America has a drug problem, especially when it comes to “medicating” our kids. Please watch this video for the sake of our children.
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We are routinely drugging our children. Not because they have a proven illness, one that has been diagnosed by brain scans, blood tests or as a result of genetic screening. No, we drug our kids because their many varied personalities tick boxes on a checklist. A hugely generic checklist that covers a multitude of personality types, behaviours and skills. In some ways it is so generic that it is about as useful as a tabloid horoscope.
Not only that but many of the diagnoses that result from these checklists are simply wrong and the children are being medicated for no good reason.
This is more than a crisis; it is a national scandal.
As of today 20 million children are labelled as having mental disorders as a result of these checklists. They are then prescribed powerful, dangerous and potentially life-threatening drugs. In the USA, 20% of boys are ‘diagnosed’ with ADHD and will be offered a powerful drug, not unlike amphetamine, in order to ‘normalise’ that child.
Let’s be honest here, this is BIG business. Child drugging is a $4.8 billion-a-year industry and all this labelling is basically drugging kids for profit.
But just for a moment, let’s imagine if we could change the lexicon of these so called disorders, if we could look at things differently. Perhaps we could come up with something that looks like this:
Social Anxiety Disorder – Humanitarian
Oppositional Defiant Disorder – Leader
General Anxiety Disorder – Activist
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad freeAttention Deficit Disorder – Inventor
Attachment Disorder – Healer
Bipolar Disorder – Artist
Personality Disorder – Philosopher
Conduct Disorder – Revolutionary
…and many times for ADHD we can just say – Kid
You can add your own titles to the list; singer, dancer, doctor, scientist, etc, but above all let’s allow the children to choose what they want to be and please stop the psychiatric labelling of them.
This is a call out to all parents: question the diagnosis. Is there really a problem? If you think there is then how about looking at diets, introducing exercise and time spent in nature? Check out support groups and work with occupational and expressive therapists. Engage the child with art, drama and movement. Allow the child to express what they are feeling and don’t simply try to talk them out of their emotions and suppress what they feel with these drugs. May we celebrate the uniqueness of our children.
More info: http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-disorders/
Good Men Project: Please stop publishing articles that effectively communicate if you have children with behavioral issues, you are terrible parent for choosing medical interventions. At the very least, you should provide time (beyond these comments) for those who have first-hand experience with the challenges and experiences of a child who is truly in need. While I’m sure that Mr. Hill is an extremely intelligent, thoughtful, and well meaning person, please do not presume to dictate what parenting decisions I choose to make. When you have sat up for a week straight on suicide watch with a 7 year old… Read more »
dlr, thank you for your heartfelt comments. I sympathise with your experience. I do actually have first hand experience of dealing with issues such as these: 1. I myself am ADHD (partly inattentive). I was not diagnosed until my 30’s and had to deal with a variety of issues as I grew up and went through the school and university systems and then even into my career. As I grew up I realised just how great I felt in nature, how different I felt after physical activity. I also noticed the effects of over-stimulation on my system. I have to… Read more »
My youngest sone has just been diagnosed with ADD at age 8. I too have been diagnosed at age 41 and now every thing has become so clear to me at school I was labeled “lazy” and “stupid” I always wondered why others made study look soneasy when I struggled to sit through and remember one class. That didn’t stop me from going to university but it did stop me from graduating. My son was totally disengaged from school and he does as much after school activities that we can fit in. My wife is a mental health professional and… Read more »
My child is one of those 20 million children with mental disorders. One of them is ADHD. For him it wasn’t about being hyper. It wasn’t about grades, because he always got good grades. It was about anger control. We tried all kinds of things before going with drugs and if anything I wish we had started drugs earlier. See, he would get angry and loose control. He would have all these other “tools” that he could recite ad nauseam. But in the moment he couldn’t use them. And you know what, he didn’t like feeling out of control. That… Read more »
I asked my psychiatrist what happens when adults with ADHD don’t take meds, he said quite a lot are in jail (poor impulse control).
You can add debt, substance abuse issues, damaging personal relationships, unwanted pregnancies, and higher risks of personal injury to that list as well (again poor impulse control). It’s funny, I have the misfortune of having both a physical disability and mental disability, yet no one questions why I take medication for the physical disability, yet both are why I am still here today.
Archy, thanks for your contribution to this thread. Here is another take from the Good Men Project on this subject; https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/like-parents-like-children-dangers-medicating-unhappiness-stress-inconvenience/
Let me tell you something. I have had an anxiety disorder since I was 6 years old. No medication, lots of drama and outdoors and movement and talking about it. I wish someone had come up with something to give me as a child so I could have been something other than miserable so much of the time, always afraid, terrible nightmares, obsessing dark thoughts I could not dismiss, afraid to run too fast for fear I might have a heart attack. My parents didn’t believe in shrinks or meds, and not getting me medical attention as a child was… Read more »
Honestly I really wish you people had to deal with someone who has mental health disorders and just maybe you would not be too quick to judge others. Moms arent bad if thier child is diagnosed as add or adhd and put on meds for it. This makes them a responsible parent so that the child can function like other children day to day and stay focused on what they are suppose to. My grandson is ADHD and without his medication he gets awful grades in school and is constantly reprimanded by his teachers because of his behavior. On his… Read more »
Oh don’t go getting all up in arms, nobody is picking on anyone. My son is 8 years old and we were going through hell with him when it came to school. Bad grades, wouldn’t listen, wouldnt/couldn’t sit still, always being reprimanded by his teachers as well, ok. Our doctor wanted to put him him on meds for “ADHD”, know what i said, after some research? SCREW THAT. Will not medicate my child when he doesn’t need it. Instead, we have changed his diet to being 100% gluten free (as close to 100% as we can get) , results? Results… Read more »
Sir –
I’ll keep this brief. Childhood might not be a disease, but ADHD is a real mental health disorder, and should not be trivialized, ridiculed or made to look fake. And this post manages to come very close to doing all 3.
I’m surprised by this post “Good Men Project”. This sort of anti-medicine propaganda is beneath you all.
Keith healthy debate in an open society is something to be cherished. Let me reiterate the central issues with the article: 1. Behaviours are not diseases. Yet we are medicalising them as though they were. 2. Too many children in the developed world are diagnosed as having a disorder based on checklists and general behaviour patterns. 3, This approach is backed by the big pharma companies who make a fortune out of the drugs that are used 4. Drugs are too easily prescribed by the medical profession 5. These drugs are powerful and have many adverse side affects 6. Many… Read more »
Neil, A.D.H.D and A.D.D ARE mental health disorders. They are REAL, it’s not behavioural differences like a shy vs outgoing kid. It’s related to dopamine and how it affects the brain. In the past A.D.H.D may have been beneficial but we’re living in a society where focus is essential so it’s often detrimental. It also makes it very difficult for these “inventors” to actually finish a project. I had about 10-20 projects concurrently going, none were being finished until I got the medicine as an adult and within a few months they were all done. I did a job with… Read more »
Social Anxiety Disorder = Stops me getting a job, a girlfriend, severely limits my ability to socialize….sure that’d make me a great humanitarian. Attention Deficit Disorder/ADHD = Start a million projects and finish none. The first month that I had my dexamphetamines for ADD I did more than I had done in years, actually finished projects and my quality of life rose significantly. You can tell what I take it as my handwriting improves immediately and I can actually concentrate n stay on task. Never had I had any fog on this medicine, the side effects are easy to manage… Read more »
Archie –
You said it, brother. I suffer from gen anxiety, bipolar and ADHD. They are indeed crippling in many ways – and bullshit articles like this one doe nothing to help. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Mr. Hill is an anti-vaccer, too.
Keith please have a look at this article in Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd
Uh, hello. I am an intelligent adult that understands my condition very well. I’ve had childhood A.D.H.D and in adulthood it dropped the hyperactivity part and I mainly have inattentive A.D.D. My mother did the whole round of stopping me eating certain foods such as red cordial and it didn’t do diddly squat to fix my condition. In childhood, Ritalin was extremely effective for me and in adulthood dexamphetamine is extremely effective for me TO THIS DAY. There may be a problem with over-prescription but I had to pass police checks as an adult, and it took me 5 years… Read more »
There’s a lot I can say here. My nephew (now 18) was diagnosed with epilepsy, autism and adhd, and medicated for all those that they could medicate him for. He left home last year, clear of the epilepsy drugs, but still expected to take the medication for the ADHD, he stopped taking it himself and somewhere along woke up and saw reality without the persistent fog. I don’t think the drugging of children is confined solely to the US, its prevalent here in the UK as well. Labels and drugs make children easier to deal with, parents can use the… Read more »
Thank you Jane for those comments, you are absolutely correct in stating that the labelling can lead to all sorts of unforseen consequences for those who are labelled. Yes The UK is aslo as culpable as the US in this context.
One thing I learned during the journey to find out what my younger son was dealing with is that dyslexia and ADHD have a lot of symptoms that overlap. This causes a lot of kids with dyslexia to get diagnosed as ADHD and medicated instead of properly diagnosed and given help with building up their reading skills.
Thank you for sharing that Jimmy. Your experience really sums up the whole article. Children being diagnosed via generic checklists and then medicated as a first stop option. It’s too easy and too profitable. These powerful drugs are really a case of the last resort as they work with very few children. Even assuming we have a real issue, there are so many better options. From occupational therapy, exercise, movement and exposure to nature. In fact from my own experience I can teestify to the healing power of nature especially when it is combined with some form of physical activity.… Read more »
There are too many men and women who make comfortable livings diagnosing, and then drugging others.
I agree Mark. Schools actual recieve more funding if a child is diagnosed with ADHD and other so called childhood ‘disorders’. As the article says it is a $4.8 billion dollar industry and Pharmacies, doctors, pharma companies, etc etc all benefit from the medicalisation of childhood.
Why not simply find more inventive ways of engaging with children and not seeking a ‘cure’ to what is the contingent state of childhood – energy and lots of it.
Are you talking about primary care physicians? psychiatrist?