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The percentage of American children from 4 through 17 years of age who have ever been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) increased 42 percent from 2003 to 2011, according to a newly released study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study indicated that more than 20 percent of 11- and 14-year-old American boys had been diagnosed with ADHD at some point in their lives, that boys were 125 percent more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disorder, and that boys were 127 percent more likely than girls to be medicated for it. The study...

It is time to get women out of the schooling of boys. It is way past time. Women in our feminized classrooms are consigning generations of our sons to years of misery and diminished futures. The evidence is everywhere. Few dare notice it. The feminization is real. More than seventy-five percent of teachers are women; in New York state, over ninety percent of elementary school teachers are women; in the US, over seventy percent of psychologists are women, with (sez me) the rest being doubtful. This is feminization with fangs. I have just read Back to Normal: Why Ordinary Childhood...

All the employees of school districts on a witch hunt to expel and otherwise permanently punish young boys for shooting toy guns or forming their fists into the shape of a gun need to read Back to Normal. The purpose of psychologist Enrico Gnaulati’s 2013 book is to argue how ordinary childhood behavior is often misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, depression and autism — frequently with life-long, disturbing consequences. But along the way he raises the taboo question of whether we “label boys as mentally unstable, behaviorally unmanageable, academically underachieving, in need of special-education services, or displaying behavior warranting school suspension...

Wall Street Journal misses implications of its own story. ---This is an important post if you teach in a school where Ritalin is often prescribed. Or if you have children who are taking Ritalin.---The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about whether Ritalin works. I believe they missed the main point. Ritalin works if by that you mean it calms children down. Ritalin does not work if by that you mean they will automatically become better students, or that their underlying problems will be solved. The tendency in the schools is to act as though anxiety is a primary...

Beginning Saturday, the FOX network will air a number of animated shows that contain sexually explicit and profanity-laced content never before shown on network television during its “Animation Domination High-Def” (ADHD) programming block. The X-rated cartoons, some of which feature full frontal nudity and cartoon characters engaging in sexual activity, are modeled after Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” and will also be available on the internet. FOX Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly stated in an interview with Daily Variety that “I’d like to find the next ‘Family Guy’ out of this block.” But The Parents Television Council (PTC) strongly denounced the programming....

Studies of Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Find Little Change It's no longer shocking to hear of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder—and others simply facing a big test—taking ADHD medicine to boost their performance in school. But new studies point to a problem: There's little evidence that the drugs actually improve academic outcomes. Stimulants used to treat ADHD like Ritalin and Adderall are sometimes called "cognitive enhancers" because they have been shown in a number of studies to improve attention, concentration and even certain types of memory in the short-term. Similar drugs were given to World War II soldiers to...

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....

It’s not a stretch to suggest that Americans are over medicated. In 2011 doctors across the nation wrote an astounding four billion medical prescriptions, amounting to an average of 13 prescriptions for every man, woman and child in the United States. In the next few weeks the American Psychiatric Associations is releasing their updated fifth version their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); the so-called ‘bible’ of psychiatric diagnoses. The new manual promises to take mental illness and the use of prescription drugs to a whole new level. You may not be considered “crazy” or “mentally ill” today,...

“ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” These were the words of Leon Eisenberg, the “scientific father of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder),” in his last interview before his death. Leon Eisenberg made a luxurious living off of his “fictitious disease,” thanks to pharmaceutical sales. Coincidentally, he received the “Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research. He has been a leader in child psychiatry for more than 40 years through his work in pharmacological trials, research, teaching, and social policy and for his theories of autism and social medicine,” according to Psychiatric News.

There are many reasons why people get insufficient sleep in our 24/7 society, from early starts at work or school, or long commutes, to caffeine-rich food and drink. But the precipitating factor is an often unappreciated, technological breakthrough: the electric light. Without it, few people would use caffeine to stay awake at night. And light affects our circadian rhythms more powerfully than any drug. Just as the ear has two functions (hearing and balance), so too does the eye. First, rods and cones enable sight; and second, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) containing the photopigment... --snip-- The US Institute...

A new study may stimulate the old adage of respecting your elders; it says the general level of intelligence in the Western Hemisphere has declined since the Victorian Era. The study claims the IQ numbers are 14 points lower than from the 19th century. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis, professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam, says the cause of the movement toward stupidity is that smarter women have fewer children while those of lower intelligence have more children. But Dr. Gerald Crabtree, professor of pathology and developmental biology at...

The past 2 decades have witnessed an alarming increase in the number of Americans diagnosed with mental illness. Is modern psychiatry reaping an immense profit by impulsively—perhaps even deliberately–conflating mental illness with a growing, public aversion to the demands of personal responsibility? In the summer of 2011, The New York Review of Books published two lengthy articles by Marcia Angell, MD—Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and former Editor in Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. In these articles, Angell reviewed three books which take a critical look at psychiatry and its relationship with the...

Doctors usually do not follow guidelines for treating very young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). In the study, about 90 percent of doctors surveyed did not strictly adhere to new guidelines recommended for treating preschoolers with ADHD, such as when to start medications, and which medications to use.

IN the spring of 2010, a new patient came to see me to find out if he had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. He had all the classic symptoms: procrastination, forgetfulness, a propensity to lose things and, of course, the inability to pay attention consistently. But one thing was unusual. His symptoms had started only two years earlier, when he was 31. Though I treat a lot of adults for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the presentation of this case was a violation of an important diagnostic criterion: symptoms must date back to childhood. It turned out he first started having these problems the...

There’s something sick about an administration which is so pro-Islamic that it can’t even tell the truth about the people who are trying to kill us,” Mr. Gingrich said ... Mr. Gingrich accused the White House of being unwilling to discuss threats from some Muslims. And he slammed President Barack Obama for mounting a “war” on the Catholic Church over contraception but apologize to Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the burning of Qurans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that nearly one-fifth of high school-age boys have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Doctors eventually medicate two-thirds of them. The diagnoses represent a 41 percent increase over the last decade. The primary gateway drug for teenagers isn’t marijuana or beer. It’s prescription medication. As the New York Times piece breaking this story points out, feeding a child a daily diet of Ritalin increases the chances of dependency, anxiety, and psychosis. Sports once channeled the energy of testosterone-fueled teens. Now our overprotective culture complains of the dangers of...

One in five high school boys and 11% of schoolkids overall have received an ADHD diagnosis, according to new data from the CDC. The data also shows two-thirds of children diagnosed with ADHD are prescribed stimulants like Adderall (above) and Ritalin. About 6.4 million children have received an ADHD diagnosis at some point — an increase of 16% since 2007 and 53% in the past decade. One in five high school boys and 11% of all schoolkids in the U.S. have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and...

A pervasive anti-boy culture is wrecking our nation’s very future. As I look at my 5-year old son, I hope that I am helping to mold a young man who lives his life with integrity and self-reliance, understanding the value of hard work and good manners and the true self-esteem that only these things can create within a productive life. I think my wife and I are doing well, being conscious of these things, but as I look around us, what is happening — what has happened — to a generation of boys and young men in America is saddening...

Five disorders from depression to autism share a genetic link, which could pave the way for new treatments Autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia overlap at a genetic level Two gene markers common to all of the disorders govern the balance of calcium in brain cells New understanding could help develop treatments The five most common mental health and developmental disorders share a common genetic root, a study has found. Scientists found a link between autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. The findings, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, could revolutionise how doctors think...

There may actually be some good news coming out of academia. “This really is a profession that has run amok,” Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic said of psychiatrists in a recent interview with Celeste McGovern which appeared in Citizen magazine. “People are beginning to question its legitimacy and they are beginning to mistrust its values, its diagnoses and its treatments.” McGovern writes that, “Even medical students are avoiding it, he adds, as the average age of psychiatrists is now 57.” Citizen is published by Focus on the Family. McGovern is based in the United Kingdom. “Every day...