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I would need to see those studies. Frankly, I'm skeptical of that particular theory. Pesticides have been in heavy use in this country since the end of World War II. ADD and ADHD have only been noticeable problems since perhaps the 1980's.
At this point, causation is not established, either. That's the reason you see so many studies end with a ststement that more studies are needed: if others reproduce the results, the argument for causation becomes stronger.
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I don't think I will compare the symptoms for something like ADD that appear in the DSM V with the symptoms for a disease like "strep throat" that I can find in Lange's Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment. Respectfully, the simple point that I make is the symptoms and signs for diagnosing something ADD are more subjective and depend on the conclusions that a mental health professional draws after he assesses a patient. There is no "bright red throat". There is no fever. There is no discharge. There is no positive result to a strep test. What it generally comes down to is a series of questions and answers. Conclusions are drawn based on those answers.
My point is not that mental health professionals are incompetent or that ADD is not real or does not exist. I know better than that and everyone else should too. My point is simply that the diagnosis is a more complex one than for physical ailments. I think factors play into it like:
1. Mom and Dad are complaining that their child is failing school and literally driving their pediatrician, psychologist, or psychiatrist nutty.
2. Its a demanding world and kids are under pressure to do well in school often from the very beginning.
3. There is no "stay-home" parent to manage Johnny and see that he completes his reading and his studies and working parents, instead turn to the mental health field for a solution to their problem.
I believe these factors cause professionals to diagnose borderline cases as ADD and ADHD and to choose medication for treatment when more structured parenting might work better.
Your points about parenting are well taken. But, in the end, the problem is that too many parents--for many reasons--are simply unable to provide children with a range of activities that interest them, are healthy for them, and burn up energy. Most parents probably can't afford the kind of neighborhood you describe. Or, that neighborhood isn't reasonably near mom or dad's place of employment.
Though the criteria for diagnosis taken in isolation may seem subjective, the set as a whole is validated before it is adopted into the DSM. Again ADHD is not just overactivity, and even a stay-at-home parent who "helicopters" cannot make it better. The scientists are working on determining the physiology of ADHD and more objective ways to measure the neurologic correlates of the condition. Objectivity is indeed desirable:
Not only all of that () but, as usual, the pharmaceutical companies are the big winners here. No one gets better. They just stay drugged.
ADHD has been the go-to diagnosis for normal behavior for a couple of decades now. Hyperactive kids (do birds fly?) and not paying attention have resulted in kids not only being drugged at home, as the article points out, but also lined up in class to have teachers dispense drugs without a license.
All kids are losing, but the biggest losers are the boys, and that's by design because it's that "boy behavior" that's verboten now. Many schools don't even have recess anymore. Those that do, have a hand-wringing female following them around lest they play cops and robbers or [gasp!!] pull Suzie's pigtails.
Kids are being stifled and stunted in school, and little boys are being turned into wusses, and drugs do it. Yesterday, boys were boys. Today, they're drugged if they act like Tom Sawyer. How sad.
High blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, depression and ADD are the biggest money makers of them all.
Its very anti PC to be a man. Manly POV, conversation and activities are all very anti PC as it may make another feel uncomfortable. It may rattle a gay man if a straight man starts speaking of the Super Bowl, hunting, fishing or other activities historically macho. In modern time that can be classified as bullying. If they can't get that label to stick it becomes hate speech, equivalent to a hate crime; whatever that really means.
Political Correctness has stunted society to the point we can't live and thrive as we once did. Little wonder the world economy has hit the fan.
Not only all of that () but, as usual, the pharmaceutical companies are the big winners here. No one gets better. They just stay drugged.
ADHD has been the go-to diagnosis for normal behavior for a couple of decades now. Hyperactive kids (do birds fly?) and not paying attention have resulted in kids not only being drugged at home, as the article points out, but also lined up in class to have teachers dispense drugs without a license.
All kids are losing, but the biggest losers are the boys, and that's by design because it's that "boy behavior" that's verboten now. Many schools don't even have recess anymore. Those that do, have a hand-wringing female following them around lest they play cops and robbers or [gasp!!] pull Suzie's pigtails.
Kids are being stifled and stunted in school, and little boys are being turned into wusses, and drugs do it. Yesterday, boys were boys. Today, they're drugged if they act like Tom Sawyer. How sad.
Most school has gym classes where 30 minutes to 50 minutes playing sports or games.
High blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, depression and ADD are the biggest money makers of them all.
Its very anti PC to be a man. Manly POV, conversation and activities are all very anti PC as it may make another feel uncomfortable. It may rattle a gay man if a straight man starts speaking of the Super Bowl, hunting, fishing or other activities historically macho. In modern time that can be classified as bullying. If they can't get that label to stick it becomes hate speech, equivalent to a hate crime; whatever that really means.
Political Correctness has stunted society to the point we can't live and thrive as we once did. Little wonder the world economy has hit the fan.
Diabetes medicine and supplies are important to the patient.
Most gays or minorities are not going get offend unless you start calling them names.
The war on men does not exist like the war on women either.
High blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, depression and ADD are the biggest money makers of them all.
Its very anti PC to be a man. Manly POV, conversation and activities are all very anti PC as it may make another feel uncomfortable. It may rattle a gay man if a straight man starts speaking of the Super Bowl, hunting, fishing or other activities historically macho. In modern time that can be classified as bullying. If they can't get that label to stick it becomes hate speech, equivalent to a hate crime; whatever that really means.
Political Correctness has stunted society to the point we can't live and thrive as we once did. Little wonder the world economy has hit the fan.
Women don't watch the Super Bowl, hunt, or fish? Gay men do not do those things?
What does it take to be a man?
A man treats every person he meets with respect, regardless of that person's race, creed, or sexual orientation.
A man does not father children he cannot support and supports every child he fathers.
A man teaches his sons and daughters by example.
A man sits in the waiting room and holds his wife's purse while she has radiation treatments for her breast cancer - and tells her she's lovely and lovable despite the fact that she's got a scarred breast - or no breasts at all - and a bald head. When his wife becomes bedridden, he takes care of her intimate needs.
Are you a man, armory? Would you change your wife's diapers?
Women don't watch the Super Bowl, hunt, or fish? Gay men do not do those things?
What does it take to be a man?
A man treats every person he meets with respect, regardless of that person's race, creed, or sexual orientation.
A man does not father children he cannot support and supports every child he fathers.
A man teaches his sons and daughters by example.
A man sits in the waiting room and holds his wife's purse while she has radiation treatments for her breast cancer - and tells her she's lovely and lovable despite the fact that she's got a scarred breast - or no breasts at all - and a bald head. When his wife becomes bedridden, he takes care of her intimate needs.
Are you a man, armory? Would you change your wife's diapers?
You took my post and broke it off, didn't you? Don't get splinters.
I would need to see those studies. Frankly, I'm skeptical of that particular theory. Pesticides have been in heavy use in this country since the end of World War II. ADD and ADHD have only been noticeable problems since perhaps the 1980's.
I don't think I will compare the symptoms for something like ADD that appear in the DSM V with the symptoms for a disease like "strep throat" that I can find in Lange's Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment. Respectfully, the simple point that I make is the symptoms and signs for diagnosing something ADD are more subjective and depend on the conclusions that a mental health professional draws after he assesses a patient. There is no "bright red throat". There is no fever. There is no discharge. There is no positive result to a strep test. What it generally comes down to is a series of questions and answers. Conclusions are drawn based on those answers.
My point is not that mental health professionals are incompetent or that ADD is not real or does not exist. I know better than that and everyone else should too. My point is simply that the diagnosis is a more complex one than for physical ailments. I think factors play into it like:
1. Mom and Dad are complaining that their child is failing school and literally driving their pediatrician, psychologist, or psychiatrist nutty.
2. Its a demanding world and kids are under pressure to do well in school often from the very beginning.
3. There is no "stay-home" parent to manage Johnny and see that he completes his reading and his studies and working parents, instead turn to the mental health field for a solution to their problem.
I believe these factors cause professionals to diagnose borderline cases as ADD and ADHD and to choose medication for treatment when more structured parenting might work better.
Your points about parenting are well taken. But, in the end, the problem is that too many parents--for many reasons--are simply unable to provide children with a range of activities that interest them, are healthy for them, and burn up energy. Most parents probably can't afford the kind of neighborhood you describe. Or, that neighborhood isn't reasonably near mom or dad's place of employment.
Did you read the one I linked to? I could only link to the abstract, but it includes a synopsis of methods used and results as well as sample size. There are many more that show up in a quick Google search.
Also, it is really not as hard to recognize as you seem to think when you know what to look for. I worked as an OT in public schools, and I could see myself in all the kids diagnosed with ADD I worked with; the clumsiness, the poor spatial and fine motor skills, the difficulty with handwriting and with things like being able to properly grade muscle strength and pressure, etc. There is no blood test, no, just as there isn't with Autism and Asperger's, but like I said, I know one when I see one, and there is very definitely a set of similar symptoms that are seen quite often.
When I got a referral to evaluate a kid with an ADD diagnosis, and I'd go into a gym class or academic class to observe, I didn't even need the child pointed out to me. I would just watch the class. It wasn't just the kid misbehaving or squirming ariund that would make me say "that's him", it would be the kid who when the teacher said "get your crayons out" is struggling with a huge mess, spilling things all over the place, unable to find the crayons, in distress and constantly needing the teacher to go over and assist him...in gym it was the kid going left when everyone else was going right, the kid who couldn't stay on the scooter board or dribble a ball. It is not just lack of focus not hyperactivity that comprise ADD/ADHD, there is usually a similar constellation of soft neurological signs that accompany it.
I DO agree it's diagnosed too quickly by some today, and I definitely don't agree with the over-medicating they do, but it is very real and it is increasing for reasons no one knows, just as Autism and Alzheimers are (although we do know that one is likely from pollution), and to completely discount the idea that some of the toxins we are being inundated with are, in fact, toxic. Look at all we've discovered recently about plastics, BPH. The use of plastics exploded on the last few decades, who knows what the effects of a baby sucking on a BPH pacifier could do. It could be any number of things, but to refuse to even look at them in favor of denying the experiences of millions of people is foolish as well as kind f rude to those of us who have to live with this, JMO.
Reading between the lines of this, maybe I myself have had ADHD all my life? I quit working in an office, sitting at a desk, in front of a computer, for 8 hours a day. Drove me crazy because I could not MOVE. Found a new line of work which involved PHYSICAL activity instead.
Maybe professional athletes, construction workers, firefighters, police, etc., all have ADHD too? Ask them if they could just sit 8 hours a day. I bet you they would say NO.
Maybe we need to get off the mentality that there is some kind of drug for every member of society. To quote what a nurse once said to me, "What do you mean you take NO MEDS AT ALL?" Something is very, very wrong with an attitude like that.
I find a industry self-propagation in several fields....
The court/justice system has a vested interest in keeping a pipeline of arrests/fines/jailtime/lawyer/judge, and patronage jobs/etc. They need that steady flow, and the court system is its own self-propagating machine. End result, it costs society a net loss to maintain, with all the hubris, all just to keep and maintain jobs.
Cut to the Medical/Big Pharma system.Same deal. Doctors/nurses/admins/HR departments/Insurance(private and government)/Walgreens/CVS/and so on, all need to maintain their jobs.
They need a steady pipeline of prescription drugs flowing and being scripted. Take those away and you cut off the lifeblood of that machine. Hence the new maladies and uses being made as years go on for prior non-issues, or issues that were dealt with directly, not mediated by drugs, in a different time.
This is how the US has become a prescription drug culture writ large....
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It is not rare for an entire family to be on meds of one kind or another now. The kids have theirs they take before school(some schools allow nurses to administer the same), Mom has her anti-anxiety variety, and Dad is taking his for God knows what, OCD, some -Pam drug for anxiety as well, etc.
My father's friend has taken -Pam drugs for many years, at least 25, and keeps a tupperware container of the same under his bed. His wife has been on the same for years, large dosages of 20 mgs. The daughter was on Ritalin for years growing up.
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In my personal experience, I have had female friends in their 40's who take their -pam drugs(anti-anxiety) in their purse with them for easy access. One of them popped the same at the wheel often while driving. I consider that DUI personally. Technically I believe it is not under the law, sadly.
This is why the issue of children being issued meds like Ritalin is sick, only word for it. We are a culture of prescription pill poppers, and the last thing we need to do is get our children indoctrinated into something that Big Pharma has created solely to line their pocketbooks. They created this culture, the doctors buy into it(a cinch to get anything you want from doctors, who are essentially pill-pushers), and now we have the children involved....
This simply is not acceptable.......we are destroying ourselves as a culture with this.
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You cannot hide from the world with medication...anymore than you can with pot, cocaine, heroin, or all the other stuff. This may be legal, but its no better.
As I said, doctors are drug dealers, and get paid well, very well, to keep the entire country doped up to the gills....
Keep tuned for the latest pill-selling commercial tonight. I believe most of us are exposed to at least 3 a day per an average 3-4 hours a day of cable watching...
Those of you with ADD: If you eliminated every artificial color and flavor from your diet you'd be a different person.
Parents would rather dole out a pill than make the effort. It's not difficult. Some people are more sensitive to the nutritionally devoid chemical additives in our food. Other cultures don't have those chemicals and they don't have the ADD problem we have.
I've proven it to myself with my own child. I've seen others prove it with their children. Don't give them a drug to counteract the food you feed them.
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) but, as usual, the pharmaceutical companies are the big winners here. No one gets better. They just stay drugged.
