"This is the new reality."
Posted on 06/17/2013 10:21:54 AM PDT by eagleye85
In a cutting new article for the Wall Street Journal, two professors criticize the American Psychiatric Association for loosening the standards by which Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed. This, they argue, will make such diagnoses more likely and increase the amphetamine usage of the general public.
“Symptoms of ADHD remain the same in the new edition” of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but with some changes: “The difference is that in the previous version of the manual, the first symptoms of ADHD needed to be evident by age 7 for a diagnosis to be made. In DSM-5, if the symptoms turn up anytime before age 12, the ADHD diagnosis can be made.” In other words, your five year old can be diagnosed with ADHD and receive amphetamines to treat it. What type of effect will this have on his or her development?
“Before, adults needed to exhibit six symptoms” to be diagnosed, they write. “Now, five will do.”
As Amanda Busse wrote for Accuracy in Academia back in 2008, according to a “study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ADHD in children is caused when portions of the brain mature at a slower pace than normal.”
“For many, the condition eventually normalizes and nearly 80 percent of children grow out of the disorder, the researchers found” (emphasis added).
If your child is more than likely to grow out of a developmental disorder such as ADHD, then why give them a label and dependence on a pill during the formative years of their life? The authors, Pieter Cohen and Nicolas Rasmussen, share a similar perspective. “By medicating children for wiggling in their chairs, losing their homework and shouting out answers, we are not teaching them vital coping skills to manage their behavior,” they write. “Instead, we are teaching them to take a pill.”
Dr. Cohen is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medicine School. His colleague, Dr. Rasmussen, authored On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine, and is a professor of history at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
In their article, these professors outline the abuse of amphetamines in society since the 1930s. “Since their introduction by the pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline & French in 1937, amphetamines have been prescribed for maladies that had more to do with societal expectations than genuine mental illness,” they write. “American soldiers received stimulants during World War II to boost morale and improve performance in combat.” Amphetamines were prescribed for weight loss and depression, as well.
“By 1969, doctors were prescribing the equivalent of 120 mg of amphetamine for each American—a high-water mark of per-capita consumption we are only now about to surpass” (emphasis added). There were 202.67 million people in the U.S. in 1969. To date, there are approximately 316.07 million people in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Clearly, more amphetamines are being produced and taken in the U.S. than in 1969.
According to Cohen and Rasmussen, in the 1990s experts began arguing that ADHD stimulants would decrease the incidence of future drug abuse by those with the disorder. “Three months ago, the only randomized trial to study future substance abuse by ADHD kids refuted the notion that stimulants, when taken in childhood, have a protective effect,” they write. “Investigators found strong evidence that ADHD itself in fact predisposes children to later substance abuse—but no evidence that stimulant medication reduces this rate any better than treating ADHD with behavioral approaches.”
“Further evidence that stimulants do not protect children from addiction was provided in a comprehensive review published last month in JAMA Psychiatry.”
For the writers, the jury is in: taking amphetamines is not going to help with substance abuse problems.
But perhaps amphetamines should be billed as a necessary cognitive enhancement sought by many healthy young students and other persons looking to get ahead, not just those with ADHD? That’s what a series of professors argued in a 2008 Nature article entitled “Toward responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy.” This article is purchase only, so I’ll give you a preview of what they said.
As I wrote in my 2008 article for Accuracy in Academia, “The authors’ commentary [...] likens the ‘cognitive-enhancing’ effects of these drugs to healthy behavior and the ‘neural changes engendered by exercise, nutrition, and sleep, as well as instruction and reading.’” Ah yes, amphetamines are a healthy way to boost your natural talent, according to these authors.
“The drugs just reviewed, along with newer technologies such as brain stimulation and prosthetic brain chips, should be viewed in the same general category as education, good health habits, and information technology—ways that our uniquely innovative species tries to improve itself,” argue the authors. They continue: “Drugs may seem distinctive among enhancements in that they bring about their effects by altering brain function, but in reality so does any intervention that enhances cognition.” The authors included Philip Campbell, still editor-in-chief of Nature Magazine.
“In short, cognitive-enhancing drugs seem morally equivalent to other, more familiar, enhancements,” the authors conclude.
Another champion of these drugs, as I wrote earlier, considers ADHD medications a matter of social justice. ““People who are getting A’s and B’s, I won’t give it to them,” Dr. Michael Anderson told the New York Times last October.
“It is not yet clear whether Dr. Anderson is representative of a widening trend,” reports reports Alan Schwartz for the New York Times. “But some experts note that as wealthy students abuse stimulants to raise already-good grades in colleges and high schools, the medications are being used on low-income elementary school children with faltering grades and parents eager to see them succeed.”
Clearly, we have an epidemic on our hand. Is more medication really the answer? Surely, success can be bought at a different price.
Students use it to study. Women use it for weight loss.
The ADHD diagnosis is a joke. Anyone can qualify just by drinking a bs-ing, or drinking coffee regularly.
The ADHD explosion is a product of the we can have it all society. Both parents want to work, and any child who does not immediately fit in is a problem. Teachers are under pressure to do many, many things in the classroom (sadly most of those aren’t academic), and the teachers as did the parents feel that any child who does not fit in has to be fixed. They want an immediate solution to any disruptive child, and medicating a child gives it to them. Twenty-five years ago when my kids were just starting school, I saw child after child medicated for superficial reasons. Any child that did not immediately “fit in” was told that they had ADHD and should go to their doctor to get medicated. The doctor took the teacher’s word and wrote a prescription. There was no check list for symptoms merely the teacher’s word. ADHD is the global warming of education. People stretch the definition to suit their needs and see it even if it isn’t there.
The Breakfast of Champions.....
The author's reading comprehension may need some work (or writing comprehension, to coin a phrase). The standard was already to diagnose and treat ADHD in children under 7; the changes allow the diagnosis to be made later, not earlier.
"This is the new reality."
One cannot duplicate the issues people suffer from ADHD by drinking coffee. What an insult.
My son, who is in his thirties now, was diagnosed with ADHD. In order to educate ourselves, we joined a parent support group and were privileged to have speakers who were top in their field. One of the doctors - a neurologist - who came and talked was a physician at The Cleveland Clinic. He said he had ADHD and said that although it is often misdiagnosed and overdiagnosed, it is an all-too-real malady. After much research, I realized that I had ADHD, but I do not have the organizational problems, or the scattered-brain effects that many people exhibit - losing things, not completing tasks, etc. I am, in fact, exceptionally organized. I also never had problems with impulsivity. I do, unfortunately, sometimes say things - blurt them out - but that has been tempered by maturity and wisdom over time. I also know that many people who blurt things out do not have ADHD.
However, what I DO have...and it is a curse...is an inability to TUNE OUT outside stimulus that many people can tune out very easily. Here’s an example: Many years ago I was working in an office and one of the fluorescent lights incessantly buzzed - it was directly over my work area. It drove me crazy. One day I turned to one of the guys I worked with - an engineer - and asked him if the light was driving him crazy. His response: “I don’t even hear it.” I wanted to scream! I couldn’t imagine it not driving anyone batty.
While caffeine and other stimulants might be able to cause some of what manifests as the hyperactivity component, I don’t think it can mimic many of the other problems.
I had to read that two times, well - four times when you posted it again. Hmm, reading it yet again I’m not sure what it means. Reads like “first symptoms by age 7” means before age 7. But would exclude symptoms AFTER age 7. That doesn’t seem right. Same with “before age 12”. I know lots of teens getting diagnosed with ADHD.
My son’s second grade teacher told me he had ADD and needed to be put on meds. She thought she could bully me because I was a divorced single mother and she thought because I was not educated. Well, I pinned her ears back, as I had just finished my thesis on the misdiagnosis of ADHD in gifted children and the dangers of Ritalin.
His problem was he was finishing his homework too quickly and wouldn’t sit quietly for 20 minutes while the other kids worked, he would lean over and give his friends answers to the questions. I suggested maybe she get a doctorate before making a diagnosis. And if she wanted to pursue this, she would be named in a lawsuit along with the school district. She backed down and NEVER spoke to me about his behavior again.
Good for you.
Teachers not wanting to do their job would prefer to have drugged up kids to make their jobs easier. Don’t mess with the brain chemistry and biological functioning of your child for this fake disease.
(See story above.)
Schools do not want to teach boys to be men. Boys will be boys, and they need to be in separate classrooms. This would solve a lot of problems....actually teaching boys differently. Make them run around the school 5 times in the morning.
Boys need fathers. I would wager that most of those boys do not have full time, involved, dads at their home.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines."
ADD is real. I think it IS over diagnosed, and medicated.
I have it. Never medicated to well into my forties. I was an excellent student when I was engaged. But if I got bored, I was quickly lost.
BUT I got through school, went to a good college, and have been more successful than the average guy (based on your normal, objective metrics.). I have a high level IQ, and I resisted the diagnosis for years. After tons of research, I finally agreed to try the meds. They were, literally ( in its real meaning) life changing.
I excersise a lot more now, take the meds only when I need the extra boost. I cannot imagine how non-ADD people would be able to stand the meds.
One of the things that pointed me in the direction was a question on a survey that asked: Did you ever try cocaine and wonder why it did not work?
I tried it once in 1982 and looked at everyone acting like a fool, and it did nothing for me. Never tried it again. Evidently the receptors in your brain are not wired correctly. Stimulants tend to calm you down, rather than jack you up.
If a normal person took my ad feral, they would be shaking all over the place. I can sit down and work for hours...intricate computer work.
So, ADD is real. But we should be very careful about drugging our kids.
My son could have been diagnosed for just being a boy. One year with a male teacher and things turned around completely. It could have been maturity level, but amazing what a difference this year has been.
Everyone diagnosed and medicated for ADD will be classified as mentally ill, and become ineligible for gun ownership. Part of the master plan.
ADHD is the global warming of education.
***
You are exactly right.
Schools do not want to teach boys to be men. Boys will be boys, and they need to be in separate classrooms. This would solve a lot of problems....actually teaching boys differently. Make them run around the school 5 times in the morning.
***
Very true.
We figured it was less work and effort to do what parents have done for 5,000 years, which was to spank our kids.
Worked like a charm.
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