The great ADHD myth (Psychiatrist who identified ADD admits many may not be ill)

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | March 9, 2007 | Jenny Hope

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.

I know this isn't directly related to public schools and homeschooling but in light of the number of kids in public schools that are on these drugs and the controversy surrounding their use and the public school system, I thought this would be good FYI.

It seemed especially relevant in light of this thread:
"Law bars schools from strong-arming parents to put kids on" - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798557/posts psychotropics

[Stoat]

If 70% are diganose correctly, then the headline is misleading.

If what you are referring to is the word "myth", that word has several definitions including:

myth - definition of myth by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

3. A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology.

Several posters here have commented (accurately, in my view) that if Dr. Spitzer is admitting to a 30 % misdiagnosis, the actual number is most likely quite higher, and so it could be said that the prevalence of ADD, as commonly understood, is a 'half truth' or 'myth'.

The Daily Mail's article was also carried by This Is London, with the same title:

The great ADHD myth News This is London

That being said, the title "The Great ADHD Myth" does impart a bit of bias, in that one person's idea of a "great myth" may not necessarily be shared by others

I happen to personally prefer the Australian article's title Attention Deficit pioneer admits misdiagnosis rife but I chose to post the Daily Mail article as the lead article in this post because it had been distributed more widely than the Australian one, and so would be more likely to come up when people are doing searches here at Free Republic.

[gidget7]

All very valid point, there. And lest we forget, why for hundreds of years, children had recess, specifically for the purpose of getting rid of energy, and thus recharging them. It was considered normal and common knowledge that children could not and should not have to, sit for that long without getting fidgety and bored.

[wintertime]

I have often posted that I have never met a fat homeschooler ( that has been homeschooled from the beginning).

Well....I never met a homeschooler with ADHD either!

First, homeschooling is efficient. Our children rarely spent more than 2 hours in formal schooling. Thus, they were not bored out of their minds, and they had plenty of time outside for large muscle, highly active play.

[SoftballMominVA]

Homeschoolers have ADHD just as often as children in any other type of school. The difference is that the parents in a one-on-one situation deal with the inattentiveness in a different manner than a teacher with 20 other students and medication may or may not be used.

When I asked my daughters doctor once if I had home-schooled her would she not have ADHD she told me it probably would have made no difference. She further said that about 1/3 of the kids in her practice have ADHD and are being home-schooled. She did not tell me 1/3 were medicated, or that she sees all the kids in the district, or how many children she sees, or any other information. Just that about 1/3 of the kids in her practice had ADHD and were home schooled. This question and comment were asked quite a while ago. Probably around 10 years or so. I haven't asked her since then if the numbers are still the same. If I think about it the next time I see her I might ask again. But then again, since my daughter is 20, she doesn't really require Mommy when she goes to the doctor.

FWIW this doctor and I worked together for quite a while to stay away from medications for my daughter. We tried alternative diets, counseling, behavior modifications, supplements, and even hypnosis. We went the medication route after 2 years of trying/failing. It was during this time I briefly home-schooled her and when I saw 1 on 1 what was going on with my kid, I decided to try meds. They were the only thing that worked for her.

[aruanan]

In a BBC2 documentary series The Trap, which begins on Sunday, he says that between 20 and 30 per cent of mental disorder diagnoses may be incorrect

That's just his way of saying "most of them."

[N. Theknow]

My Grand Ma always said we just needed to learn how to sit down and be quiet.

ADD and ADHD usually stem from PPP.

Piss Poor Parenting

[Raycpa]

I cannot wait to read the clueless ignorance that this thread will attract of folks who think this article is proof ADD doesn't exist and doesn't devastate many who suffer from it.

[beezdotcom]

I can't wait for the proponents of overdiagnosing ADD/ADHD to come out of the woodwork now and call this guy a "ADD Denier", like in the 'global warming' crowd...

[Bryan24]

FYI, despite the lunatic rantings of Neal Boortz, there is SOMETHING that has been identified, and is a problem.

My oldest child has been diagnosed as having ADHD. He doesn't have behavioral problems. He is not a problem child.

He has a problem with processing information. Some days, he is fine. Other days, you give him some math problems, or logical problems to solve, and he just cannot do them. The medication helps on those days.

Some clues to look for:

1. While reading, your child may skip words or skip some of the syllables in long words.

2. When describing something or asking questions, your child may skip words in the sentence.

This is not dyslexia, we've had him checked for that.

3. Look for signs if some OCD (Obsessive Complusive Disorder). They may not be strong, but there is probably something about which he has OCD.

In our case, this is not a behavorial problem. This is an information processing problem. It may be wrong to call it ADHD, but it IS a valid problem that is, at least partially, remedied by medication.

[trisham]

The same thing is now happening with autism and Asperger's disorder. The money that can be made from promoting hysteria regarding disease is limitless.

[wintertime]

Homeschoolers have ADHD just as often as children in any other type of school.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have never met a homeschooler with ADHD.

( if he has been homeschooled from the beginning.)

[Fierce Allegiance]

You wouldn't assault your child to cure Multiple Sclerosis, would you? Then why would you assault a child to cure ADD? It doesn't work.

Yes, it's overdiagnosed, but parents who put their kids on ritalin with a proper diagnosis are being good parents. Parents who do not do a full complement of research and ge multiple opinions, and use it as a copout, just plain suck.

[wintertime]

I cannot wait to read the clueless ignorance that this thread will attract of folks who think this article is proof ADD doesn't exist and doesn't devastate many who suffer from it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It didn't exist in my large parochial school classes of the 1950s and 60s.

[8mmMauser]

Rebecca Riley in Massachusetts is dead. The tyke was two years old when diagnosed and heavily medicated. Authorities have blamed her parents for murder.

Are Kids Given Antipsychotics Too Often?... Child's Death Reignites Debate Over How Aggressively Kids Should Be Treated With Psychiatric Drugs

8mm

[Raycpa]

Sure it did. Remember the kids who took shop and dropped out at 16?

[Raycpa]

HISTORY PART 1


In more recent history, ADHD symptoms were recorded in the mid 1800s in children with nervous system injuries and diseases. In 1848, a German physician wrote a children’s’ story, “Fidgety Phil”, describing hyperactive behavior.

British pediatrician, George Frederic Still was probably the first to do any comprehensive observations of ADHD children. He reported his observations in a series of lectures at the Royal College of Physicians in 1902. He described the children he observed as aggressive, defiant, lawless, overactive, attention impaired, dishonest and accident-prone. He also described them as having a “defect in moral control”. He didn’t paint a very pretty picture of the disorder for sure! His observations went on to note that the behavior was biological rather than a result of poor parenting. He theorized that the behavior was either inherited or the result of an injury at birth.

After an encephalitis epidemic in 1917-18, doctors noted that many children showed the symptoms that Still described. Doctors speculated that the behaviors were a result of brain damage. Children who displayed symptoms were labeled as brain damaged. Even if they did not suffer from encephalitis, they were give the “brain damaged” label. Later, when doctors realized that many of these children were too bright to have suffered brain damage, the disorder was labeled “minimal brain damage” and even later, “minimal brain dysfunction”.

As far back as 1937, doctors discovered that amphetamines were helpful in reducing hyperactive and impulsive behavior. Even with this knowledge, stimulant medications were not used much for treatment until the 1950s and 60s when there was an increase in psychiatric drug intervention. By the mid 1960s, stimulants were a common treatment.

parenting, fIn the early 1960s, Stella Chase and other researchers described “Hyperactive Child Syndrome”. Chase felt that the syndrome had a biological cause. Many others at the time believed the cause to be environmental. Many times poor ood additive and environmental toxins have been blamed for a child’s ADHD behavior. Some of these environmental theories still persist, but with recent brain chemical studies, environmental theories are getting harder to buy into. There is simply too much research showing that the cause lies in the biochemical processes -- in the neurotransmitters in the brain, and that it has a genetic factor.
an Studies ADHD advances continue. Many of these advances have helped to dispel many of the myths about ADHD. Studies now show that adults can exhibit symptoms just band it’s not Boys that can have ADHD

http://www.freewebs.com/historyofadhd/

[SoftballMominVA]

Of course it did; it just didn't have that label. The ADHD kids were the ones that did crazy stunts for attention, or who stayed in from recess for not getting work done, or who turned in sloppy papers, or who doodled constantly.

That being said, I think parents and teachers in the 50's handled these symptoms in a different way than now. Back then there was great pressure to conform, now parents are quick to find any medicinal answer - and that's not just for ADHD, but for all illnesses.

[wintertime]

Some advice:

Run from any school official, social worker psychologist, or psychiatrist that is suggesting that your child have OCD. True OCD is a very incapacitating disease, and the medications used to treat this disorder are extremely powerful and debilitating themselves. Some can, and do, cause a weight gain of 50 or more pounds in adults. They blunt emotional expression and feeling, and dull intelligence and creativity. They are very hard on the liver, kidneys, and other vital organs, and the patient **must** be tested regularly for signs of damage.

Before starting on any of these programs hire a **private** reading tutor at a reputable tutoring center. Do this first. It would be cheaper than seeing psychiatrists and buying this awful medication.

If at all possible, remove your child from government or private school. This alone may cause an immediate improvement.

For those people with true OCD, the medications are literally life saving, and they do help these poor souls regain some normality to their lives. There is no way that I would give these drugs to a child with signs that "may not be strong".

[SoftballMominVA]

All children are home-schooled from the beginning of life. Mom, Dad, and the extended family are the first teachers.