Posted on 08/02/2007 7:05:34 AM PDT by Lennyq
For Immediate Release
Media review copies and interviews available on request
Contact: Fred Baughman, MD fredbaughmanmd@cox.net Author: The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes "Patients" of Normal Children http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=9628
Is your child taking Ritalin? Is there a plague of psychiatric diseases in children?
This is a true story.
On March 21, 2000, fourteen-year old Matthew Smith was having a good time skateboarding with two of his cousins. Suddenly, he collapsed to the floor and started turning blue. His cousins called 911 but the paramedics couldn’t revive him. At the hospital he was pronounced dead from a heart attack – a heart attack caused by Ritalin.
Matthews parents had been giving him Ritalin since he was six years old. Ritalin is classified as a Schedule II drug, which the DEA reserves for the most dangerous and addictive drugs that can be prescribed legally.
But to the educators at Matthew’s school, Ritalin was simply a magic pill that made troublesome students easier to manage.
Prior to being diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Matthew was an energetic, boisterous highly social child who did not focus on his school work quite the way his teachers wanted him to.
Was he in dire need of medication?
The push to label Matthew occurred when he was in the first grade. School officials said that he was fidgety in his seat and would sometimes disrupt the class, and that he often had trouble staying focused on his work.
The school social worker called Matthews parents and said that Matthew needed to take medication saying, “He’s got ants in his pants”.
This unqualified social worker made the diagnosis and recommendation for medication and handed them a list of physicians who would provide them with a prescription.
Even though this constitutes the practice of medicine without a license, this same process is applied in school districts across the nation by teachers, administrators, counselors, psychologists and social workers.
According to Dr. Fred Baughman, there is an epidemic taking place all across America.
Parents are told to place their children on Ritalin or Adderall or their child will be refused attendance at school and they will be charged with “medical neglect.”
“Parents are succumbing to the threats from school officials without any idea of the possible side effects of these addictive, dangerous drugs.
In San Diego at just one school, 65 percent of the fifth graders had been diagnosed with ADD and were on medication.
There are over 6 million children in the United States who have been diagnosed with ADHD and drugged for ADHD.
“We are drugging normal children so that they act less like normal children and forcing them to act like the docile adults who are supposed to be teaching them”.
Dr. Baughman is one of numerous medical professionals who recently testified in front of the FDA and Congress.
“ADHD is not a disorder, disease, syndrome or chemical imbalance of the brain. It is not over-diagnosed, under-diagnosed, or mis-diagnosed. It doesn’t exist. It is a total, 100%, Fraud.”
Nowhere in world’s literature is there proof that a single psychiatric diagnosis is an actual disease.
“ADHD and all of psychiatry’s “chemical imbalances” are manufactured diseases- invented diseases that results in huge profits for psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies.”
We have allowed school and health care professionals to blanket classify behavior and establish bounds for student conduct in the school environment. We hand out drugs to kids as freely as we give them Flintstone vitamins.
In spite of schools with posted signs everywhere that say “drug free zones” it turns out that nearly everywhere, the most effective drug pushers are the legal ones.
Dr. Baughman, author of the new book, The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” Out of Normal Children says that parents and educators have to stop thinking that the use of drugs is safe or necessary.
“We’ve gone on a diagnostic frenzy and sought out a chemical means for achieving peace and quiet in the classroom. Ritalin may solve problems for teachers but it’s not helping the children.”
Once children are labeled as ADHD they are no longer treated as normal. The first drug they ingest is an intoxication, a poisoning, their first and only disease. ADD and ADHD simply do not exist.
“The real question is how we go about destroying the monster we’ve created. We’ve been conned into believing that our normal children are abnormal--diseased. We’ve been lulled into believing there is a collective madness.
The real evil forces reside in our schools and physicians offices.
Our children act in ways that bother adults. We’ve got to now teach the adults that the solution is up to them. We know that there are sane people who are horrified at the thought of participating in a massive abuse of children.
It’s horrifying. There are over half a million children between the ages of 2 and 5 now being treated with powerful drugs for ADHD. Nobody has any idea of the effects these drugs will have on children so young.
We have got to stop putting children on drugs.
The ADHD Fraud How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” Out of Normal Children By Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD With Craig Hovey
ISBN 1-4120-6458-9
US$24.95, C$28.69, EUR20.49, £14.35 Published by Trafford Publishing Soon to be translated into Spanish
Dr. Baughman’s book is filled with real life case studies of children who have been harmed as a result of a diagnosis of ADHD. He also describes the evolution of the epidemic, and how Ritalin was created and it’s history as a drug in search of a disease.
Dr. Baughman presents the 14 symptoms that appear in the 1987 Diagnostic and Statistical manual that for the basis for most diagnosis of ADHD and shows that most of them really amount to a list of the things that normal children do that irritate adults who do not have the patience compassion or interest to tolerate them.
Dr. Baughman urges parents, teachers, and physicians to recognize the basic truth of the scientific literature; no proof exists. For a disease to be present there must be a macroscopic (visible to the naked eye, a palpable lump, an audible heart murmur), microscopic or chemical abnormality in life, or at autopsy.
With ADHD – there is NO abnormality at all. No psychiatric disorder/chemical imbalance/disease is an objective abnormality—a disease--not one.
These are normal child behaviors. That is all.
It is a problem of adults who cannot deal with these children.
The ADHD Fraud How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” Out of Normal Children is available in bookstores and online.
For more information visit www.adhdfraud.org or visit the website of the publisher www.trafford.com
Dr. Baughman can offer insights and comments and reports on the latest ADHD facts:
Where did ADHD come from?
"They made a list of the most common symptoms of emotional discomfiture of children and in a stroke that could not be more devoid of science or Hippocratic motive-termed them " diseases"/ "chemical imbalances" each needing/requiring a "chemical balancer"- a pill." Thirty-five years of research into "biological" psychiatry's "chemical imbalances"/"diseases.” In 1970, when "hyperactivity"/ ADHD was first represented to Congress to be a brain disease, only 150,000 had it. Today, not by science, but by the "big lie" -saying it is a disease often enough, 6-7 million have it! Nor is ADHD the only "chemical imbalance"/"disease" of the brain. They give us conduct disorder (CD), oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD), major depressive disorder (MDD), OCD, PTSD, GAD, SAD, etc., a total of 374 psychiatric disorders from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); “chemical imbalances” of the brain said to need "chemical balancers" –pills. How convenient.
How many people are affected?
In 2003 Congressional hearings it was said that 17% of the nation's school children, 8.8 million, were labeled and drugged by psychiatry. Toady it is 20%; one in five; 10.4 million! As if this were not enough the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is set to foist upon us the compulsory, government-mandated mental health screening of all 52 million US schoolchildren. Clearly, it is a psycho-pharm-government cartel. When normal people are told they have a disease to make "patients" of them, we have a violation of informed consent which equals medical malpractice. When normals are lied to, to make "patients" of them, to drug, for-profit, we have a battery - poisoning. Undoubtedly, this is the greatest health care fraud in US history.
Media review copies and interviews available on request.
About the Authors
Fred A Baughman Jr., MD, is an adult and child neurologist certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Fellow of the Academy of Neurology. He has discovered and described real diseases. He has testified before the US Congress, the European Union, and innumerable other national and international government bodies. He is an expert witness in lawsuits and legal cases regarding psychiatry and invented diseases.
Dr. Baughman is an experienced media guest and has appeared on many national radio and television shows. He has authored over a hundred articles in medical journals and the national press. He resides in San Diego with his wife Annette.
Craig Hovey teaches economics at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. He is a writer who’s interest in the book's subject was sparked when told by school personnel that his oldest son suffered from ADHD and had to take Ritalin.
Read about the March 22 Congressional Hearings:
ADHD EXPERTS HEAD TO WASHINGTON - IS THE FDA UP TO THE TASK? -- HTTP://WWW.OPEDNEWS.COM/ARTICLES/GENERA_EVELYN_P_060314_ADHD_EXPERTS_HEAD_TO.HTM
FEEL FREE TO REQUEST A COPY THE TESTIMONY OF FRED A. BAUGHMAN JR., MD, TO THE MARCH 22, 2006, MEETING OF THE FDA-PEDIATRIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
What People Are Saying
Read this book before someone you love is labeled and drugged.
Nicholas A. Cummings, Former President, American Psychiatric Association
All parents with a child in school need to read Fred Baughman’s book to learn the reasons to be skeptical when informed that their child has “Attention Deficit Disorder” and must be treated with psychotropic drugs.
Representative Ron Paul, 14th District (Texas), U.S. House of Representatives
This book documents (how) the charlatan psychiatric profession abuses normal, healthy children with brain destructive drugs for the unconscionable purpose of creating so-called ‘mental illnesses’ such as ADHD for financial gain.
Dr. Robert L. Simonds, Chair, National Association of Evangelicals
I wept as I read this book. As a retired teacher, school trustee, and grandmother of a Ritalin/SSRI/Risperdal damaged grandson, I know that Dr. Baughman speaks the truth.
Sharon Steele Kientz, 1995, National Right to Read Foundation, Teacher of the Year
Dr. Baughman has written a powerful expose of psychiatry and its hydra-headed influence with the FDA, drug companies, and public school personnel who pressure parents into unwittingly poisoning their children with dangerous drugs for the non-disease-ADHD. A must read for every parent of a school aged child.
Dr. Robert Sweet, Former President & Founder of the National Right to Read Foundation, Professional Staff, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. Congress
The ADHD Fraud provides much needed, detailed, and practical advice as to how to prevent children from being earmarked as victims of ADHD. This book deserves the attention of every parent… all educators and policy makers.
Dr. Patrick Groff, Professor of Education Emeritus, San Diego State University
Media review copies and interviews available on request
Contact: "Fred Baughman, MD" at fredbaughmanmd@cox.net
I taught courses on this subject in the 70s. One of the diagnositc criteria was that the child is not a minority. The reason? because minority status is already a negative label and they don't need another negatvie label.
What is that about besides power?
At the time I taught (in Baltimore) about 15% of white boys in elementary school were classified as ADD or ADHD (they keep renaming it). I visited a (government) ADHD clinic. In a city that was majority black, there were no black children treated there.
The (black)principal of a local school (90% black) was a student of mine. She told me she knew nothing about it to start with and that none of the children in her school were on medication for ADHD behavior.
In the 90s I saw what I considered the result of this scheme. The young white men in my courses were often looking for information on their condition of ADHD. I hate to say anything mean, but what I saw was pathetic young men with no self-confidence, always aplogizing for themselves.
There are nice compassionate professionals involved in the ADD industry. It is hard to believe they are part of a power scheme, but if they were not in on the scheming, they are at least part of its execution.
Oh Yeah, I think about that, too. I was a “daydreamer” my mom smacked my ass and I became a good listener and student. Simple.
I had an unfortunate experience with my oldest daughter. Her 1st grade teacher (a B*%^ch) insisted that she was ADHD, sent her for an evaluation etc.... She was diagnosed and medicated. That lasted about 2 weeks. She had a constant headache and nausea on ritalin. I took her off and spent a little extra time with her and the word was never uttered again throughout her entire school career. She’s now in the Navy and enjoying a wonderful life.
The point being that they really do pressure you at the school level to do this, make it impossible not to. Amazingly the same teacher commented all of the time about how much better Nikki was doing since she was on her meds. (I just let her believe that she was)
Of course we can't do it that way anymore; it wouldn't be progressive.
researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas found chromosome damage within three months of starting Ritalin in the twelve children they studied. (2/16/2005 online issue of Cancer Letters).
Friends of ours have a son that the PUBLIC SCHOOL diagnosed as ADHD when he was in the first grade in the early 90’s. They were going to kick him out of school unless he was on medication. The parents complied and start giving their son Ritalin.
Their son went from a bright, active, talkative, inquisitive 6 year old to a now withdrawn, no confidence, recluse of a young adult. To me it is very sad they allowed to happen to their son. I also think it is criminal on the part of the school since they diagnosed the “problem” and essentially prescribed medication by using bully tactics. In retrospect, the parents know they were uniformed and should have sent him to a private school or home-schooled.
My son would be in that group today and so would my nephew. They were very talkative and had pent up energy that made it hard to sit in classrooms all day.
Thank goodness we didn’t know about this ritalin thing then.
I can’t say for sure what I would have done. I hope I would have been cynical about using it, but we were very inclined to believe medical advice.
I don’t so much now.
I think a lot of hyper behavior is related to diet and nutrition. Not just high amounts of sugar but the additives in soda pop and junk food get kids ramped up. Not enough exercise is a factor. The electronic environment leads to overstimulation as well. If I were a parent with a hyperactive kid, I would not be looking to add drugs but looking to subtract some things from the diet and environment.
If a school employee ever comes to me and says my kid has ADHD and needs Ritalin, I’m going straight to the local prosecutor to demand prosecution for the Class 1 misdemeanor. If he isn’t willing, I’m going straight to the press about school officials practicing medicine without a license (Law: “Any person shall be regarded as practicing medicine ... who shall diagnose or attempt to diagnose ... any human ailment, physical or mental...”) on my kid and the prosecutor’s unwillingness to stop it.
What so many of these children have is “dys-teachia”. They are taught little or no phonics, mired in whole language learning that results in poor reading skills and mimics dyslexia.
I for sure would have had the label if this was going on when I was a youngster. I really don’t know if my parents would have be cynical or just gone along with the school’s so-called “medical advice”.
I was completely inattentive in school, so I probably would have been on Ritalin today. Luckily the teachers and administrators figured out I was just bored out of my mind and gave me more interesting and difficult things to do. After that I was a pretty good student.
The incidence of BTD (Boring Teacher Disorder) is clearly greater than ADD or ADHD.
I’ll bet you will find out that the feds fork over more money for medicated kids. They pervert and undermine everything with their do gooderism. Add to that the lack of standards for teachers who could learn to manage their classes, if the expectations were set. I am with the posters above who said the kids need recess with exercise and teaches who impose discipline.
He was the medical consultant to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR).
What is the CCHR? It's the freeking Church of Scientology!
Hail Xenu.
FALSE
I picked up the fone and called the local recruiting office. There was some discussion as they looked it up.
The recruit has to be off of Ritalin/Aderall for at least one year and they will take him.
In any event, he MUST disclose the fact that he's been treated for ADD/ADHD in the past, but they will take them and note it on his record forever.
To avoid the "medical abuse" charge, a parent should find a doctor or two that diagnose the kid as "normal".
If you have 5 doctors prescribing Ritalin and you as a parent just say no on principle, then you should be liable for "medical abuse." If you can't find one or two other doctors SOMEWHERE to support you, then you've got no leg to stand on, folks, no matter how wrong it is to prescribe this stuff to kids, or how right you are or how well we all got along without it in the past.
Same here.
I’d forgotten the money angle. You are right that they get more Federal $$ for children with treatment plans on file.
Subsidizing malfunction and malfeasance is what the Feds do best.
I don't deny some children are harder to manage than others. I don't deny that Ritalin and related drugs make them easier to manage. I deny that they have a disease.
A reason to call the ocndition a disease is to make the negative effects of medication will be deemed acceptable. But the effects of long-term psychiatric medication during childhood are horrendous.
I have no objection to adults taking any drug they like to manage their own behavior.
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