makers by approving Zyprexa and Seroquel for children last year. And approved a new atypical antipsychotic, Latuda, in October. Maybe the FDA is bipolar.

Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, Adderall and ADHD drugs

When it comes to the epidemic of 5.3 million US children between 3 and 17 diagnosed with ADHD, suspicions of pharma pushing the disorder are exceeded only by pharma’s admissions thereof.

During an August conference call with financial analysts, Shire specialty pharmaceuticals president Mike Cola credited the “very dynamic ADHD market” to Shire’s globalization efforts and “investments we have made in new uses for our existing products.”

Those uses, a.k.a. diagnoses, for Shire products like stimulants Adderall, Vyvanse and Intuniv include adult ADHD, cognitive impairment, depression and excessive daytime sleepiness.

Still, Cola says despite the 10 percent ADHD “new starts” that are helping Shire “grow the market,” and the “co-administration market” of add-on prescription drug$, the ADHD franchise suffers from patients who drop out when they quit seeing their pediatrician. “We don’t see those patients show up again until their mid-to-late 20s,” laments Cola.

ADHD drugs, in addition to “robbing kids of their right to be kids, their right to grow, their right to experience their full range of emotions, and their right to experience the world in its full hue of colors,” as Anatomy of an Epidemic author Robert Whitaker puts it, can also be deadly.

A 2009 article in the American Journal of Psychiatry called Sudden Death and Use of Stimulant Medications in Youths found 1.8 percent of youthful stimulant users died sudden deaths from cardiac dysrhythmia or unexplained causes versus 0.4 percent who were not on stimulants. Though it helped fund the study, the FDA said the results proved no “real risk” and kids should keep taking their meds.

Meanwhile, says Robert Whitaker, kids on ADHD meds “are told they are going to be on these drugs for life. And next thing they know, they’re on two or three or four drugs,” a phenomenon also known as the co-administration market.

Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, SSRIs

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and Lexapro probably did more to inflate pharma profits in the last decade than direct-to-consumer advertising and Viagra put together, no pun intended: over 60 million prescriptions were filled in the US in 2007 with many patients reporting their depression lifted.

But some critics say for mild depression, SSRIs don’t work at all and are no better than placebo.

And others say they can add aggression, bizarre behavior, self-harm and suicidal thoughts to depression. In fact, there are 4,200 published reports of SSRI-related violence, aggression, bizarre behavior, self-harm and suicide since the drugs were introduced in 1988 including the well known gun massacres at Columbine (1999), Red Lake (2005), NIU and likely, Virginia Tech (2007).

SSRIs have non-behavioral perks both sides agree on: life-threatening serotonin syndrome when taken with migraine drugs, gastrointestinal bleeding when taken with aspirin, Aleve or Advil and the bone condition, osteoporosis.

Paxil can reduce or abolish the effect of tamoxifen in breast cancer patients and increase deaths says British Medical Journal. It’s linked to a two-fold increased risk of cardiac birth defects in infants according to its own manufacturer, GSK.

And sex? SSRIs are so linked to dysfunction even the pharma-identified web site WebMD admits many will experience impotence, delayed ejaculation or no orgasm. But there is a solution (besides going off SSRIs) says WebMD: Add another antidepressant that’s not an SSRI, like Wellbutrin!

Effexor, Cymbalta, Pristiq, SNRIs

Selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are like their SSRIs chemical cousins except their norepinephrine effects can modulate pain, which has ushered in your-depression-is-really-pain, your-pain-is-really-depression and other crossover marketing. But the problem with giving a psychoactive drug for pain is that you’re giving a psychoactive drug for pain. “After three months of taking Savella [another SNRI], I started self-destructing and cutting myself,” writes a 40 year old woman on askapatient.com. “I don’t know why or anything, but it does similar to Prozac where it makes you think and do weird things.”

And Cymbalta, approved this fall for chronic back pain and osteoarthritis?

Cymbalta was the drug healthy 19-year-old volunteer Traci Johnson was testing when she hung herself in an Eli Lilly dorm in 2005. It was the drug Carol Anne Gotbaum killed herself on at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport in 2007.

SNRI’s are also harder to quit than SSRIs, especially Effexor. 25-year-old Chicagoan David F. told AlterNet he stood at the top of an 8-story parking lot contemplating jumping every day for weeks after quitting. It’s also the drug Andrea Yates was on when she drowned her five children in 2001.

But not all SNRI side effects are behavioral. The FDA would not approve Pristiq, a newer version of Effexor, when Wyeth/Pfizer tried to market it for vasomotor symptoms, because it caused heart attacks, coronary artery obstruction and hypertension in clinical trials. That’s similar to another SNRI, the diet pill Meridia, which was just withdrawn from the market for causing heart problems. Pristiq is still available.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.alternet.org/story/149078/nation_of_pill_poppers_19_dangerous_drugs_shamelessly_pushed_by_big_pharma?page=entire

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Study Claims “ADHD Boys” Get in More Car Accidents—Fails to Mention ADHD Drug Side Effects & Recommends…More Drugging

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:57:34 +0000

It’s hard for anyone with a modicum of reason to understand how such glaringly flawed studies as the one posted below are pawned off on the public in the name of “mental health” recommendations. Case in point, a new study claims that “teenage boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are twice as likely to be involved in a serious car collision.” Now, by the researchers own admission, “they couldn’t determine whether the teens with ADHD were taking medication when the crashes occurred.” Well that’s a seriously major omission. Any teenager who has been diagnosed “ADHD” is almost assuredly on drugs. The most common of which is methylphenidate (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, etc.)

According to the U.S. FDA methylphenidate is documented to cause: Hallucinations, Delusional Thinking, Sensory Disturbances, Mania, Psychosis, Aggression, Violence, Headaches, Nausea, Vomiting, Depression, Sleepiness, Drowsiness, Fatigue, Agitation, Irritability, Insomnia, Disturbed Sleep, Abnormally Tight Muscles, Cardiac Events, Stroke and Cerebrovascular Events. All side effects that would seriously impair a person’s ability to drive.

Yet even this glaring omission is not the worst part of this study, their recommendation is— “The researchers suggested the family doctors, psychiatrists and community health workers could help by treating ADHD patients with methylphenidate or Ritalin.” We weren’t sure we read that right, so we went to the actual study to see for ourselves, and sure enough, it said “Greater attention by primary care physicians, psychiatrists and community health workers can perhaps reduce the risk including medical treatments (e.g. methylphenidate.) It gets even more ludicrous, with this statement, “children with ADHD are known to go off their meds because of side-effects.”

Yes. Exactly. Side effects. Serious, motor- skill impairing and even life-threatening, side effects.

So to summarize;

1) Teenage boys diagnosed ADHD are getting in more car accidents.

2) Teenage boys diagnosed ADHD are almost certainly on drugs “recommended” for ADHD (methylphenidate)

3) The FDA says Methylphenidate causes hallucinations, mania, psychosis, sensory disturbances, an abundance of side effects that can seriously impair a person’s motor-skills and ability to drive.

4) They recommend putting more kids on methylphenidate.

And there you have it.

ADHD puts teen drivers at risk: study

CBC News —November 15, 2010

Teenage boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are twice as likely to be involved in a serious car collision compared with the general population, an Ontario study suggests.

The study in Tuesday’s issue of the online journal PLoS Medicine looked at 3,421 males between the ages of 16 and 19 who were involved in serious road trauma between 2002 and 2009, compared with a control group of teens admitted for appendicitis.

The researchers suggested listing ADHD the same way as other medical disorders like epilepsy, which require drivers to show they are road worthy to keep their driver’s licence.

Study author Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, estimated if the crash risk for teenagers with ADHD could be reduced to that of teens without the disorder then it would prevent about 700 crashes a year in Ontario.

Teenaged girls with ADHD also showed an increased risk of crashes, but the study focused on teenaged male drivers because they have the highest incidence of road crashes, at twice the population average.

“The findings call attention to a widespread, preventable, and costly cause of death and disability,” the study’s authors concluded.

“Most people know that teenage males are prone to traffic injuries, but the current data show that prevailing adjustments are not sufficient.”

Compliance issues for meds

The researchers suggested the family doctors, psychiatrists and community health workers could help by treating ADHD patients with methylphenidate or Ritalin, as well as talking to patients about ways to reduce the risk, such as abstaining from alcohol and avoiding distractions like using cellphones while driving.

The researchers acknowledged limitations of the study, including that they couldn’t determine whether the teens with ADHD were taking medication when the crashes occurred.

But children with ADHD are known to go off their meds because of side-effects.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/11/15/adhd-males-traffic-collisions-ontario.html

Read the international drug regulatory warnings and studies on Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and other psychostimulants) here http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/

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ADHD’s Rapid Rise: 5 Theories [And One Answer]

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:26:27 +0000

by CCHR

THE WEEK posted a pretty good article called “ADHD’s Rapid Rise: 5 Theories”— pretty good because though several of their theories may play some part in why so many kids are diagnosed ADHD, they never quite nail the answer. So we did.

Adding to their 5 points of various theories, we present you with point number 6: The actual answer:

Psychiatrists got together and decided to pathologize normal childhood behavior into a mental disorder and call it ADHD. They created a checklist of behaviors, took a vote on it, and voilà! A whole new client base was born – kids. With the help of billions in Pharma funds spent on shrinks to promote ADHD in journals, on TV and in press, glossy ads in magazines, slick lobbyists to “educate” members of Congress about it, and the creation of Pharma front groups such as Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD) to infiltrate schools endorsing the so-called disease —an epidemic of “mentally ill” children was born. And that’s the real reason for the “rapid rise” in kids diagnosed ADHD and put on drugs. Drugs the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) categorizes in the same class of highly addictive substances as cocaine and morphine—drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta — documented by the US FDA to cause hallucinations, mania, heart attack, stroke, sudden death to name but a few. And it all starts with one simple thing: The Diagnosis. (We challenge anyone to find a kid that would not fit some, if not all of psychiatry’s criteria for a “mentally ill” child they call ADHD.

Psychiatry’s exact list of “ADHD” criteria (and it does not require all of them to result in an ADHD label):

Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities.

Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play.

Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.

Does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions).

Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities.

Avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework).

Loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools).

Easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.

Forgetful in daily activities.

Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat.

Leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected.

Runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness).

Has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly.

Appears “on the go” or acts as if “driven by a motor.”

Talks excessively.

And there you have it. The Answer: Psychiatry plus Big Pharma plus Billions in Marketing = Epidemic of “ADHD” Kids.

THE WEEK

One in 10 U.S. kids has been diagnosed with ADHD, a significant increase. Are “hypochondriac” parents jumping to conclusions — or are other factors at play?

Best Opinion: NPR, Strollerderby, ParentDish…

Almost 10 percent of U.S. kids have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a survey of parents conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a shocking 22 percent jump over 2003 figures — representing an additional 1 million children — and the increase was seen in all races, income levels, and areas of the U.S., with the exception of the West. What’s behind the rise? Here are 5 theories:

1. Doctors are doing a better job of diagnosing ADHD
Improvements in screening programs and greater awareness of the disorder among parents and doctors have helped identify more cases, says CDC epidemiologist Susanna Visser, , the report’s lead author. “We have become much more sensitive to behavioral differences,” agrees Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, an ADHD expert at the University of Miami. But that doesn’t mean doctors can say “whether kids in the 1970s are really different from kids in the ’90s or the 2000s.”

2. Demographics
The increases were more significant in certain demographic groups, note Scott Hensley at NPR. “The biggest jumps were seen in children between 15 and 17 and among Hispanic or multiracial children.” The jump in Hispanic ADHD cases likely reflects “greater cultural acceptance of the disorder.” Mysteriously, increases were particularly significant in 12 states, says Ray Hainer at CNN. North Carolina, for example saw a 63 percent spike in cases, with 15.6 percent of its kids diagnosed with ADHD.

3. Big Pharma is pushing the cure
Of the 5.4 million kids diagnosed with ADHD, the CDC reports, 2.7 million are taking medication for the condition. You have to question “the role of pharmacological companies in all of this,” says University of Kentucky psychiatrist John D. Ranseen. “It is very much in their interest to increase the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.” That alone should “give the mental health field pause.”

4. Blame our lousy diet
Nobody really knows what causes ADHD, says David Knowles in AOL News, but “one recent study suggested a correlation with a diet high in processed and fried foods.” Intriguingly, new research also ties ADHD to obesity in adulthood, says Healther Turgeon in Strollerderby. There’s no proof — yet — that one causes the other, but “the two are correlated.”

5. The real spike is in “paranoid” parents
“Are kids really that messed up?” asks Tom Henderson in ParentDish. “Or are parents becoming a bunch of second-party psychological hypochondriacs?” Remember, these million extra ADHD cases are “parent-reported diagnoses,” and today’s parents have been known to be “all too eager to control normal childhood restlessness and general weirdness by bombing kids with Ritalin.” Because, after all, “children often have the attention spans of, uh, children.”

http://theweek.com/article/index/209282/adhds-rapid-rise-5-theories

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Quarter of children with sleep problems being put on psych drugs

admin — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:08:30 +0000

Note from CCHR: The most glaring omission in this study is whether the children who were having sleep problems, and who were all under psychiatric “care”, were being prescribed psychostimulants (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta) in the first place. These drugs are in the same category of highly addictive substances as cocaine according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. That would account for the children’s inability to sleep. And instead of referring to this condition as “sleep disorder” a term which enables psychiatrists to prescribe even more drugs, (as stated in the article posted below) we should demand to know what drugs psychiatrists had prescribed these children that stripped them of one of the most vital natural functions every child needs—sleep.

NaturalNews, November 8, 2010

by David Gutierre

One in four children with difficulty sleeping is given a psychoactive drug, according to a study conducted by researchers from Hasbro Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s University/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Case University School of medicine.

Although no sleep drugs have been approved by the FDA for use in children under the age of 18, “treatment of insomnia symptoms with both over-the-counter and prescription medication is a common clinical practice, particularly for children and adolescents with special needs and co-morbid psychiatric disorders,” said lead author Judith Owens.

Researchers surveyed almost 1,300 members of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry about their school-aged and adolescent patients, finding that one in three suffer from trouble sleeping. Ninety-six percent of respondents said they recommend at least one prescription sleep drug in an average month, while 88 percent recommend at least one over-the-counter drug. Medications used include antihistamines, sedatives, antidepressants, anticonvulsants and antipsychotics, and even stimulant drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Prior studies have found that sleep disorders are one of the main reasons for psychiatric drug use in children. Yet behavioral treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques and sleep restriction have been shown to be effective treatments, without the risk of side effects.

The over-sedation of children continues a dark tendency in the history of U.S. psychiatric medicine.

“[In the early 20th century,] bromides were given to pregnant women for ‘nerves,’ to children for ‘overactivity,’ and to just about anybody who couldn’t sleep well at night,” writes Sydney Walker in A Dose of Sanity: Mind, Medicine, and Misdiagnosis.

“By 1930, four out of every ten prescriptions written by doctors were for drugs containing bromides,” Walker writes. “It took doctors nearly half a century to recognize (and admit) that bromides were terribly toxic, and that thousands of Americans were suffering from anxiety, dementia, or schizophrenia-like symptoms brought on entirely by ‘bromide intoxication.’ By then, many of their patients were in mental institutions.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/030323_children_psychiatric_drugs.html

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