Quote:
by Moritz Nestor
Fortunately, the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics (NEK, President: Otfried Höffe) critically commented on the use of the ADHD drug Ritalin in its opinion of 22 November 2011 titled Human enhancement by means of pharmacological agents1: The consumption of pharmacological agents altered the child’s behavior without any contribution on his or her part.
That amounted to interference in the child’s freedom and personal rights, because pharmacological agents induced behavioral changes but failed to educate the child on how to achieve these behavioral changes independently. The child was thus deprived of an essential learning experience to act autonomously and emphatically which “considerably curtails children’s freedom and impairs their personality development”, the NEK criticized.
The alarmed critics of the Ritalin disaster are now getting support from an entirely different side. The German weekly Der Spiegel quoted in its cover story on 2 February 2012 the US American psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, born in 1922 as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who was the “scientific father of ADHD” and who said at the age of 87, seven months before his death in his last interview:
“ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease”2
Since 1968, however, some 40 years, Leon Eisenberg’s “disease” haunted the diagnostic and statistical manuals, first as “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood”, now called “ADHD”. The use of ADHD medications in Germany rose in only eighteen years from 34 kg (in 1993) to a record of no less than 1760 kg (in 2011) – which is a 51-fold increase in sales! In the United States every tenth boy among ten year-olds already swallows an ADHD medication on a daily basis. With an increasing tendency.3
When it comes to the proven repertoire of Edward Bernays, the father of propaganda, to sell the First World War to his people with the help of his uncle’s psychoanalysis and to distort science and the faith in science to increase profits of the industry – what about investigating on whose behalf the “scientific father of ADHD” conducted science? His career was remarkably steep, and his “fictitious disease” led to the best sales increases. And after all, he served in the “Committee for DSM V and ICD XII, American Psychiatric Association”4 from 2006 to 2009. After all, Leon Eisenberg 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”.5
And after all, Eisenberg was a member of the “Organizing Committee for Women and Medicine Conference, Bahamas, November 29 – December 3, 2006, Josiah Macy Foundation (2006)”.6 The Josiah Macy Foundation organized conferences with intelligence agents of the OSS, later CIA, such as Gregory Bateson and Heinz von Foerster during and long after World War II.
Have such groups marketed the diagnosis of ADHD in the service of the pharmaceutical market and tailor-made for him with a lot of propaganda and public relations? It is this issue that the American psychologist Lisa Cosgrove and others investigated in their study Financial Ties between DSM-IV Panel Members and the Pharmaceutical Industry7. They found that “Of the 170 DSM panel members 95 (56%) had one or more financial associations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry. One hundred percent of the members of the panels on ‘Mood Disorders’ and ‘Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders’ had financial ties to drug companies. [...] The connections are especially strong in those diagnostic areas where drugs are the first line of treatment for mental disorders.”8 In the next edition of the manual, the situation is unchanged. “Of the 137 DSM-V panel members who have posted disclosure statements, 56% have reported industry ties – no improvement over the percent of DSM-IV members.”9 “The very vocabulary of psychiatry is now defined at all levels by the pharmaceutical industry,” said Dr Irwin Savodnik, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles.10
This is well paid. Just one example: The Assistant Director of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School received “$1 million in earnings from drug companies between 2000 and 2007”.11
In any case, no one can easily get around the testimony of the father of ADHD: “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.”
The task of psychologists, educators and doctors is not to put children on the “chemical lead” because the entire society cannot handle the products of its misguided theories of man and raising children, and instead hands over our children to the free pharmaceutical market. Let us return to the basic matter of personal psychology and education: The child is to acquire personal responsibility and emphatic behavior under expert guidance – and that takes the family and the school: In these fields, the child should be able to lead off mentally. This constitutes the core of the human person. http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=1608
The article does not show that ADHD is fictitious. What this article does is to make inferences based on political affiliations. The diagnosis in its original form is now in a sense fictitious.The understanding and diagnostic criteria has shifted dramatically from its initial form due to advances in research and in testing such as neuro-imaging and psychological testing.
1) All medical doctors & psychologists may receive gifts from pharma:
Medical doctors in general are allowed to receive $3,000 in gifts from pharma companies, not just psychiatrists.
2) DSM is a diagnostic guide, it does nothing to inform treatment:
The utility of DSM diagnosis really is limited and the community will tell you this (except psychiatrists but I've met those who believe treating symptoms do not help people). Thanks to the two individuals mentioned in this article (Bateson and von Foerester), a new type of psychology arose that believes that pathologization does more harm than good, that we cannot treat people on that level of 'illness'. Many professionals don't agree with DSM-V and these new diagnoses but we're bound to be versed in them due to our ethical obligations. But treatment is a whole other issue.
3) Using DSM-based symptom check-lists is the worst possible way to diagnose ADHD:
I've tested many children and adults for ADHD and it is a long process of cognitive and neurlogical test. The fact is, there are clear patterns of cognitive 'deficits' that occur in a person with ADHD. Doing symptom check lists does not particularly yield good results but that is how psychiatrists tend to make their diagnosis bc they are not allowed to do psych testing (that privilege is for psychologists bc we are trained to do so).
4) One person's perspective (the author of this article) hopefully will not dissuade you from making informed decisions:
Please do not dismiss ADHD as a fiction, merely bc of political or conspiracy views. Children with moderate to severe ADHD are at increased risk for drug addiction (e.g., self medicating with amphetamines such as meth/speed, since that's basically similar to ADHD meds), major depression, and lower standards of life (e.g., school drop out, unemployment, etc.,) when untreated. There are many treatment options other than psychotropic medication. Such medications may impact your children's development in the long run. There are many options.
5) Accurate diagnoses may be done through neuro-cognitive psychological testing:
Misdiagnosis is rampant, too. The fact is, ADHD is over-diagnosed by under or non qualified persons in the medical/mental health industry. I worked with someone who was diagnosed ADD and taking Ridilin (via psychiatrist) but he was not getting better. Did a whole battery of testing and the results came out as something completely different. Children are overdiagnosed bc these testing is not readily available to them - poor and erroneous diagnoses are made by ticking symptoms on a symptom check-list and teacher/parents' conviction that the child is ill.
6) So basically...
If you are a parent or caregiver of a children who are experiencing difficulties in school or work, I recommend comprehensive psychological testing. That is the only accurate way to really say whether person has cognitive challenges. It can be costly but if you think about the long-term, it's worth it. You don't need to put children on medication (that is a personal choice but it's something that needs to be well thought out). Consult with a therapist or school psychologist who specializes in this area. I have met children who do not go on medication. Their parents put in a lot of effort to guide the children. It's very laborious but it's love.
Apologies for going on and on but I feel it my duty to be cautious about such claims as something being fictitious without no evidence to support such claims.
(05-17-2013, 01:14 PM)rie Wrote: [ -> ]The article does not show that ADHD is fictitious. What this article does is to make inferences based on political affiliations. The diagnosis in its original form is now in a sense fictitious.The understanding and diagnostic criteria has shifted dramatically from its initial form due to advances in research and in testing such as neuro-imaging and psychological testing.
1) All medical doctors & psychologists may receive gifts from pharma:
Medical doctors in general are allowed to receive $3,000 in gifts from pharma companies, not just psychiatrists.
2) DSM is a diagnostic guide, it does nothing to inform treatment:
The utility of DSM diagnosis really is limited and the community will tell you this (except psychiatrists but I've met those who believe treating symptoms do not help people). Thanks to the two individuals mentioned in this article (Bateson and von Foerester), a new type of psychology arose that believes that pathologization does more harm than good, that we cannot treat people on that level of 'illness'. Many professionals don't agree with DSM-V and these new diagnoses but we're bound to be versed in them due to our ethical obligations. But treatment is a whole other issue.
3) Using DSM-based symptom check-lists is the worst possible way to diagnose ADHD:
I've tested many children and adults for ADHD and it is a long process of cognitive and neurlogical test. The fact is, there are clear patterns of cognitive 'deficits' that occur in a person with ADHD. Doing symptom check lists does not particularly yield good results but that is how psychiatrists tend to make their diagnosis bc they are not allowed to do psych testing (that privilege is for psychologists bc we are trained to do so).
4) One person's perspective (the author of this article) hopefully will not dissuade you from making informed decisions:
Please do not dismiss ADHD as a fiction, merely bc of political or conspiracy views. Children with moderate to severe ADHD are at increased risk for drug addiction (e.g., self medicating with amphetamines such as meth/speed, since that's basically similar to ADHD meds), major depression, and lower standards of life (e.g., school drop out, unemployment, etc.,) when untreated. There are many treatment options other than psychotropic medication. Such medications may impact your children's development in the long run. There are many options.
5) Accurate diagnoses may be done through neuro-cognitive psychological testing:
Misdiagnosis is rampant, too. The fact is, ADHD is over-diagnosed by under or non qualified persons in the medical/mental health industry. I worked with someone who was diagnosed ADD and taking Ridilin (via psychiatrist) but he was not getting better. Did a whole battery of testing and the results came out as something completely different. Children are overdiagnosed bc these testing is not readily available to them - poor and erroneous diagnoses are made by ticking symptoms on a symptom check-list and teacher/parents' conviction that the child is ill.
6) So basically...
If you are a parent or caregiver of a children who are experiencing difficulties in school or work, I recommend comprehensive psychological testing. That is the only accurate way to really say whether person has cognitive challenges. It can be costly but if you think about the long-term, it's worth it. You don't need to put children on medication (that is a personal choice but it's something that needs to be well thought out). Consult with a therapist or school psychologist who specializes in this area. I have met children who do not go on medication. Their parents put in a lot of effort to guide the children. It's very laborious but it's love.
Apologies for going on and on but I feel it my duty to be cautious about such claims as something being fictitious without no evidence to support such claims.
Good info rie, thanks.
What are your thoughts on the influence of tv regarding ADHD?
If have read that this may cause excessive Alpha, Delta and Theta waves and a lack of Beta. The speed like drugs (Ritalin) would seem to induce more Beta waves.
Would cutting out tv be a good idea for these patients?
Thanks Ashim. There is significant changes in our children's brain wiring due to modern technology and such. This is part of evolution and unfortunately our society has not adapted itself to create desirable environments for such children to thrive in.
Children who are diagnosed with ADHD have highly sensitive brains; they may become overwhelmed when there is too much stimuli. ADHD children tend to 'act out' or 'misbehave' because they are so overwhelmed by external stimuli that they need to somehow manage their environment so that things do not spin out of control. I do believe that brain waves could explain this, perhaps, altho I have no information yet about it. Children with highly sensitive brains will thrive in certain environments: living in an environment with order/consistency, structure, and serenity. School teachers may benefit from incorporating these practices to help the child to manage his/her environment.
Managing the child's environment in such a way that promotes order, structure, and serenity may make the child's life richer:
* Making sure that the house is orderly... even clutter can overstimulate kids
* Having a ritual where the child may de-pressurize after school or after play time thru quiet activities that do not involve highly stimulating things e.g., TV, video games, or rambunctious play time, interaction with many people, anything excitable
* Having a structured household where rules are explicit and there is some consistent schedule or activities
* For example, a consistent activity may be to give kids time to depressurize/decompress after school or play time by engaging in very calming activities such as having a bonding session w/ family members, petting animals, drawing, reading together etc. During this time, no friends are allowed, everybody in the house engages in quiet activities etc etc.
Hope it helps.
Hi, "fictitious disease" NO fans !
"Many" so called "ADHD behaving" children are so, because of the CRAZY chemistry they eat !!!
First, cut the sugar$ !
We even see the difference sugar makes in the "excitement" of our granddaughter !!
Second, cut GMO, MSG, Aspartame-Splenda-Nutrasweet and similar$, it WILL NOT HURT !!
Third, eating ***organic*** will do with the chemistry !
And then, see if it works. B-)
Blue skies.
My guides have repeatedly stated that ADHD does not exist. So in my reality i can accept this. It may not fit your reality.
They also tell me to steer clear of trying to enforce social conformity. How narrow is the line between cognitive deficient and being different? Have we considered the fact that there is an organized movement to muzzle current evolution?
What if the new norm will utilize different sensory channels, and we are actually the ones with the problem moving forward? What is it that keeps us from moving forward?
Is it still the old fear of anything that seems different?
Like autism, there are evolutionary advantages to being a particular way. Unfortunately, we do not live in a society that is amenable to these particular ways. For a child with ADHD to thrive, there would have to be extra effort on the part of parents and teachers (and other significant persons or institutions) to work flexibly to create an optimal environment. You would need a social change instigated by changes in our consciousness. Can our parents and teachers and social institutions take responsibility to structure our children's environment in a way that best suits their needs instead of making them a problem and passing out labels and using outdated forms of education?
ADHD itself doesn't exist organically as it is socially constructed, just like concepts such as money and nation/country. What does exist is the experience of people who have accurate diagnoses (which should be around 6% of children in the US) who are experiencing debilitating distress and disability due to being wired differently. There are clear patterns that point to existence of neurological functioning and challenges in the area of cognitive abilities that correlate with behavioral, emotional and social consequences. ADHD as a concept is a just a concept, but the experience is 'real.'
My critique here is that this article does disservice by presenting highly inferential evidence without direct evidence for its fictitiousness, when, there are evidence to show that people are wired differently and they *may* experience severe distress & disability due to it. When there is a position taken to overthrow everything in such a way, it risks invalidating the experience of those who do experience something called 'ADHD'. What's fictitious too is how the general public think they understand about 'ADHD' and 'mental illnesses.'
(05-17-2013, 06:44 PM)rie Wrote: [ -> ]Unfortunately, we do not live in a society that is amenable to these particular ways.
Change begins with the individual, not in the wait for society to catch up with evolution.
Quote:What does exist is the experience of people who have accurate diagnoses (which should be around 6% of children in the US) who are experiencing debilitating distress and disability due to being wired differently.
The wiring has a purpose. Yet, parents still try to disable the wiring in attempts to remove uniqueness and the underlying lessons of the whole experience.
What is so important about blending in with society?
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
ADHD is just a label that's given to people who think a certain way. The weird thing is that last D, by labelling it as a disorder it makes it sound like something that needs to be corrected so that the afflicted can return to social order. That seems flawed to me, shouldn't the social order be able to expand to handle a little variation?
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 21 years old after submitting to a bunch of tests over the course of a few hours. The reason I got myself tested for it was because I had been put on academic probation for failing the majority of my classes. This sort of thing had been going on for awhile with me doing terribly in school in spite of everyone telling me that I am apparently very intelligent. The mind wanders and sometimes it's very hard to rein it in. I took medication for a short while and while it did help me focus I did not like the side effects, I lost a lot of weight because I just wasn't hungry anymore and I was anxious all the time.
A couple years later I volunteered for a brain imaging study examining the dopamine system in adults with ADHD. The hypothesis was that people with ADHD have a deficit of dopamine leading them to need more stimulation to get the same physiological response as someone without ADHD. I got a PET scan and 2 MRIs, never read the results though. My way of getting that extra stimulation has been in indulging my imagination for the most part, and reading.
One idea I've had lately is that while my conscious mind is jumping from one thing to another all the time my subconscious mind seems to store it all up and churn through it and put the pieces together and then just offer the completed thoughts up so that they just pop into my head, though sometimes they need the right question to coax them out.
ADHD is fictitious like all other forms of psychological diseases. Being a religious Jew has a seriously debilitating psychological issues... If you live in 1940's Germany.
Being energetic has serious debilitating psychological issues... If you live in a cattle farm in a cubicle the size of 2m by 1m.
ADHD™ is real because it describes a certain psychologically maladaptive condition in relation to your interactions in society and with others. In the same way that:
Anti-Indentured-Personality-Disorder™ is real and would have been cured with a public throwing of the body overboard of the slave ship, with the consent of the leading psychological authority figure of the particular slave ship in question. In line with the best religious and diagnostic tool of the era. The Bible and the Malles Maleficarum for the detection of abhorrent behavior in a human individual at the hands of those who just want to heal (but call on themselves to define what is health) and just want to help you adjust (but don't ask for your opinion on how society should adjust to you).
Times never really change, now its the DSM V and the All-Mighty-Industrial/Petro-Dollar that justifies the lobotomization and systematic extermination of minorities.
Sad thing is, if everyone who had Schizophrenia had a Kippah, cool sideburns and a piece of wall to cry at, no one in their right mind would say that they should eat lobotomization medication and that its their own darn fault that their life span is on average 20 years shorter than the mainstream, after all, all they have to do to extend it is to take that silly silly hat off, shave those darn sideburns and act like everyone else, ya'hear!
Fact of the matter is, Schizophreniacs are unfortunate enough in not having the common cohesion as a soul group to have applied for a common religion, say, "Church of the Schizophreniac's" and then apply for protection against unwanted and forced medical procedures on religious grounds.
But its easier to go after the gays, the mentally ill and others with this witch hunt before they turn the mirror onto races...
"Caring" for someone with "ADHD" is the kind of work that the "caring" for someone who had "Jewishim" is/was. I'm just glad that this particular monster of a diagnostician realized where he was going to end up after his body complex expired if he didn't change something, lets just hope that the people who invented the other fictitious diseases have a sudden entry of a soul.
(05-18-2013, 01:15 AM)Spaced Wrote: [ -> ]The weird thing is that last D, by labelling it as a disorder it makes it sound like something that needs to be corrected so that the afflicted can return to social order.
That is pretty much it. I am told I have ADHD, my children, and many of my friends. As soon as I cleaned up the diet of my children they no longer had the "disorder". I experienced the same difference.
I have run into similar cases with autism as well. I met a lady at the park who said she cannot take her son off prescribed drugs or he will be taken from her by the "establishment". She described how different he was while drugged, and how much this bothered her. She had a bit of anger over this "trapped" feeling that the system caused for her.
In order to have a diagnosis of ADHD, symptoms are interrupting your life to a degree that it causes great distress and disability. There are those who take tests and who would meet criteria for diagnosis but do not have the key component of distress/interference with doing things one wants in life/disability. So technically someone with mild or even moderate severity of 'ADHD' may have symptoms but they may very well be fine with lifestyle adjustments and no long-term treatment. Plus, (for example) ADHD base rate is 6% meaning 6% of children in US may have this diagnoses. Yet, in some states, up to 15% of children are diagnosed with ADHD. There is possibility for misdiagnoses. In adults, I believe the rate is about 5%.
I do not know if you have ever met people with severe conditions where having meaningful long-term relationships is difficult, children having 'tantrums' that may be risk to safety of child & others, keeping up with school is difficult, dropped out of school, can't find job, unemployed, homeless, alone etc. I've met some people who have this experience say they do wish they were 'normal'.. have stable relationships, be able to learn things etc. So please don't assume that conformity/normality is something undesirable because from a perspective of someone going thru such distress anything other than their experience is really desirable for them.
I do agree Pickle that many are trapped in the system or game with small 'g'. That's why there is a movement within mental health field to minimize the use of pathology labels. It's totally not widespread bc my colleagues look at me funny when I say treating symptoms is superficial and labeling causes more distress and conflict than helps people to go thru their healing/adjustment process. But if you look at a whole system (individual level, community level, mental health/medical community, social institutions, culture, social mores, value systems, laws, regulations, policies etc) we are influenced by this vast spider-web that influence us in our lives. Even when parents become more enlightened about this issue and find ways to protect their children from being labeled or treated with unnecessary medications, they still have to contend with demands of social institutions like school systems (e.g., teachers who think their kids are difficult to handle) and legal systems or child welfare. This is a social problem where all parts of the system has to upgrade. It takes a village.
Unfortunately this doesn't talk about the truth or fictitiousness of ADHD or mental illness but it does have very good information for parents and concerned individuals to know & consider.
DSM-IV Boss Presses Attack on New Revision
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/DSM-5/39232
Dr. Allen Frances: "Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt Against Out-Of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, And The Medicalization Of Ordinary Life"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-0...atric-diag
ADHD is mentioned around the 5 minute mark. This is a 'balanced' interview that presents 2 sides.
(thanks Austin for link).
Thanks for the interesting link and consequent discussion, I found it to be very interesting all around. I really see both sides to this argument and think the real issue is extreme over-diagnosis of ADHD. The actual problem is pharmaceuticals which I believe, in general, are being over prescribed by an enourmous margin.
Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD
"French child psychiatrists, on the other hand, view ADHD as a medical condition that has psycho-social and situational causes. Instead of treating children's focusing and behavioral problems with drugs, French doctors prefer to look for the underlying issue that is causing the child distress—not in the child's brain but in the child's social context. They then choose to treat the underlying social context problem with psychotherapy or family counseling. This is a very different way of seeing things from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the child's brain."
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suff...-have-adhd
ADHD should be considerd to be a cluster of symptoms by mainstream medicine, not a diagnosis. A diagnosis implies you know the cause of the symptoms and have an effective way of treating it. Most ADHD can be attributed to a combination or one or more of the following:
1. Toxicity - preservatives, colourings, processed food (sugar, etc) food intolerance like gluten and A1 dairy, heavy metals (the first child receives over 70% of the mother's heavy metal burden in womb), and pesticides
2. Malnutrition - zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, and omega-3 deficiencies
3. Dysbiosis - candida, clostridia, enteroccocus, etc.
4. Adrenal dysfunction - too much time in front of television / computer screens, not enough contact with earth (grounding), not enough coordinated physical exercise
(05-19-2013, 10:28 PM)Guardian Wrote: [ -> ]Most ADHD can be attributed to a combination or one or more of the following:
1. Toxicity - preservatives..
Which preservatives cause most ADHD?