While there are many effective treatment for ADD and related illness, they are not the treatments many educators advocate the use of. I suspect because they are not quick fixes. I think through the combining influence of government and schools, many kids are prescribed Ritalin who maybe do not have ADD. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but many schools advocate for the use of the drug for behaviors that many children have who have not been diagnosed with the illness. I'm not saying ADD is not an illness, but many experts have suggested that kids are being misdiagnosed. Kids in many public schools are out of control. based on the list of symptoms provided by the DSM-IV for ADD, many of my second grade class and my pre-K group had those symptoms. But I do not think most of the kids had ADD. With most of them, the problem was environment. I changed the environment and with most of them, I saw a dramatic improvement with their behavior. Even the worse kids improved with that approach. I could see many of those kids being misdiagnosed. However, I understand why educators how are coping with a broken education symptom looking at some of the more disruptive kids and having them medicated to deal with problems they encounter that are really systemic. I think the use of diagnosis of ADD and the using Ritalin as the solution is being applied for social control. Does that mean that I think none of the kids have ADD? No, but based on this information available that I have seen , I do not think all the kids being diagnosed have it, nor do I think all the kids being medicated with Ritalin should be.
If the list of criteria for ADD and related conditions identifies children who are bored, anxious, or angry around some of the adults in their lives or in some adult-run institutions, such as the school and family. These "symptoms" should not red flag the children as mentally ill. They should red flag the adults as requiring new efforts to attend to the needs of the children. Studies have shown that the symptoms dissipate when the setting changes with some of the kids "misdiagnosed" with ADD. To me the signs indicate that the influence of big pharma are also at work here. Parents are not told of some of the risks of this drug and its long-term affect on children. While it might be appropriate to subject a children who actually had the disorder to these risks so that he or she could have a normal life, I think it is reckless to do so as a way of patching up the education system or controlling a child that may have special needs that can be addressed through means other than drugs. Parents are seldom told that methylphenidate is classified with amphetamines and causes the very same effects, side effects, and risks as speed. It can cause withdrawal symptoms, such as "crashing" with depression, exhaustion, withdrawal, irritability, and suicidal feelings. Parents will not recognize a withdrawal reaction when their child gets upset after missing even a single dose. It can suppress growth. Parents are not told of the possible danger of brain damage that can be caused by long-term exposure. Studies have shown that adults that with long-term exposure experience a shrinking of their brain. Source: Journal of College Student Psychotherapy Tracey -----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Astromancer Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 4:37 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: War of the Worlds-Has Cruise's Meltdown Affected Whether You Will Go See It Actually, there are many other meds they use to treat ADD...It depends to what degree it affects you and, in some cases, your age...Sometimes it can be something as simple as a change of diet and the patience of the parents in the case of children... Carole McDonnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:As the daughter of folks in the medical profession, I get extremely worried when the world gives ONE answer to any problem. So now that world has convinced us that the ONE answer to ADD is ritalin, we feel we can rest and not look for any other cures. Kinda like the laxatives help constipation, or the pain-killer helps headaches, or the midol helps cramps fix-alls. It just gets me worried, that's all. There are so many environmental, dietary, nutritional reasons for problems and when the people of a country are told that the ONLY way to fix something is to use this ONE remedy, I'm sorry but I get nervous. Do you know which company sends all those videos to schools about ADD? Ciba-Geigy? Yep, the makers of ritalin. Ritalin helps quite a few kids but a drug given primarily (not solely, but primarily) to make a kid do well at school --a drug with some kooky side effects and which statistics show most doctors don't give their own ADD kids...a drug which fights all competitors....well, call me cynical but I'm not gonna take it. I don't trust actors to tell me what not to give to my kids. But at the same time, I don't much trust the AMA either. My doctor friends don't even trust the AMA. Remember that the drug companies have to pay the FDA to fund tests on their drugs. That means the FDA gets a lot of money from drug companies. Remember that 100, 000 people a year die from bad drug interaction. (only 10,000 for herbs and vitamins administered by folks treating themselves) Remember that the third largest cause of death in America is related to prescription drugs. Remember that the government doesn't do drug tests on kids so the percentage of a drug recommended for children is figured from adult dosages. So we can never be sure what a drug is doing to a kid. At the risk of sounding like Tom Cruise, I'll stop my medicine comment. -C --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Bosco Bosco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have followed this discussion a little bit and the Tom Cruise > chemicals are bad freakout a little bit and I have to wonder a couple > of things. First, Where did Tom Cruise get his medical degree? > Second, are there really people who make medical and health > decisions on the basis of the opinion of an actor? Yep Im a giggling > both at Tom Cruise and the bevy of reactionaries who are calling him > dangerous. > > For the record, I used antidepressants because I had various > seratonin issues related to other body chemistry issues. It worked > great. I got better and now I dont need them anymore. Had I not had > them, I probably would not be here today. I also had a roommate who > had a kid who needed ritalin. Without it he was dysfunctional in the > extreme. With it he could actually go to school and function with the > "normal" kids. he was miserable without it and well happy with it. > Yep, for the record Tom Cruise is a moron. > > Bosco > > --- Astromancer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Well I use ritalin and the stuff keeps me straight, so I guess I'm > > not qualified to comment... > > > > Carole McDonnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Call me odd but Tom > > Cruise has always left me cold. It's not the > > scientology thing. After all John Travolta is a scientologist and I > > > > like him a lot. The man just doesn't seem to let his soul come > > through. I honestly don't know his personality. > > > > As for his crazy behavior-- at last I'm beginning to see something > > about him that interests me. Not the Oprah couch-jumping but the > > three (so far) times he told off media people in the past weeks. > > His > > anger over Matt Lauer's ritalin comment certainly surprised me. And > > > > since I don't trust ritalin either, it made me like Tom a bit. > > > > As for War of the Worlds, I would probably have seen it if Tom > > wasn't > > in it. There are a few people whose movies I never see: Tom Cruise > > and Robin Williams being two of them. > > > > Now if James Spader, Sam L Jackson were in it, then I might cross > > the > > theater threshhold. -C > > > > --------------------------------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "scifinoir2" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. --------------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. 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