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THREE million children in this country take drugs for problems in focusing. Toward the end of last year, many of their parents were deeply alarmed because there was a shortage of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that they considered absolutely essential to their children’s functioning. But are these drugs really helping children? Should we really keep expanding the number of prescriptions filled? In 30 years there has been a twentyfold increase in the consumption of drugs for attention-deficit disorder. As a psychologist who has been studying the development of troubled children for more than 40 years, I believe we should...

A special education teacher wrote to me about the abuse of Ritalin. The teacher said: “My students are on Ritalin. This is a brain shrinking, top tier heavily psychotropic drug, as you know. The authorities KNOW this is their weapon for the most intelligent boys... ” The teacher believes this is a high-level NWO plot, which is not a road I like to go down. But the teacher got me thinking... Here are the two parts I’m personally sure of: 1) The Education Establishment in this country, for 75 years, has used bogus methods (i.e., Whole Word) to teach reading....

Are we experiencing an explosion of mental illness among young children in Britain? That is what you’d reasonably conclude, looking at the rise in the number of prescriptions issued for psychiatric medicines for them. One of the commonest of childhood brain disorders is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It is in the news again: Darren Hucknall, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, has made a formal complaint to the NHS after his 10‑year-old son, Harry Hucknall, hanged himself. Harry was being treated with fluoxetine (Prozac) – an anti-depressant – and methylphenidate, also known as Ritalin or Equasym, the standard treatment for ADHD.

If there were a drug that would make you smarter, would you take it? Today an increasing number of healthy people are using drugs without a prescription as a way to improve their mental function. It's called neuroenhancement and if you want to find someone who's trying it out, just visit a college campus. That's where a surprising number of students are turning to drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, originally developed to treat attention disorders, to boost their brain power and help them make the grade

Doctors treat millions of children with Ritalin every year to improve their ability to focus on tasks, but scientists now report that Ritalin also directly enhances the speed of learning. In animal research, the scientists showed for the first time that Ritalin boosts both of these cognitive abilities by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine deep inside the brain. Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers neurons use to communicate with each other. They release the molecule, which then docks onto receptors of other neurons. The research demonstrated that one type of dopamine receptor aids the ability to focus, and another...

College students, of course, have been using stimulants for years: They take such things as modafinil, Adderall, and Ritalin (euphemistically known on campuses as "vitamin R") to enhance their memories for exams or to stay up all night and press out a term paper. By one estimate, at least 10 percent of American college students use prescription drugs as study aids. Now the general adult population is turning to the pills, too – often illegally – to boost productivity and enhance their mental prowess on the job. Some experts laud the development: They think it's time to consider making the...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can cause children to have hallucinations even when taken as directed, U.S. government researchers said on Monday. U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers analyzed data from 49 clinical studies conducted by makers of the drugs and found they can cause psychosis and mania in some patients, including some with no obvious risk factors. In some cases, children hallucinated that worms, bugs or snakes were crawling on them. "Patients and physicians should be aware of the possibility that psychiatric symptoms consistent with psychosis or mania" might arise in the course of treatment,...

From Times Online January 1, 2009 Let students take drugs to boost brainpower, says leading academic Alexandra Frean, Education Editor Students should be allowed to take “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin, to help boost their academic performance, a leading academic has suggested. John Harris, professor of bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, said the government and medical profession should “seriously consider” making cognition-enhancing drugs available to students without prescription, or allowing them to be prescribed for non-therapeutic purposes, such as studying. Students have long used drugs to boost their study...

Academics Laud Drug Use by: Bethany Stotts, December 15, 2008 Six academics and Philip Campbell, the editor-in-chief of Nature Magazine, recently argued that society should move “towards the responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy,” particularly drugs typically used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “In this article, we propose actions that will help society accept the benefits of enhancement, given appropriate research and evolved regulation,” write the authors, who hail from prestigious universities such as • Stanford Law School, • Harvard Medical School, • the University of Cambridge, • the University of Manchester, • the...

Hyperactive children should no longer be given Ritalin, new health guidelines say. Ritalin should no longer be given to hyperactive children. The drug should not be prescribed to children under five and used for older children only when they have severe ADHD or as a last resort, the guidance says.Instead, parents should be taught psychological techniques for changing the behaviour of unruly youngsters diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.The guidelines were issued by the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.The directive says parent training and education programmes should be offered...

CHILDREN who use Ritalin for a long period of time could be more at risk of delinquency and substance abuse, a study has found. Doctors are suggesting children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should take a break from medication after three years of use. An American study - published in the Medical Observer _ has found that while drugs such as Ritalin can initially help sufferers, the benefit of prolonged use is in doubt. Some children stay on medication until they reach 18, but researchers believe it may not protect them from all the symptoms. Has your child been...

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...

After three years on the ADHD drug Ritalin, kids are about an inch shorter and 4.4 pounds lighter than their peers, a major U.S. study shows. The symptoms of childhood ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) usually get dramatically better soon after kids start taking stimulant drugs. But this benefit may come with a cost, says James Swanson, Ph.D., director of the Child Development Center at the University of California, Irvine. "Yes, there is a growth-suppression effect with stimulant ADHD medications," Swanson tells WebMD. "It is going to occur at the age of treatment, and over three years it will accumulate."...

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Why is America suddenly experiencing an explosion of new mental diseases and disorders never heard of thirty years ago? Why are children seemingly out of control, refusing to listen to parents and teachers, even driven to violence? Here are two possible reasons to consider. First, it is apparent the psychology industry isn’t opposed to simply making up diseases and disorders if there is money to be made. Second, some research is suggesting that many of the growing diseases and disorders could actually be side effects of the drugs psychologists are pouring into children to “cure” their made-up diseases. Does that...

I've been treating, educating and caring for children for more than 30 years, half of that time as a child psychiatrist, and the changes I've seen in the practice of child psychiatry are shocking. Psychiatrists now misdiagnose and overmedicate children for ordinary defiance and misbehavior. Temper tantrums are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses...Unfortunately, when a child is diagnosed with a mental illness, almost everyone benefits. The schools get more state funding for the education of a mentally handicapped student. Teachers have more subdued students in their overcrowded classrooms. Finally, parents are not forced to examine their poor parenting practices,...

Occasionally I will hear a friend say, as he contemplates the utter wasteland our urban public schools have become, and as he views the deterioration of American society, ‘what this country needs is another depression”. Having been a young child during the ‘Great Depression’, and having therefore the interest in learning all I could about it, I do not agree with the thought. I do not agree that we need to go through another era when millions lived in abject poverty. I do agree with the concerns for our country, as teachers, numbed by classroom experiences and handcuffed by politically...

A 15-year-old girl and her parents recently came in for a chat with Dr. James Perrin, a Boston pediatrician, because they were concerned about the girl's grades. Previously an A student, she was slipping to B's, and the family was convinced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was at fault — and that a prescription for Ritalin would boost her brainpower. After examining the girl, Perrin determined she didn't have ADHD. The parents, who had come in demanding a prescription, left empty-handed. Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other physicians...

Introduction A common scene at today's LAN parties and competitive tournaments includes scores of young gamers and a very simple extra ingredient: energy drinks. Many gamers, whether they're aspiring professionals or amateurs who enjoy displaying their talents in front of an audience, will load up on Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster and other popular energy drinks loaded with caffeine, sugar, and various stimulants. But if you look harder at some of these events, you may find something else that gamers are using to stave off fatigue: Ritalin. The prescription medication - generic name methylphenidate - is a potent stimulant commonly used...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 — Federal drug regulators have ordered that strong warnings be put on the labels of stimulants like Ritalin to caution against their use in adults or children with heart problems and to alert doctors that the drugs cause one child in a thousand to experience hallucinations. The new warnings are not as strong as those approved in February by an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration, but they significantly strengthen the risk information already on the drugs. “We’re not trying to scare people out of using these drugs,” said Dr. Robert J. Temple, director of...

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Over the last twenty years, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has emerged as a disorder of importance in childhood. Prescription of psychostimulants for ADHD escalated in many countries through the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1995, prescriptions of methylphenidate for young people increased 2.5-fold in the US [1], and 5-fold in Canada [2]. In New South Wales, Australia, rates of treatment for children in 2000 were nine times those in 1990 [3]. ADHD joins dyslexia and glue ear as disorders that are considered significant primarily because of their effects on educational performance. Medicalising educational performance can help children receive specialised medical...

Posted: April 18, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joseph Farah � 2006 WorldNetDaily.com It's official now. No matter how you measure it, boys are failing in schools across America. That was the shocking report from the Voice of America last week. "In classrooms across the U.S., there is a new trend that worries educators," it said. "In every category and demographic group, boys are falling behind in school." Was it shocking to you? It wasn't so shocking to me. I've seen this trend up-close and personal � even though I am the father of five girls, none of whom will...

Prescribing of hyperactivity drugs is out of control 31 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Peter Aldhous Rise in ADHA? THE figures are mind-boggling. Nearly 4 million Americans, most of them children and young adults, are being prescribed amphetamine-like stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Up to a million more may be taking the drugs illegally. Now, amid reports of rare but serious side effects, leading researchers and doctors are calling for a review of the way ADHD is dealt with. Many prescriptions are being written by family doctors with little expertise in diagnosing ADHD, raising doubts about how...

GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 22 — Stimulants like Ritalin lead a small number of children to suffer hallucinations that usually feature insects, snakes or worms, according to federal drug officials, and a panel of experts said on Wednesday that physicians and parents needed to be warned of the risk. The panel members said they hoped the warning would prevent physicians from prescribing a second drug to treat the hallucinations caused by the stimulants, which one expert estimated affect 2 to 5 of every 100 children taking them. Instead, they said, the right thing to do in such cases was to stop...

"Uncle Sam wants you," that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really? Not if you're a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato -- or some combination of the above. A tattoo also can be grounds for rejection. The military does not actually want most of the people in its prime recruiting age group of 17 to 24. Of the about 32 million Americans in this group, the Army deems the vast majority too obese, too uneducated or too flawed in some way, according to its estimates for the current budget year. "As you look at overall population and...

WASHINGTON - Uncle Sam wants YOU, that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really? Not if you're a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato - or some combination of the above. As for that fashionable "body art" that the military still calls a tattoo, having one is grounds for rejection, too. With U.S. casualties rising in wars overseas and more opportunities in the civilian work force from an improved U.S. economy, many young people are shunning a career in the armed forces. But recruiting is still a two-way street - and the military, too, doesn't want most people...

The recent recommendation that Ritalin and other medications for attention-deficit disorder carry the most serious allowable warning will certainly slow the explosive growth in the use of those drugs. That was the intention of some members of the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee that called for the packaging alert, known as a black-box warning. But the recommendation and concerns about growth in the use of these drugs may force us to think about the disorder, known as A.D.H.D., in new and different ways, from an evolutionary and contextual standpoint. Every generation likes to believe that it is witnessing the...

Deaths of 51 U.S. patients who took widely prescribed drugs to treat attention deficit disorder prompted regulators to start watching for heart attacks, high blood pressure and other problems in 2004, a report released on Wednesday said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff did not say the drugs were responsible for the fatalities, but they urged close monitoring for "the rare occurrence of pediatric sudden death during stimulant therapy." "These reports themselves do not establish a causal relationship between these medications and cardiovascular adverse events," wrote Dr. Gerald Dal Pan, director of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, in...

The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday barring schools from requiring hyperactive children to use drug treatments as a condition for attending classes.

Prescription drugs are replacing, rather than complementing, ``talk therapy'' in the treatment of depressed children and adolescents, according to a major new study by Stanford doctors. The trend runs counter to guidelines that call for psychotherapy, which teaches problem-solving and examines negative thought patterns, as the first line of treatment for depressed youth. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry advises medication for only the most-serious forms of mental illness -- and then only in combination with psychotherapy.

FOR MORE than 20 years, educators have known that children would do better in school if the calendar were expanded. The seminal 1983 report ''A Nation at Risk" recommended that school districts consider seven-hour schedules as well as a 200- to 220-day school year. In 1994 the National Education Commission on Time and Learning in its report ''Prisoners of Time" reached the same conclusion: The United States should significantly expand its conventional school calendar to accommodate the demands of education reform efforts. [...] That's about to change. The Legislature provided $500,000 in next year's budget for planning grants to school...

The prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and its associated attention, hyperactivity and concentration problems among American children has been steadily on the rise in recent years. The US Centers for Disease Control now estimates that eight percent of children suffer from ADHD, and more than half of them are being treated with drugs like Ritalin. But according to a study conducted by Israeli researchers, if your child is showing symptoms associated with ADHD, it's possible that they're suffering from sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. The researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Sleep Medicine Center conclude that ADHD-diagnosed children...

The number of children being prescribed drugs for so-called behavioural disorders has soared to a record high, causing alarm that children are being unnecessarily "drugged into submission". Prescriptions of Methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England. The growing use of Ritalin - an amphetamine-based stimulant which improves concentration and is nicknamed the "chemical cosh" because of its calming effects - has alarmed critics....

Washington - As a first-grader, Garrett Nash blurted out answers before his teacher called on him. He tickled a student sitting next to him and sometimes bolted out of lines. One cold day, he left school without his winter coat. Michelle Nash thought her son's behaviour was typical for a child adjusting to a full day of classes, but school officials suspected he had a hyperactivity disorder. They recommended giving him Ritalin, a stimulant used to treat children with that problem. She refused. "I just said I'm not going to do it," said Nash, 40. "And their response was, "You...

WASHINGTON - As a first-grader, Garrett Nash blurted out answers before his teacher called on him. He tickled a student sitting next to him and sometimes bolted out of lines. One cold day, he left school without his winter coat. Michelle Nash, of Blaine, Minn., thought her son's behavior was typical for a child adjusting to a full day of classes, but school officials suspected he had a hyperactivity disorder. They recommended giving him Ritalin, a stimulant used to treat children with that problem. She refused. "I just said I'm not going to do it," said Nash, 40. "And their...

Liberals have created an imaginary pandemic in the public schools of ADD, OCD, PTSD, depression, stress, and hyperactivity. In today’s world, ask any student or parent whether they or their children have been diagnosed with any one of these in their government school and every third person will say yes. Ritalin and other stimulants are now as customary a medicine as Tylenol. One student at a time, the public education system is turning the United States into an over diagnosed and drug-dependent nation everyday. In the midst of this stands political correctness, the Left’s favorite tool. The sensitivity police are...

Federal health officials are looking into a small Texas study that earlier this year linked Ritalin use to increased risks of cancer later in life. Food and Drug Administration officials said Thursday that, while the data was flawed, it couldn't be dismissed. They called for a follow-up study by the researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center who did the original work. "I think it's a good thing that they're taking interest," said Dr. Randa El-Zein, an M.D. Anderson epidemiologist who was the study's lead author. "It's a sensitive matter because we...

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 30 - Federal health officials said Thursday that they were looking into a suggestion by a small Texas study that Ritalin and other stimulant drugs given to children might increase their risk of cancer later in life. A team of experts from the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency went to Texas on May 23 to examine the methods used by the researchers, who found damage to the chromosomes of 12 children who took Ritalin for three months. Ritalin, which entered the market in 1955, has been used for...

If Albert Einstein were growing up as a kid today, would he be put on Ritalin? Probably, given what we now know about young Albert's tendency to daydream, and the tendency of today's teachers to order up drugs for unfocused kids. A Mayo Clinic study found that Ritalin prescriptions have risen 500 percent in the past 10 years, most of that going to kids. And who qualifies for the drug, which acts like speed to keep kids focused? Almost any kid considered "hyperactive" or "inattentive" by teachers and administrators. The problem is that these terms are broad enough to include...

TALLAHASSEE -- Actresses Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston pleaded with lawmakers Tuesday to prohibit schools from denying services to students who won't take mood-altering drugs to treat mental disorders. Alley sobbed as she told members of the House Education Council the stories of children who committed suicide or died after taking psychotropic drugs. "Here's an example of parents who didn't know what could happen who just blindly went along with referrals and information," Alley said before holding up blown-up, color photos of children she said died after being prescribed medicines like Zoloft and Ritalin. "None of these children were psychotic...

I keep waiting for someone to notice the way the rash of school shootings the U.S. has experienced has coincided with the massive program of drugging "over-active" students or those deemed to have an "attention deficit." Medicating students has replaced counseling. On December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, a troubled 14-year-old, killed three students and wounded five others at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. In 1998, there were three events in which boys, one as young as 11, killed classmates and teachers. Most notorious is the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre by two boys, Eric Harris, 18,...

The leadership has asked that FLORIDA residents call their State Senator to encourage them to vote for Terri.. The Senate could bring this up for a vote on Wednesday.. Jessie Jackson may have the votes of two more Senators... One more to go.. The rest is up to you.. If you don't live in Florida, don't call! To find your State Senator, call http://www.myflorida.com/ CALL!!

"Senator Says F.D.A. Asked Canada Not to Suspend ADHD Drug Spotlight on Adderall" " The controversy . . . promises to engulf the F.D.A. in more questions about its oversight of the pharmaceutical industry. " [By Gardiner Harris And Benedict Carey, NY times.] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/politics/11drug.html?pagewanted=print&posi tion= A day after Canadian officials suspended the use of a hyperactivity drug amid reports of deaths associated with its use, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa contended that United States health officials had asked the Canadian regulators not to do so. Senator Grassley, a Republican, said on Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration had...

Former assistant principal charged with raiding school medicine cabinet 2/11/2005, 7:01 a.m. ETM The Associated Press LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — The former assistant principal of a middle school here was arraigned on charges of stealing Ritalin from his school's medicine cabinet. Michael Seltz is accused of stealing 10 to 20 Ritalin pills from children's medicine bottles. Ritalin is a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which makes it difficult for children to focus on schoolwork. Seltz, 44, of Northville, pleaded innocent at his arraignment Thursday and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He was released on $1,000...

It is estimated that in the United States between 4 million and 8 million children are on Ritalin, the drug being used to change the behavior of children afflicted with a disease or condition called attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactive disorder. We already know that the long-term use of Ritalin can be fatal. In March of 2000, a 14-year-old ninth-grader, Matthew Smith, dropped dead of a heart attack while skateboarding. He had been on Ritalin since the first grade. And in 1994, the very popular singer and songwriter Kurt Cobain committed suicide at age 27. He was known...

Big Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is under way, and pharmaceutical companies are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs. Like most liberal big-spending ideas, this one was slipped into the law under cover of soft semantics. Its genesis was the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health created by President George W. Bush in 2002. The commission recommends "routine and comprehensive" testing and mental health screening for every child in the United States, including preschoolers. The president has instructed 25 federal agencies to develop a plan to implement the...

Date: 2004-11-16 Tell Congress "NO Money For Mental Health Screening Of Kids!" As many of you know—Dr. Laura doesn't lose any sleep over the little disagreements people have with each other. But when it comes to things that are harmful to children—Dr. Laura doesn't play around. So Dr. Laura asks each and every one of you to step up because it’s time for us take on the President of the United States! Did you know there is a presidential initiative called The “New Freedom Commission on Mental Health” and they have issued a report recommending forced mental health screening for...

Civics lesson Bronx: I'll never vote again. I was told my vote counts, but obviously that went out the window along with my hopes and dreams for a safer, more prosperous, healthier world. I've had enough of my vote being wasted. Let's go destroy the inaugural. Don't we have a constitutional right to overthrow the government? Grisela Sanabria